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Dear Friends and Fellow Historians, I have been researching and writing a history on Dunmore's War (1774). Although is outside the scope of this question, I have accumulated a good deal of information and copies of correspondence and other documents concerning Dunmore's tenure as royal governor of Virginia: Arrived at Williamsburg in September 1771- fled Gwynn's Island in July 1776. I will check my notes, and copies of documents, and get back with you on the correspondence in question. Meanwhile (shooting from the hip, here), I may be wrong on this, but if memory serves, this is during the "Quiet Period" (1770-1773) when the governor would have had no need of proposing such an alliance on what was arguably the most loyal colony. The constitutional crisis had cooled somewhat with repeal of the Townshend Duties in 1770 (and the motion for which Dunmore seconded in the House of Lords saying, "The Americans, if left to themselves, would soon be quiet"). There was also a move in the House of Burgesses during his tenure to outlaw the importation of slaves. Again, if memory serves, Dunmorewas more concerned about the counterfeiting of colonial currency and the expansion of settlement into the lands acquired in the 1768 Treaties of Hard Labor and Fort Stanwix, the 1770 Treaty of Lochaber, and the subsequent "Cherokee Cession" or "Great Grant" of 1772." I don't believe the constitutional crisis manifested itself again, and spark to move for "redress of grievances" until the imposition of the Tea Act passed Parliament in 1773 (and not learned about in Virginia, I believe, until late-October of that year), and - more importantly - the British reaction to the Boston Tea Party. Keep in mind that the Virginia colony's Militia Law had expired before the General Assembly session of 1774 - and with it the requirement for counties to provide "slave patrols" to prevent and suppress slave insurrections. Renewal or continuance of the act was still being discussed in the Committee of Grievances and Petitions when Dunmore dissolved the House of Burgesses in May 1774, and he fled to HMS FOWEY before it could be passed when the General Assembly re-convened in June 1775. Regardless, one has to bear in mind that when he issued his 1775 proclamation promising emancipation to "servants and slaves appertaining to rebels," in return for military service in 1775, it was not a universal proclamation. The promise did not extend to the slaves and indentured servants of Loyalist owners, nor to Dunmore's own fifty-four slaves. Also, I seem to remember - but can't recall the details at the moment - that the General Assembly passed, and Dunmore signed, an act to prohibit the importation of new slaves into the colony, which the Privy Council disapproved, and George III disallowed, @ 1772 or 1773. I'll see if I can find those references and get back with you. Best Regards, Glenn Williams --
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