31 Oath of Allegiance to the King George III

Not all Americans supported the Revolutionary cause. Loyalists, also known as Tories or Royalists, continued to support the British monarchy during the American Revolutionary War.  Whether they remained loyal to the King or joined the revolutionaries usually depended on which side they thought would best promote their interests. Businessmen or people with family ties to the elite class in Great Britain tended to remain loyal to the Crown, whereas yeoman farmers tended to join the Patriots, but both sides of the conflict drew people of all socioeconomic statuses.  Lord Dunmore, royal governor of Virginia from September 1771 to January 1776, resisted rising sentiment for independence. He dissolved the House of Burgesses over disputes with the Colonial Assembly in 1774. When the Second Virginia Convention reconvened and elected delegates to the Continental Congress in 1775, Dunmore issued a proclamation opposing the move, provoking Patrick Henry’s “Give me Liberty, or give me Death!” speech that helped convince delegates to approve a resolution for armed resistance.  On November 7, 1775, Lord Dunmore issued a proclamation offering freedom to slaves who abandoned their Patriot masters to join the British.  The document “Oath of Allegiance to the King George III,” dated November 1775, while not identified as related to Dunmore’s Proclamation, is held by the National Archives among Virginia State Papers in the Papers of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789.