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Dunmore's Proclamation is a historical document signed on November 7, 1775, by John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore, royal governor of the British colony of Virginia.The proclamation declared martial law [1] and promised freedom for indentured servants, "negroes" or others (Slavery in the colonial history of the United States), who joined the British Army (see also Black Loyalists).
Lord Dunmore's War, also known as Dunmore's War, was a brief conflict in fall 1774 between the British Colony of Virginia and the Shawnee and Mingo in the trans-Appalachian region of the colony south of the Ohio River. Broadly, the war included events between May and October 1774.
As Virginia's governor, Dunmore directed a series of campaigns against the trans-Appalachian Indians, known as Lord Dunmore's War. He is noted for issuing a 1775 document, Dunmore's Proclamation, offering freedom to slaves who fought for the British Crown against Patriot rebels in Virginia.
Dunmore's Proclamation in November, 1775, encouraged a slave rebellion against colonial masters. He was also concerned with Governor Gage and others, and under instructions from the Government Ministry, ordered the Shawnee and other native inhabitants of the Ohio country to fight against the colonists.
The story began when Lord Dunmore, the former royal governor of Virginia, on November 7, 1775, proclaimed freedom for all slaves (or indentured servants) belonging to Patriots, if they were able and willing to bear arms, and joined the British forces. One historian has said, "The proclamation had a profound effect on the war, transforming ...
Raleigh Tavern, Colonial Williamsburg First Virginia Convention met here, 1774. The First Convention was organized after Lord Dunmore, the colony's royal governor, dissolved the House of Burgesses when that body called for a day of prayer as a show of solidarity with Boston, Massachusetts, when the British government closed the harbor under the Boston Port Act.
Dunmore's proclamation angered the colonists, as they turned many African American slaves against them, serving as another contributor to the spark of the revolution. [27] [28] The opposition to the proclamation is directly referenced in the United States Declaration of Independence.
On 7 November 1775, during the American War of Independence, John Murray, Lord Dunmore, issued a proclamation that offered freedom to the slaves of rebel masters if they enlisted to put down the colonial rebellion. Dunmore was the last Royal Governor of Virginia, appointed by King George III in July 1771.