Analysis: Proclamation on Behalf of King George III
The "Analysis: Proclamation on Behalf of King George III" provides insight into a pivotal moment in American history, specifically during the escalating tensions between the American colonies and British rule in the mid-1770s. This proclamation, articulated by British General Thomas Gage shortly after the Battles of Lexington and Concord, reflects the British government's perspective on the unrest in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Gage characterizes the colonists’ actions as rebellion against lawful authority, portraying them as victims of manipulation by revolutionary leaders such as Samuel Adams and John Hancock. He attempts to convey the Crown's attempts at reconciliation while simultaneously warning of the consequences of rebellion, offering pardons to those who cease hostilities, except for the aforementioned leaders.
Furthermore, the proclamation serves as both a serious warning and a piece of propaganda, aiming to sow fear among the colonists about the repercussions of dissent. It underscores the British perspective of the conflict as an unnatural revolt rather than a justified quest for autonomy. This proclamation not only highlights the tensions of the time but also offers a glimpse into the complex motivations of King George III and his administration, which were influenced by fears of colonial insurrection spilling over into broader European contexts. As such, this historical document is crucial for understanding the dynamics of loyalty, rebellion, and governance during a transformative period in American history.
Analysis: Proclamation on Behalf of King George III
Date: June 12, 1775
Author: Gage, Thomas
Genre: address, letter
Summary Overview
This address, dated less than two months after the pivotal the battles in Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, outlines the atrocities—as perceived by King George III and his ministers—committed against the British government by the “infatuated multitudes” of subjects in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. This also included the firing upon British ships by these “rebels.” Written by Thomas Gage, a high-ranking member of the British Army who was promoted to general in the early 1780s, the proclamation is an impassioned piece, reminding the king’s loyal subjects that several attempts have been made to heal the breach, but these same attempts have been manipulated by “well known incendiaries” to look otherwise. Gage closes with a special message for the people of the colony of Massachusetts, that, with the exception of John Hancock and Samuel Adams and their rebellious compatriots, all others are offered the king’s “pardon” if they desist hostilities.
Document Analysis
This proclamation displays the clever writing and rhetorical devices employed by Thomas Gage and may be read in a number of different ways. On the first instance it can be read at face value as a message to those rebelling against the Crown and inciting violence and unrest. Gage describes the actions of the disillusioned masses who had been erroneously led by equally disillusioned men, committing acts of violence against members of the king’s army and—a consequence of such acts—also delivered that same ferocity toward innocent citizens, their very own countrymen. Though the Crown tried in vain to right the supposed wrongs felt by the rebelling subjects, these efforts were manufactured to look as though they intended even more harm, and that the king and his ministers were deliberately misleading their people. Gage’s closing statement, though benevolent, offers unquestioned immunity and protection to all those who “lay down their arms” and return “to the duties of peaceable subjects,” while excluding ringleaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock, as well as their associates, from this mercy. Gage even ends his address with the words, “liberty founded upon law.” Although he never refers specifically to the Sons of Liberty, Gage’s use of the word liberty is clever indeed.
The proclamation can also be interpreted as a shrewd piece of propaganda. The Massachusetts Bay Colony, through the actions of the Sons of Liberty and their followers, is described as instigating rebellion and mutiny against the laws of the king. The fear of the consequences associated with these crimes, as listed by Gage, would drive participants to recant their heresies. The language used is educated and respectful, yet powerful to those who did not wish to rouse the Crown’s anger. The proclamation also attempts an appeal to the human nature of readers and their sense of self-preservation; it asks them to see the disgust of the men who place their own countrymen in danger, who invoke the name of God in such atrocities: “to compleat the horrid profanation of terms, and of ideas, the name of God has been introduced in the pulpits to excite and justify devastation and massacre.”
Of course, what is not mentioned is how such actions of an “unnatural revolt” were provoked. Issues of taxes are not discussed, nor, interestingly, is the Boston Massacre of March 5, 1770. The image presented within the proclamation is that of a small gang of troublemakers who seek an upheaval of society for no reason other than to cause mayhem and catastrophe. How can they fear the king when he is over three thousand miles away? Gage does not spend any time in discussing what drove previously peaceful subjects toward their behavior; in such a discourse, it is debatable that it had a place in the mind of its writer.
Much of the proclamation is spent in rehashing the events of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, though Gage does not refer to them as battles. After all, a battle suggests equally opposed forces, whereas everyone in the colonies was meant to be on the same side. Read in hindsight, it reveals an intriguing recount of such a pivotal episode in American history; this highlights one of the many benefits of reading history through primary source documents, but one that can only be done while keeping to the original context. Gage and his peers could not have seen the Battles of Lexington and Concord as anything other than hostile acts by their people, an insurrection that threatened the structure of their society. He described the rebels’ actions during days following Lexington and Concord, accusing them of trying to besiege the army while members of their group perpetrated “daily and indiscriminate invasions upon private property, and with a wantonness of cruelty ever incident to lawless tumult, carry depredation and distress wherever they turn their steps.” Gage is a shrewd writer and, as a piece of propaganda, the proclamation clearly demonstrates his hopes that his recount of events stirs fears within those in the colony, as well as the hangers-on of the “incendiaries.”
King George III
King George III himself is a captivating historical figure to study, purely because he has been interpreted in many different ways. He was seen as a tyrant who stubbornly resisted the American colonists’ quest for the freedom to govern themselves. He was seen as the mad king, locked screaming in Windsor castle while his son, Prince George of Wales (later King George IV) took command, thereby initiating the Regency period in British history. George III was also a king who sought to distance himself from his German-born great-grandfather and grandfather—George I and George II (George III’s father, Prince Frederick of Wales, died in 1751)—by presenting his image as thoroughly British. Given his pride in Britain, it is amusing to consider that it would not be until the First World War that the royal family would change their name from Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to the far more English, Windsor. This pride may be interpreted as a reason for his not wanting to relinquish Great Britain’s hold over America, though this is just conjecture.
At the time of Gage’s proclamation, George III had been infuriated by the Boston Tea Party and felt that the unrest and protest were the result of too much lenience from Great Britain. The king was pleased with the Intolerable Acts (first known as the Coercive Acts) that were set in place at this time—and enforced by Thomas Gage—and their provisions related to colonial governance, ports, trials, and the quartering of soldiers. Another measure included within the acts was the Quebec Act. The Quebec Act extended the boundaries of Quebec southward to the Ohio River and allowed the practice of Roman Catholicism. The act was also a demonstration of the king’s power over his colonial subjects and his control of their lives.
However, not everyone in the Massachusetts Bay Colony saw George III as a tyrant; some held a more sympathetic opinion of their former ruler, namely John Adams. This uprising within the North American colonies instilled fear in the king, a fear that resonated throughout Europe after independence was declared and as the revolutionary fever then spread to France.
It is an understandable fear for George III and his empire: once one domino fell, so went them all. This, then, points to another goal of the proclamation of 1775: to search out those who wished to clip away Britain’s ties to the North American colonies.
Samuel Adams: His Role and Legacy
Vilified by the British and hallowed by the Americans, Samuel Adams, second cousin to John Adams, figured conspicuously in Thomas Gage’s words for the king’s proclamation as being one of the rebels inciting the “unnatural” revolt against the Crown. His legacy, though, as interpreted by historians since his death in 1803, reveals more of an enigma. Thomas Hutchinson, royal governor of Massachusetts during the time of the Boston Massacre, had a low opinion of Adams and saw him as a threat. Peter Oliver, a member of the Massachusetts Superior Court in the 1770s, shared Hutchinson’s opinion of Adams.
Modern research has not made much progress in upgrading Adams’ image, and some of these analyses still appear to coincide with Thomas Gage’s depiction of Adams as one of the anarchistic leaders of the rebellion. Indeed, some historians have criticized Adams for organizing riots and disregarding laws. Given these descriptions, Adams might be difficult to envision as a calm patriot who played a crucial role in the American Revolution. Despite contradictory opinions regarding his methods and influence, it is agreed that his leadership and role in the revolutionary movement shaped the course of the war and of American history. The nineteenth century saw attempts at improving the memory of Samuel Adams, one of which was by his own descendant, William V. Wells, who denounced the claims of his great-grandfather’s participation in the Stamp Act riots. While Wells’s desire to portray his great-grandfather positively and as a true patriot is admirable, there is not much of a degree of separation between the two men for Wells to be objective. His protests against the defamation of Adams, therefore, are seen as more of a defense of his relative rather than an independent reinterpretation of a historical figure.
The proclamation written by Thomas Gage and distributed to those within the Massachusetts Bay Colony in June 1775—a colony on the precipice of all-out war—was a tool of King George III and his ministers in an attempt to rein in the populace, to frighten those at the helm (presumably meaning the Sons of Liberty, though the term was not used by Gage in the proclamation) into submitting peacefully back into an unquestioned, structured society as ordained by those in London. However, by this time, especially after the Battles of Lexington and Concord—an uprising as seen by Gage and his peers, and much more so by the Crown—the moment for a return to a peaceful life in the colonies, as so requested, had passed. This sentiment would only be strengthened further by the events in Charlestown, at the Battle of Bunker Hill, in such a short time following the writing of the proclamation. Those in the colonies, both American colonists and the British army charged with keeping order, had passed the point of no return.
Though Gage provides the promise of pardoning all those—excepting, of course, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and their followers—who lay down their arms against the British Army, this seemingly magnanimous gesture, at its heart, was a scare tactic. While the common man in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, irritated with taxes and the ambivalent attitude of the Crown toward the colonies, was accustomed the presence of troops in the area, the idea of King George III, his Parliament, and ministers was more abstract. The proclamation distributed by Thomas Gage disrupted this abstraction and made colonists realize the king and his powers were forces with which to reckon.
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