Lord Dunmore's Proclamation

Lord Dunmore's Proclamation
Name	Lord Dunmore's Proclamation
Date	1775
Place	Colony of Virginia, American Revolutionary War
Author	John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore

Lord Dunmore's Proclamation was an 1775 declaration issued by John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore, the royal governor of the Colony of Virginia, offering liberty to enslaved people who fled Patriot masters to join British forces. The proclamation intersected with events and figures across the Atlantic world, touching on the politics of the Thirteen Colonies, the conduct of the American Revolutionary War, and debates involving the British Empire, Parliament of Great Britain, and colonial assemblies such as the Virginia House of Burgesses.

Background

In the years preceding 1775, tensions among figures and institutions like King George III, the First Continental Congress, the Second Continental Congress, and colonial legislatures including the Massachusetts General Court and the Virginia House of Burgesses intensified over measures such as the Stamp Act 1765, the Townshend Acts, and the Coercive Acts. Colonial leaders such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, and John Adams debated resistance strategies, while British officials including Lord North, William Pitt the Younger, and colonial governors like Thomas Gage and General Thomas Gage managed imperial responses. The outbreak of hostilities at the Battles of Lexington and Concord and the Siege of Boston precipitated military and political crises that framed Dunmore’s choices, alongside the presence of émigré Loyalists, units like the Queen's Rangers, and African-descended people enslaved throughout the Chesapeake Bay region, including on plantations associated with families such as the Mason family and the Lee family.

The Proclamation (1775)

On November 7, 1775, as hostilities escalated, Dunmore issued a proclamation from his position in Williamsburg, Virginia and aboard the ship HMS Fowey, declaring that any enslaved person owned by Patriots who escaped and joined the royal forces would be "free." The proclamation referenced authority derived from the Royal Prerogative and sought support from military leaders like Sir Henry Clinton and naval officers including Lord Howe. Dunmore’s text offered emancipation contingent upon military service with the British and invoked precedents connected to British legal instruments and colonial practices involving Manumission and the rights of persons in imperial contexts such as Nova Scotia and Jamaica. The manifest targeted enslaved individuals tied to revolutionary leaders like George Washington, Richard Henry Lee, and Peyton Randolph while signaling to Loyalist planters and officials including Meriwether Lewis and Robert Dinwiddie that the Crown could protect property and status.

Implementation and Impact in the Colonies

The proclamation catalyzed movements of thousands of African-descended men, women, and children toward British lines, notably to locations such as Norfolk, Virginia, Portsmouth, Virginia, and later New York City, Charles Town, and Savannah. Black recruits formed units like the Ethiopian Regiment and influenced formations including the Black Company of Pioneers and later provincial corps such as the Black Loyalists who settled in places like Nova Scotia and Sierra Leone. Slaveholders from families including the Carter family and the Randolph family reacted by bolstering militia detachments and coordinating with entities such as the South Carolina Royalists and the New York Provincial Congress to prevent runaways. Military leaders including Dunmore, Henry Clinton, and Cornwallis integrated formerly enslaved people into labor and combat roles, while colonial courts and legislatures, exemplified by the Virginia Convention and the Maryland General Assembly, adjusted laws and measures addressing fugitive enslaved people, slave patrols, and incentives for Loyalist refuges.

Reactions and Controversies

Patriot leaders condemned the proclamation as a tactic to incite servile rebellion and undermine property rights, with figures like Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Samuel Adams, and Patrick Henry denouncing Dunmore in pamphlets, resolutions, and colonial debates. Newspapers such as the Virginia Gazette, Pennsylvania Packet, and The Boston Gazette amplified contested claims about sedition, leading to incidents like the Burning of Norfolk, Virginia and legal actions in courts like the Virginia General Court. Abolitionist currents represented by individuals and groups including Granville Sharp, Anthony Benezet, and the Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage engaged the proclamation’s implications, while Caribbean slave societies in Barbados, Antigua, and Bermuda watched for contagion. British ministers including Lord Germain and factions in the British Cabinet debated the political prudence and legal standing of Dunmore’s measure relative to imperial policy.

Military and Political Consequences

Militarily, the proclamation augmented British manpower, supplying laborers and irregular troops to operations in the Chesapeake campaign, the Siege of Yorktown, and stationed garrisons in New York City and Charleston, South Carolina. Commanders such as Lord Cornwallis, Sir William Howe, and Henry Clinton weighed the utility and risks of enlisting formerly enslaved people, affecting strategies in battles like the Battle of Great Bridge and the Siege of Boston. Politically, Dunmore’s action intensified Patriot recruitment, hardened positions in the Continental Congress, and influenced colonial constitutions drafted in states including Virginia and Pennsylvania; it also shaped Loyalist evacuation plans coordinated with officials like Sir Guy Carleton and settlement schemes for Black Loyalists in New Brunswick and Halifax. Postwar diplomatic negotiations involving delegations with figures such as Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, and John Adams referenced the fate of formerly enslaved refugees during discussions around the Treaty of Paris (1783).

Legacy and Historical Interpretation

Historians have interpreted the proclamation through diverse lenses, linking it to scholarship on slavery and freedom explored by authors and works including Edmund Morgan, Gordon S. Wood, Ira Berlin, and Dorothy Ross; studies connect Dunmore’s move to themes present in analyses of the Atlantic slave trade, the Haitian Revolution, and African diasporic communities. The proclamation is seen as a catalyst for the formation of Black military service traditions later exemplified by units in the War of 1812 and the United States Colored Troops. Commemorations and controversies have involved museums, archives such as the Library of Congress and the National Archives, and public history debates in cities like Richmond, Virginia, Norfolk, Virginia, and Charleston, South Carolina. Ongoing research by scholars at institutions including Harvard University, Yale University, College of William & Mary, and University of Virginia continues to reassess the proclamation’s role in Revolutionary-era social, legal, and military transformations.

Category:American Revolution