Loyalists During the American Revolution

Mac Walton, Yahoo! Contributor Network
May 13, 2007 "Share your voice on Yahoo! websites. Start Here."

Loyalists, also known as "Tories," were American colonists during the American Revolution that chose to participate in the war by embracing the British Empire and advocating for continued English rule over the colonies. Though there were Loyalists from all facets of life, most commonly, Loyalists were wealthy, well-educated conservative people who supported continued British authority in order to maintain domestic stability, and thus they would be able to maintain their current standards of living. Often, Loyalists from such a background would consider themselves "better" and morally and intellectually superior to the revolting colonists. By one Loyalist's account, the Revolutionaries were "lawless mobs and brutes". Alternatively, some Loyalists just considered themselves realists, and they weren't willing to sacrifice for a war that was inevitably going to be won by the larger, more elite, British military.

Loyalists did not always sport upper-class backgrounds, as there were many Loyalists who were of different demographics. There was an abundance of Loyalists that were simply sympathetic towards Britain and/or had too strong of connections with their mother country to revolt. Loyalists, in many instances, were too afraid of the repercussions that would result if Britain had prevailed and won the war, and they had contributed in any way to the revolution. Newly arrived immigrants from Britain, Scotland, Ireland, et al, didn't want to support the aristocratic colonial leaders, so they would often aid the British. There were also alternative reasons as to why some people became British Loyalists, for instance, some French, German, and Dutch settlers felt religiously repressed, and they believed that more religious freedom would be provided by the British than their American counterparts. In search of a way out of slavery, several thousand African-Americans joined the British cause, hoping for eventual freedom in return, and the British supported such hopes.

Towards the end of the war, black Loyalists began to fret about their post-war fate. The fortunate fugitive slaves were given passage to Canada or to England, in return for their military service. Other African-Americans weren't so lucky and were essentially left to fend for themselves, by the British government. Among these unfortunate blacks, some were returned to their "masters," while others were misled and re-sold in the West Indies slavery market.

Though white Loyalists had no potential threat of enslavement, they were subject to exile, confiscation of property, arrest, and/or loss of legal rights. Upon the conclusion of the war, rather than face such a fate, approximately ninety-thousand Loyalists fled to Canada in search of a new start. The majority of Loyalists remained in the colonies after the war and were labeled as traitors by the Revolutionaries. Some Loyalists were successful in re-assimilating into colonial society, while others felt a sense of loneliness, as if they had never and would never belong to the colonies again.

Published by Mac Walton

I'm amateur journalist who has a passion for writing and political analysis, as such, most of my articles relate to political science. View profile

Loyalists During the American Revolution

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