In November 1775, as tensions between the British Empire and its rebellious colonies continued to escalate, Virginia’s royal governor made a radical—and to some, terrifying—proclamation: Any enslaved person who fled a revolutionary enslaver and joined the British Army would gain their freedom.
Known to history as Dunmore’s Proclamation, this single decree changed the course of the American Revolution in the South. It offered a lifeline to thousands of enslaved men, women, and their families, ignited fierce debates about loyalty and liberty, and revealed deep contradictions at the heart of a revolution that claimed to fight for freedom.
In honor of the 250th anniversary of Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation, we’re taking a deeper look at the man behind it: John Murray, Fourth Earl of Dunmore, and at the Revolution in Virginia, which he helped fuel.
Our guide for this exploration is Andrew Lawler, an award-winning journalist and author of A Perfect Frenzy: A Royal Governor, His Black Allies, and the Crisis that Spurred the American Revolution.
About the Show
Ben Franklin’s World is a podcast about early American history.
It is a show for people who love history and for those who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world.
Episode Summary
Andrew Lawler is an award-winning journalist and a writer of history books. He’s published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, National Geographic, and Smithsonian. He’s a contributing writer for Science and a contributing editor for Archaeology. He is the author of four books, including A Perfect Frenzy: A Royal Governor, His Black Allies, and the Crisis That Spurred the American Revolution.
During our investigation of Dunmore’s Proclamation and the American Revolution in Virginia, Andrew reveals:
- Who Lord Dumore was, and how his past shaped his leadership of colonial Virginia
- The events that led to Dunmore’s historic proclamation and the formation of the Ethopian Regiment
- The complicated legacy of a man long cast as a villain, but who may have played a pivotal role in reshaping the meaning of freedom in British North America and the new United States
What You’ll Discover
- Virginia and its place within British North America
- The myth that Dunmore burned Norfolk to the ground
- John Murray, Fourth Earl of Dunmore
- Why Dunmore tried to get out of serving as Governor of Virginia
- Virginia as a rural colony
- Dunmore and the Scottish Enlightenment
- Lord Dunmore’s arrival in Virginia, 1771
- Scottish loyalties to the British Empire and Crown
- Lord Dunmore’s friendship with George Washington
- Dumore and the Shawnee-Dunmore War, 1774
- Dunmore’s views on the American Revolution
- Williamsburg Gunpowder Plot, April 1775
- Dunmore’s evacuation to Yorktown, June 1775
- Virginia’s revolutionary politics in 1775
- Dunmore’s Proclamation
- Reaction to Dunmore’s Proclamation
- The self-emancipated who flocked to Dunmore’s lines
- Dunmore’s Ethiopian Regiment
- John Murray’s legacy
Links to People, Places, and Publications
1776 in Context Question
In your opinion, what do you think Dunmore’s Proclamation reveals about the American Revolution and its ideas about slavery, loyalties, and governance, and how those ideas took shape in the emerging United States?
Complementary Episodes
🎧 Episode 109: The American Enlightenment & Cadwallader Colden
🎧 Episode 162: Dunmore’s New World
🎧 Episode 252: The Highland Soldier in North America
🎧 Episode 322: Running from Bondage in Revolutionary America
🎧 Episode 333: Experiences of the Revolution Pt 2: Occupied Yorktown
🎧 Episode 398: The Shawnee-Dunmore War, 1774
🎧 Episode 407: Patrick Henry
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