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Open Anthology of The American Revolution: Oath of Allegiance to the King George III

Open Anthology of The American Revolution
Oath of Allegiance to the King George III
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table of contents
  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Table Of Contents
  5. Introduction
  6. Questions to Guide Your Reading
  7. The Virginia Settlement
    1. Starving Time
    2. An Indentured Servant’s Letter Home
    3. Bacon’s Manifesto
  8. The Puritans of New England
    1. Early Education Laws
    2. Limits of Toleration
    3. Prologue to “The Tenth Muse”
    4. Connecticut’s “Blue Laws”
    5. Records of the Trial and Execution of Sarah Good
    6. Two Letters of Gov. William Phips
  9. The Old Colonial System
    1. Articles of Confederation of the United Colonies of New England
    2. The Navigation Act of 1660
    3. Commission of Sir Edmund Andros for the Dominion of New England
    4. Boston Revolt of 1689
    5. Bars Fight
    6. Albany Plan of Union
    7. The Way to Wealth
  10. The Revolution
    1. Second Treatise of Government
    2. Chart of Battles, Leaders, and Congresses During the Revolutionary War
    3. Petition from the Massachusetts House of Representatives to the House of Commons (in response to the Sugar Act)
    4. Patrick Henry’s Resolutions Against the Stamp Act
    5. Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania, To the Inhabitants of the British Colonies
    6. After the Boston Tea Party: Cartoons
    7. Continental Congress’s Declaration of Rights and Grievances against Great Britain
    8. Articles of Association
    9. The Alternative of Williamsburg
    10. Petition of the New York Assembly to George III
    11. Address from Joseph Warren
    12. The Charlotte Town Resolves
    13. The Olive Branch Petition
    14. His Excellency General Washington
    15. Oath of Allegiance to the King George III
    16. Letter from George Washington to John Hancock
    17. Common Sense
    18. Resolve of the Continental Congress Regarding State Governments
    19. Richard Henry Lee Resolution for Independence
    20. Appointment of Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams to Draft the Declaration of Independence
    21. Adoption of the Lee Resolution
    22. The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America
    23. The American Crisis
    24. Draft Notice
    25. Treaty of Alliance with France
    26. Address of the Congress to the Inhabitants of the United States of America
    27. Establishment of the American Army
    28. Marquis de Lafayette’s Oath of Allegiance
    29. Letter of John Adams to the President of Congress
    30. Details from a Providence (RI) Town Meeting About Quartering of Troops
    31. Letter from Elizabeth Burgin to Reverend James Calville
    32. Letter from General George Washington to Congress Announcing the Victory at Yorktown, Virginia
    33. Benjamin Franklin’s Draft of Preliminary Articles of Peace
    34. Treaty of Paris
    35. Minutes of a Conference between George Washington and Guy Carleton
    36. Letter from Joseph Warren to Benjamin Franklin
    37. Articles of Confederation
    38. Northwest Ordinance
    39. Thomas Walke’s Account of Capturing his Runaway Slaves in New York City
    40. General Washington’s Instructions to Commissioners of Embarkation
    41. Letter from Embarkation Commissioners to General Washington
    42. An Address to the Negroes In the State of New-York
    43. Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil of Slavery
    44. Testimony of Deborah Sampson Gannett
  11. Appendix 1: More Readings

31

Oath of Allegiance to the King George III

November 1775

Laura Lyons McLemore

Background

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.

Whereas a set of factious Men under the names of Committees
Conventions and Congresses have violently under various pretences usurped the legislative and executive Powers of Government and are thereby endeavouring to overturn our happy Constitution and have incurred the Guilt of actual Rebellion against our most gracious Sovereign. I, AB do therefore abjure all their Authority and solemnly promise in the presence of Almighty God to bear faith and true Allegiance to his sacred Majesty George the 3rd and will to the utmost of my power and Ability support maintain and defend his Crown and dignity against all traiterous Attempts and Conspiracies whatsoever.

So help me God[1]

  1. Accessed at https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/oath-of-allegiance-to-the-king-george-iii ↵

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