User:Historian 2400/sandbox

While Dunmore's Proclamation freed many slaves and enlarged the size of Lord Dunmore's army, it alienated slaveholders and caused many of them to turn against the British.

Dunmore had previously made a career for himself as a colonial administrator for Britain. He first became governor of New York in 1770. Then, in 1771 he was named governor of Virginia after the previous governor, Norborne Berkeley, 4th Baron Botetourt died. When America’s war for independence started, Dunmore remained loyal to King Geroge III, and wanted to prevent Virginia from falling into rebel hands. The first time Dunmore threatened martial law was in a confrontation with local rebels in the Virginia colony. With the revolutionary war raging in the colony, Dunmore’s troops raided rebel plantations and supplies.

While most historians agree that Dunmore's Proclamation was done for practical rather than ethical reasons, there was one incident which marked the start of a growing cooperation between Dunmore and his slaves. One day Dunmore felt he needed a new mast for one of his ships, so he went to Porto Bello, a hunting lodge owned by Dunmore. While having dinner with Geroge Montague, one of his naval captains, Dunmore’s men cut down a tree for the new mast. However, his slaves spotted multiple men from the Patriot army approaching the hunting lodge and warned Dunmore. He then escaped a few minutes ahead of the oncoming rebel troops, but the men working on the mast were unable to escape. These slaves completely changed the course of the war in Virginia. By not getting captured, Dunmore would now be able to continue his campaign against the rebellion. Yet, this incident also helped increase the possibility of freedom for not only the individual African slaves who helped Dunmore escape but also African slaves in all 13 colonies. After this incident, African slaves became Dunmore’s most important allies and opened the possibility of greater partnership in the future. The relationship between Dunmore and coastal Virginia, by contrast, was one in which Britain was trying to extract as many resources out of the economy as possible, and African slaves helped with this endeavor.

It should be noted that Dunmore's Proclamation only applied to slaves who were held by individuals opposed to the British. This meant that if slaves were held by people who were pro-British, they could keep their slaves, as shown by the phrase “appertaining to Rebels” within the document. This gives further evidence to the thesis that Dunmore's Proclamation was motivated by the desire to win the war rather than by genuine concern for the slaves.