Philipsburg Proclamation

Background

Issued from Clinton’s base at Philipse Manor Hall, the home of loyalist slaveholder Frederick Philipse III, this proclamation broadened the earlier Dunmore’s Proclamation. While Dunmore’s had freed only Virginia slaves who joined the British forces, this new document freed any slave belonging to an American patriot who could reach British lines, regardless of whether they fought. It promised protection, freedom, and land. The British, seeing the Revolution turn against them, acted out of desperation.

The policy worked so well—over 5,000 slaves fled Georgia alone—that Clinton later ordered many returned to their masters. The proclamation deliberately excluded loyalist slave owners, creating a loophole the patriots used. During the war, patriots sometimes seized loyalist property, including slaves, to pay debts; if those slaves then fought for the patriots, they gained full freedom.

Text

General Clinton issued a proclamation stating that all negroes taken in arms or upon military duty would be purchased for public service at a stated price, with money paid to captors. He strictly forbade any person to sell or claim right over any negro, the property of a rebel, who took refuge with the army. He promised every negro who deserted the rebel standard full security to follow any occupation within British lines.

Aftermath

The Treaty of Paris (1783) provided that all property including slaves would be returned to rebel masters, but British commanders refused and compensation was paid instead. About 3,000 former slaves were relocated to Nova Scotia, known as Black Loyalists, and many continued to Sierra Leone, establishing Freetown. The exemption for loyalist-held slaves meant some Loyalists fleeing north to Canada took their slaves with them.