Philipsburg Proclamation
{{Infobox document
|document_name=Philipsburg Proclamation
|image=
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|image_caption=
|date_created= 30 June 1779
|date_ratified=
|location_of_document=
|writer=General Sir Henry Clinton
|signers=
|purpose=To encourage slaves to run away and enlist in the British Armed Forces
}}
The Philipsburg Proclamation was issued by British Army General Sir Henry Clinton on 30 June 1779 to encourage slaves to run away and enlist in the Royal Forces.{{cite book |last=Carnahan |first=Burrus M. |title=Act of Justice: Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation and the Law of War |url=https://archive.org/details/actjustice00carn |url-access=limited |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |year=2007 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/actjustice00carn/page/n28 18] |isbn=978-0-8131-2463-6}}{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=REVOLUTIONARY WAR3/Sir Henry Clinton's Philipsburg Proclamation, June 30, 1779.jpg |url=http://negroartist.com/revolutionary%20war3/pages/Sir%20Henry%20Clinton's%20Philipsburg%20Proclamation,%20June%2030,%201779_jpg.htm |accessdate=2007-10-07 }} The proclamation, now a historical document, followed after Dunmore's Proclamation in 1775 and the establishment of the Royal Ethiopian Regiment in Virginia.
Text
General Clinton issued the following proclamation:{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u_hJAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA219|title=Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society|date=July 5, 1863|publisher=The Society|via=Google Books|volume=6}}
Whereas the enemy have adopted a practice of enrolling NEGROES among their Troops, I do hereby give notice That all NEGROES taken in arms, or upon any military Duty, shall be purchased for the public service at a stated Price; the money to be paid to the Captors.
But I do most strictly forbid any Person to sell or claim Right over any NEGROE, the property of a Rebel, who may take Refuge with any part of this Army: And I do promise to every NEGROE who shall desert the Rebel Standard, full security to follow within these Lines, any Occupation which he shall think proper.
Given under my Hand, at Head Quarters, PHILIPSBURGH the 30th day of June, 1779.
H CLINTON
Background
The proclamation extended the scope of Dunmore's Proclamation, issued four years earlier by Virginia's last Royal governor, Lord Dunmore, granting freedom to slaves in Virginia willing to serve the Royal forces. The new document, issued from Clinton's temporary headquarters at the Philipsburg Manor House in Westchester County, New York, proclaimed all slaves in the newly-established United States belonging to American Patriots free, regardless of their willingness to fight for the British Crown.{{Cite web |title=The Philipsburg Proclamation |url=http://www.blackloyalist.com/canadiandigitalcollection/story/revolution/philipsburg.htm |accessdate=2007-10-07 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071117055926/http://www.blackloyalist.com/canadiandigitalcollection/story/revolution/philipsburg.htm |archivedate=2007-11-17 }} It further promised protection, freedom, and land to any slaves who left their masters.{{Cite web |last=Hilvers |first=Julie |title=Freedom Bound: Black Loyalists |url=http://www.nku.edu/~freedomchronicle/OldSiteArchive/archive/issue4/studentscorner.php |accessdate=2007-10-07 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071123113115/http://www.nku.edu/~freedomchronicle/OldSiteArchive/archive/issue4/studentscorner.php |archivedate=November 23, 2007 }}
The move was one of desperation on the part of the British, who realized that the Revolution was not going in their favor.{{Cite web |title=Who were the Black Loyalists? |url=http://museum.gov.ns.ca/blackloyalists/who.htm |accessdate=2007-10-07 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071024151754/http://museum.gov.ns.ca/blackloyalists/who.htm |archivedate=2007-10-24}} In some ways, it was too 'successful' once so many slaves escaped (over 5,000 from Georgia alone) that Clinton ordered many to return to their masters.{{cite book |last=Poplack |first=Shana |authorlink=Shana Poplack |title=African American English in the Diaspora |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |year=2001 |pages=41–42 |isbn=0-631-21266-3}}{{cite book |last=Davis |first=David Brion |authorlink=David Brion Davis |title=Inhuman Bondage: The Rise and Fall of Slavery in the New World |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2006 |pages=150 |isbn=0-19-514073-7}}{{cite book |last=Brown |first=Christopher Leslie |title=Arming Slaves: From Classical Times to the Modern Age |url=https://archive.org/details/armingslavesfrom00brow_039 |url-access=limited |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2006 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/armingslavesfrom00brow_039/page/n204 190] |isbn=0-300-10900-8}}
Aftermath
The Treaty of Paris (1783) provided that all property including slaves would be returned to their rebel masters. However, the British commanders refused, and compensation was paid instead.{{Cite web |title=Who were the Black Loyalists? |url=http://museum.gov.ns.ca/blackloyalists/who.htm |accessdate=2007-10-07 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071024151754/http://museum.gov.ns.ca/blackloyalists/who.htm |archivedate=2007-10-24 }} About 3,000 former slaves were relocated to Nova Scotia,{{cite book |last=Brooks |first=Joanna |authorlink=Joanna Brooks |title=Face Zion Forward: First Writers of the Black Atlantic, 1785–1798 |publisher=UPNE |year=2002 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781555535407/page/6 6] |isbn=1-55553-540-2 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781555535407/page/6}} where they were known as Black Loyalists. Many continued on to Sierra Leone, where they established Freetown, its capital.
References
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Category:1779 in international relations
Category:Military emancipation in the American Revolutionary War
Category:Military history of the Thirteen Colonies