Reference Entry
PROCLAMATION OF REBELLION
In the summer of the Revolutionary crisis, King George III issued a formal proclamation declaring that the American colonies were in open and avowed rebellion. From London’s point of view, this order framed the fighting around Boston and the other flashpoints not as a political dispute but as treason to be suppressed. For colonial leaders who had still hoped for compromise within the empire, the document made clear that the Crown now saw them as enemies, not petitioning subjects.
Dated Historical Context
A RECORDED MOMENT IN HISTORY
Proclamation of Rebellion
In the summer of the Revolutionary crisis, King George III issued a formal proclamation declaring that the American colonies were in open and avowed rebellion. From London’s point of view, this order framed the fighting around Boston and the other flashpoints not as a political dispute but as treason to be suppressed. For colonial leaders who had still hoped for compromise within the empire, the document made clear that the Crown now saw them as enemies, not petitioning subjects. The proclamation helped push more Americans toward the idea that independence was the only viable path, because it signaled that reconciliation would come, if at all, only on British terms. For the Continental Army gathering around Boston, it meant facing not just local garrisons but the full weight of British military power. In the years since, historians have seen this week as one of the moments when a rebellion truly began turning into a revolution.
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