Featuring: Larry Kenneth Alexander
Transcript:
Sir Henry Clinton, one of the most pivotal British commanders during the American Revolution, arrived in the American colonies as the conflict was taking shape. Early in the war, he played key roles in battles like Bunker Hill in 1775. Though not yet in command, his strategic brilliance began to influence the British war effort. By 1778, Clinton succeeded General Sir William Howe as the commander-in-chief of British forces in North America, charged with leading the imperial government’s efforts to quash the rebellion.
One of Clinton’s primary objectives was to implement the Southern Strategy, a plan aimed at undermining the Southern colonies by exploiting loyalist support in the South and weakening the colonies’ economy, which relied heavily on slavery. However, Clinton’s most consequential action came not through battlefield victories, but through the issuance of the Philipsburg Proclamation on June 30, 1779. This bold declaration built on Lord Dunmore’s 1775 Proclamation, which offered freedom to enslaved Black colonials willing to defend the British crown. Clinton’s version, however, went even further. It was unconditional.
Clinton’s proclamation applied English law as he was exercising imperial power, and it had the same effect as the granting of an application of habeas corpus, much like the Somerset decision that freed 15,000 enslaved Black individuals in England and Wales in June 1772. In applying English law, Clinton declared, “No individual who reaches the protection of His Majesty’s forces will be returned to their former bondage and they are hereby declared free from the condition of slavery.” Clinton understood that slavery was the lifeblood of the Southern economy and that the colonists’ power rested on the subjugation of the enslaved.
The British use of a letter of patent such as this proclamation was commonplace, as they were used to organize, control, and exercise imperial power within the 13 American colonies. This letter of patent virtually reached all enslaved Black colonials, as the force of English law was self-executing. Clinton’s proclamation had the legal effect of liberating the entire enslaved population, as it was a manifestation of imperial force and power. Ultimately, based on the Treaty of Paris of 1783, the question of its legal effect became an international dispute between the United States and England. At a minimum, this dispute entitled all Black colonials living in America to a due process hearing.
The colonial press widely condemned Clinton’s proclamation and the British Southern Strategy as being cruel and manipulative. Colonial newspapers expressed deep fear that Clinton’s proclamation would incite mass slave escapes and possible uprisings. Southern newspapers accused Clinton of inciting rebellion among enslaved populations to weaken the American colonies. They portrayed the British as hypocrites for claiming to uphold freedom while using enslaved people to further their military objectives.
In summary, the press framed the proclamation as a powerful weapon in the hands of the British, with potentially devastating consequences for the rebel cause. Its implications for slavery stirred widespread fear, condemnation, and reflection. Clinton’s proclamation was a letter of patent declaring liberty and subjecthood, as he was mindful that the Founding Fathers had complained in the Declaration of Independence that their most valuable slave laws were abolished by the British Imperial government. The Somerset decision found slavery was not authorized in 1772, and as birthright subjecthood existed and the English Bill of Rights protected such personal liberty rights, Clinton’s proclamation liberated all 500,000 enslaved Black colonists.
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