Ed Helms

Whatever his motives, it marked a pivotal moment in the history of slavery in America.

It is remarkable how often major turning points emerge less from moral intention than from unintended consequences.

I believe this was a turning point for the revolutionary forces as well.

That's when they started to enlist former slaves or slaves into the ranks because they saw that it was...

that Dunmore was doing this and they were like, we need to do this too.

Well, it turns out this decision of Dunmore's to invite the rebellion of slaves to his own benefit was the ultimate backfire.

His proclamation meant to bolster loyalist forces

did the exact opposite.

It unexpectedly united Virginians and supercharged the patriot cause.

Even folks who were kind of like on the fence, undecided, or even quietly rooting for the king, they were outraged.

The Virginian economy was so based entirely on slavery that everyone was

was regardless of their loyalty before this, was just pissed off at Lord Dunmore, and they threw themselves into the rebellion moving forward.

So losing enslaved laborers, it wasn't just an inconvenience, it threatened their social status, their whole economic system.

One historian even noted,

no other document, not even Thomas Paine's Common Sense or the Declaration of Independence did more than Dunmore's proclamation to convert white residents of Britain's most popular colony to the cause of independence.

You and I love history.

Amen.

Amen.

We're in a very weird moment where a lot of forces are trying to kind of—

Only cling to the good and say, that's our history.