Proclamation by the King for Suppressing Rebellion and Sedition

The Proclamation by the King for Suppressing Rebellion and Sedition is a relatively short document issued by George III, king of Great Britain and Ireland, on August 23, 1775, in the aftermath of the eruption of armed hostilities in North American colonies late that spring. By the summer of 1775, conditions in the British colonies in North America had reached a near frenzy. After twelve years of increasing tensions, rebellious colonists, who now believed that a conspiracy existed to deprive them of their rights as Englishmen, openly took up arms against the mother country. After the April 19, 1775, skirmishes at Lexington and Concord, their war of words and harassment mutated into one where the weapons were rifles and artillery. George III, urged by his advisers, felt it necessary to make a statement expressing his displeasure and the lack of tolerance for such rebellious actions.

While independence from Great Britain was not an option openly discussed, the Proclamation by the King for Suppressing Rebellion and Sedition certainly moved colonists farther along that path. Many saw it as a declaration of war. It was evidence that the conspiracy against the colonists had reached the highest levels of the government and was not limited to colonial governors and Parliament. Both sides had engaged in brinkmanship and crossed the line; there was now little or no chance of reconciliation.

George III had been reared in the English courts and possessed a fairly sophisticated grasp of English power politics. However, neither he nor his advisers from their vantage point in England could fully grasp the machinations and nuances of colonial politics as his subjects in North America played them.