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Dunmore's Proclamation is a
historical document Historical documents are original documents that contain important historical information about a person, place, or event and can thus serve as primary sources as important ingredients of the historical methodology. Significant historical docume ...
signed on November 7, 1775, by
John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore (1730 – 25 February 1809), known as Lord Dunmore, was a British nobleman and colonial governor in the American colonies and The Bahamas. He was the last colonial governor of Virginia. Lord Dunmore was nam ...
, royal governor of the British
Colony of Virginia The Colony of Virginia, chartered in 1606 and settled in 1607, was the first enduring English colony in North America, following failed attempts at settlement on Newfoundland by Sir Humphrey GilbertGilbert (Saunders Family), Sir Humphrey" (histor ...
. The proclamation declared
martial law Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory. Use Martia ...
and promised freedom for
slaves Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
of American revolutionaries who left their
owners Ownership is the state or fact of legal possession and control over property, which may be any asset, tangible or intangible. Ownership can involve multiple rights, collectively referred to as title, which may be separated and held by different ...
and joined the royal forces, becoming
Black Loyalists Black Loyalists were people of African descent who sided with the Loyalists during the American Revolutionary War. In particular, the term refers to men who escaped enslavement by Patriot masters and served on the Loyalist side because of the ...
. Most relevant historians agree that the proclamation was chiefly designed for practical and militaristic reasons rather than moral reasons, such as humanitarianism. Formally proclaimed on November 15, its publication prompted between 800 and 2000 slaves (from both patriot and
loyalist Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British C ...
owners) to run away and enlist with Dunmore. It also raised a furor among Virginia's slave-owning elites (again of both political persuasions), to whom the possibility of a
slave rebellion A slave rebellion is an armed uprising by enslaved people, as a way of fighting for their freedom. Rebellions of enslaved people have occurred in nearly all societies that practice slavery or have practiced slavery in the past. A desire for freed ...
was a major fear. The proclamation ultimately failed in meeting Dunmore's objectives; he was forced out of the colony in 1776, taking about 300 former slaves with him. The 1779
Philipsburg Proclamation The Philipsburg Proclamation is a historical document issued by British Army General Sir Henry Clinton on 30 June 1779, intended to encourage slaves to run away and enlist in the Royal Forces. Text General Clinton issued the following proclamat ...
applied to all the colonies. During the course of the war, between 80,000 and 100,000 slaves escaped from the plantations.


Background

John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore (1730 – 25 February 1809), known as Lord Dunmore, was a British nobleman and colonial governor in the American colonies and The Bahamas. He was the last colonial governor of Virginia. Lord Dunmore was nam ...
, originally from
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...
, was the royal governor of the
Colony of Virginia The Colony of Virginia, chartered in 1606 and settled in 1607, was the first enduring English colony in North America, following failed attempts at settlement on Newfoundland by Sir Humphrey GilbertGilbert (Saunders Family), Sir Humphrey" (histor ...
from 1771 to 1775. During his tenure, he worked proactively to extend Virginia's western borders past the
Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. The ...
, despite the British
Royal Proclamation of 1763 The Royal Proclamation of 1763 was issued by King George III on 7 October 1763. It followed the Treaty of Paris (1763), which formally ended the Seven Years' War and transferred French territory in North America to Great Britain. The Procla ...
. He notably defeated the
Shawnee The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...
nation in Dunmore's War, gaining land south of the
Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of ...
. As a widespread dislike for the British crown (as a result of the
American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...
) became apparent, however, Dunmore changed his attitude towards the colonists; he became frustrated with the lack of respect towards the British Crown. Dunmore's popularity worsened after, following orders, he attempted to prevent the election of representatives to the
Second Continental Congress The Second Continental Congress was a late-18th-century meeting of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that united in support of the American Revolutionary War. The Congress was creating a new country it first named "United Colonies" and in 1 ...
. On April 21, 1775, he seized colonial ammunition stores, an action that resulted in the formation of an angry mob. The colonists argued that the ammunition belonged to them, not to the British Crown. That night, Dunmore angrily swore, "I have once fought for the Virginians and by God, I will let them see that I can fight against them." This was one of the first instances that Dunmore overtly threatened to institute
martial law Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory. Use Martia ...
. While he had not formally passed any rulings, news of his plan spread through the colony rapidly. A group of slaves offered their services to the royal governor not long after April 21. Though he ordered them away, the colonial slaveholders remained suspicious of his intentions. As colonial protests became violent, Dunmore fled the Governor's Palace in Williamsburg and took refuge aboard the
frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed an ...
HMS ''Fowey'' at Yorktown on June 8, 1775. For several months, Dunmore replenished his forces and supplies by conducting raids and inviting slaves to join him. When Virginia's
House of Burgesses The House of Burgesses was the elected representative element of the Virginia General Assembly, the legislative body of the Colony of Virginia. With the creation of the House of Burgesses in 1642, the General Assembly, which had been establishe ...
decided that Dunmore's departure indicated his resignation, he drafted a formal proclamation now named after him, signing it on Nov 7. It was publicly proclaimed a week later.


Dunmore's Proclamation

In the official document, he declared martial law and adjudged all revolutionaries as
traitors Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
to the
crown A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, partic ...
. Furthermore, the document declared "all indentured servants, Negroes, or others...free that are able and willing to bear arms..." Dunmore expected such a revolt to have several effects. Primarily, it would bolster his own forces, which, cut off from reinforcements from British-held
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, numbered only around 300. Secondarily, he hoped that such an action would create a fear among the colonists of a general slave uprising and would force them to abandon the revolution.


Colonial reaction

The Virginia Convention was outraged and responded on December 14, 1775, with an unambiguous declaration that all fugitive slaves would be executed: Newspapers such as ''
The Virginia Gazette ''The Virginia Gazette'' is the local newspaper of Williamsburg, Virginia. Established in 1930, it is named for the historical ''Virginia Gazette'' published between 1736 and 1780. It is published twice a week in the broadsheet format. Historical ...
'' published the proclamation in full, and patrols were organized to look for any slaves attempting to take Dunmore up on his offer. The ''Gazette'' not only criticized Dunmore for offering freedom to only those slaves belonging to revolutionaries who were willing to serve him, but also questioned whether he would be true to his word, suggesting that he would sell the escaped slaves in the
West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...
. The paper therefore cautioned slaves to "Be not then...tempted by the proclamation to ruin your selves." Since very few slaves were literate, this was more a symbolic move than anything. It was also noted that Dunmore himself was a slaveholder. On December 4, the
Continental Congress The Continental Congress was a series of legislative bodies, with some executive function, for thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America, and the newly declared United States just before, during, and after the American Revolutionary War. ...
recommended to Virginian colonists that they resist Dunmore "to the uttermost..." On December 13, the Virginia Convention responded in kind with a proclamation of its own, declaring that any slaves who returned to their masters within ten days would be pardoned, but those who did not would be 'hanged without the
benefit of clergy In English law, the benefit of clergy (Law Latin: ''privilegium clericale'') was originally a provision by which clergymen accused of a crime could claim that they were outside the jurisdiction of the secular courts and be tried instead in an ec ...
.' Estimates of the number of slaves that reached Dunmore vary, but generally range between 800 and 2,000. The escaped slaves Dunmore accepted were enlisted into what was known as ''Dunmore's Ethiopian Regiment''. The only notable battle in which Dunmore's regiment participated was the Battle of Great Bridge in early December 1775, which was a decisive British loss. Dunmore's strategy was ultimately unsuccessful as his forces were decimated by a
smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...
outbreak less than a year later. When Dunmore ultimately left the colony in 1776 he took 300 of the former slaves with him. In 1779, British General Sir Henry Clinton issued the
Philipsburg Proclamation The Philipsburg Proclamation is a historical document issued by British Army General Sir Henry Clinton on 30 June 1779, intended to encourage slaves to run away and enlist in the Royal Forces. Text General Clinton issued the following proclamat ...
, which freed slaves owned by revolutionaries throughout the rebel states, even if they did not enlist in the British Army. It resulted in a significantly larger number of runaways. It is estimated that up to 100,000 attempted to leave their owners and join the British over the course of the entire war. At the end of the war, the British relocated about 3,000 former slaves to
Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...
. Even though the numbers were small compared to the total slave population, more American slaves found their freedom through these proclamations than any other means until the
Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...
.


See also

*
Black Loyalist Black Loyalists were people of African descent who sided with the Loyalists during the American Revolutionary War. In particular, the term refers to men who escaped enslavement by Patriot masters and served on the Loyalist side because of the C ...
*
Emancipation Proclamation The Emancipation Proclamation, officially Proclamation 95, was a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the American Civil War, Civil War. The Proclamation c ...


References


Further reading

* Gilbert, Alan. ''Black Patriots and Loyalists: Fighting for Emancipation in the War for Independence'' (University of Chicago Press, 2012) * Piecuch, Jim. ''Three Peoples, One King: Loyalists, Indians, and Slaves in the Revolutionary South, 1775–1782'' (Univ of South Carolina Press, 2008) * Quarles, Benjamin. "Lord Dunmore as Liberator," ''William and Mary Quarterly'' (1958) 15#4 pp. 494–50
in JSTOR


External links








Summary of Dunmore's Proclamation

Dunmore's Proclamation:A Time to Choose










{{Virginia in the American Revolution 1775 documents 1775 in the Thirteen Colonies 1775 in Virginia Documents of the American Revolution Slavery in the United States Colony of Virginia Virginia in the American Revolution Fugitive American slaves Military emancipation in the American Revolutionary War Governor of Virginia