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This article concerns Loyalists in the American Revolution and afterwards. For other uses of the word "loyalist", see the disambiguation page.

Loyalists (often capitalized L) were British North American colonists who remained loyal subjects of the British crown during the American Revolution. They were also called Tories, King's Men, or Royalists. Those Loyalists who left and resettled in Canada called themselves the United Empire Loyalists. Their colonial opponents, who supported the Revolution, were called Patriots, Whigs, Congress Men, or, in view of their loyalty to the new United States of America, just Americans.

From an American perspective in 1775, the Loyalists were traitors who turned against their fellow citizens and collaborated with the occupation of a foreign army. From the Loyalist perspective in 1775, the Loyalists were the honourable ones who stood by the Crown and the British Empire. As Anglican clergyman Samuel Seabury wrote, "If I must be enslaved let it be by a King at least, and not by a parcel of upstart lawless Committeemen. If I must be devoured, let me be devoured by the jaws of a lion, and not gnawed to death by rats and vermin." Letters of a Westchester Farmer, 1774-1775 (1970) p 61 Like most Loyalists, Seabury remained in America; he became the first Episcopal bishop.

Background and motivation of Loyalists

By July 4, 1776, the patriots controlled virtually all of the territory and population of the 13 states, and demanded that no resident show loyalty to a foreign power. Neutrality was permitted. The British however returned and in September, 1776, they defeated the American army and captured New York City and Long Island, which they occupied until 1783. From time to time they controlled various cities such as Boston (1775-6), Philadelphia (1777), Savannah (1778-83) and Charleston (1780-82), and various slices of countryside. However 90% of the population lived outside the cities. The result was that the American state governments controlled 80-95% of the population. The British pulled out all their governors and never allowed the Loyalists to set up any government. Britain did reestablish its colonial governor in coastal Georgia http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2709 1779-82, with the Americans in control upstate. Elsewhere, the British were normally only in control through Army and Royal Navy activity.

Loyalism in Canada

In Canada, American agents were active, especially John Brown, agent of the Boston Committee of Correspondence, along with Canadian-American merchant Thomas Walker and others, during the winter of 1774-5. They won many inhabitants to sympathize with Congress. However others--probably a majority--remained neutral and refused to join the militia which the British had called out to protect against the American invasion in late 1775. Only a minority expressed loyalty to King George: about 1500 militia fought for the King in defense of Montreal. In the region south of Montreal occupied by the Americans, the inhabitants supported the Americans and raised two regiments to join them. Wade, The French Canadians (1955) 1:67-9. In Nova Scotia, with a large Yankee settlement but a powerful British naval base, neutrality prevailed.

Loyalists in the Thirteen States

Historian Robert Middlekauff summarizes scholarly research on who was a Loyalist as follows:
In no colony did loyalists outnumber revolutionaries. The largest numbers were found in the middle colonies: many tenant farmers of New York supported the king, for example, as did many of the Dutch in the colony and in New Jersey. The Germans in Pennsylvania tried to stay out of the Revolution, just as many Quakers did, and when that failed, clung to the familiar connection rather than embrace the new. Highland Scots in the Carolinas, a fair number of Anglican clergy and their parishioners in Connecticut and New York, a few Presbyterians in the southern colonies, and a large number of the Iroquois Indians stayed loyal to the king.Middlekauff, Robert. The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763-1789 (1985). Pg 550.

New York City and Long Island (controlled by the British from 1776 to 1783) had the largest concentration of Loyalists, many of whom were refugees from other states.

Loyalists tended to be older, more likely merchants and wealthier and better-educated than their Patriot opponents, but there were also many Loyalists of humble means. Many active Anglicans became Loyalists. Some recent emigrants, especially Scots, had a high Loyalist proportion. Loyalists in the South, however, were suppressed by the local Patriots who controlled local and state government. Many people--such as some of the ex-Regulators in North Carolina--refused to join the rebellion as they had earlier protested against corruption by the local authorities who later became rebel leaders. Such pre-Revolutionary War oppression by the local Whigs contributed to the reason that much of backcountry North Carolina tended to loyalism or neutrality.

Historians estimate that about 15-20% of the white population of the thirteen states was Loyalist (a very rough estimate is 500,000 people), but the number was constantly declining as thousands of Loyalists fled the country every year of the war. In Georgia and the Carolinas, people changed back and forth. Including the black and native American populations, which were more pro-British,McDonnell in ‘A companion to the American revolution’, Blackwell Publishers, 2000, Chapter 43 the proportion of loyalists may have been a quarter of the population. Due to the highly political nature of the war, a large but unknown proportion of the white population remained neutral

"Approximately half the colonists of European ancestry tried to avoid involvement in the struggle – some of them deliberate pacifists, others recent emigrants, and many more simple apolitical folk. The patriots received active support from perhaps 40 to 45% of the white populace, and, at most, no more than a bare majority." Robert M. Calhoon, in 'A companion to the American Revolution', Blackwell Publishers, 2000; pg 235.

Black Loyalists and slavery

See also Black Loyalist
Free Blacks supported the Revolution, and often fought in militia units. Very few became Loyalists. However, the few slaves in Virginia who were in a position to make a decision were overwhelmingly Loyalist. Slavery was illegal in Great Britain itself. Therefore, when Loyalist slaveowners left the country, they took their slaves to Jamaica and other islands where conditions were bleak for the slaves. McDonnell in ‘A companion to the American revolution’, Blackwell Publishers, 2000, Chapter 43 Simon Schama, 'Rough Crossings: Britain, the Slaves and the American Revolution', Publisher: BBC Books http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/africanns/ch2.asp http://collections.ic.gc.ca/blackloyalists/ http://www.americanrevolution.org/blk.html Lord Dunmore's Loyalist black 'Ethiopian Regiment' in Virginia bore the motto "Liberty to Slaves" in intentional parody of the white Virginian motto "Liberty or Death". It had about 300 ex-slaves. Calhoon in ‘A companion to the American revolution’, Blackwell Publishers, 2000, pg 241 After 1775, George Washington forbade the recruitment of Black soldiers in his army, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part2/2narr4.html although later slaves who fought in the Continental Army for a set period were often legally emancipated. There were no slave revolts reported during the Revolution, excepting the thousand or so blacks who fought for the Loyalists. As the war ended, an estimated 75-100,000 blacks left the United States. About 400 to 1000 went to London and joined the community of about 10,000 free blacks there. About 3500 to 4000 went to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick (later part of Canada), where the British provided many with land. Over 1,500 settled in Birchtown, Nova Scotia, instantly making it the largest free black community in North America. However about 1500 left Nova Scotia for the new British colony of Sierra Leone in Africa after 1787, where they became part of the ruling elite. The vast majority of blacks--over 75,000--were taken as slaves to the West Indies, where living conditions were much worse and life expectancy far shorter than had been the case in the American colonies.*

An often cited statement by John Adams, in which he said that about one-third of the people were Loyalists, was meant to be rhetorical and not statistical.

During the war

The largest concentration of Loyalists was in New York City and Long Island (controlled by the British Army from September, 1776 until the evacuation in late 1783). Consequently many Loyalist families fled to New York City. Britain reestablished a colonial government in parts of Georgia, but nowhere else did it attempt to restore colonial civil government in which Loyalists might participate, governing instead by military rule. In patriot controlled areas--that is most of the country--Loyalists were subject to confiscation of property. Outspoken supporters of the King were threatened with public humiliation (such as tar and feathering) or physical attack. However relatively few Loyalist civilians are thought to have been killed by mobs and none were officially executed. In September 1775, Willilam Drayton and loyalist leader Colonel Thomas Fletchall signed a treaty of neutrality in the interior community of Ninety Six, South Carolina. In October 1775, Congress passed a resolution calling for the arrest of all loyalists who are dangerous to "the liberties of America."

Military service

The Loyalists rarely attempted any political organization. They were often passive unless regular British army units were in the area. The British planned much of their strategy around raising Loyalist companies and regiments. The British provincial line, consisting of Americans enlisted on a regular army status, enrolled 19,000 American loyalists (50 units and 312 companies). Another 10,000 served in loyalist militia or "associations." The maximum strength of the provincial line was 9,700 in December 1780. (Smith 264-7; Calhoon 502)

Emigration

The vast majority of the Loyalists (350-400,000)remained in America during and after the war but some began leaving early in the war when transport was available. An estimated 70,000 Loyalists, approximately 62,000 whites and 8,000 blacks, about 3% of the total American population, left the thirteen states: 46,000 to Canada; 7,000 to Britain and 17,000 to the Caribbean. Beginning in the mid-1780s until the end of the century a small percentage returned from the Caribbean and Nova Scotia.

Following the end of the Revolution and the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783, Loyalist soldiers and civilians were evacuated from New York and resettled in other colonies of the British Empire, most notably in the future Canada: the two colonies of Nova Scotia (including modern-day New Brunswick, receiving in total some 32,000 Loyalist refugees) and Canada (including the Eastern Townships and modern-day Ontario, receiving altogether some 10,000 refugees).

Realizing the importance of some type of consideration, on November 9, 1789, Lord Dorchester, the governor of Quebec, declared that it was his Wish to "put the mark of Honour upon the Families who had adhered to the Unity of the Empire..." As a result of Dorchester's statement, the printed militia rolls carried the notation:

Those Loyalists who have adhered to the Unity of the Empire, and joined the Royal Standard before the Treaty of Separation in the year 1783, and all their Children and their Descendants by either sex, are to be distinguished by the following Capitals, affixed to their names: U.E. Alluding to their great principle The Unity of the Empire.

The initials "U.E." are rarely seen today, but the influence of the Loyalists on the evolution of Canada remains. Their ties with Britain and their antipathy to the United States provided the strength needed to keep Canada independent and distinct in North America. The Loyalists' basic distrust of republicanism and "mob rule" influenced Canada's gradual path to independence. In effect, the new British North American provinces of Upper Canada (the forerunner of Ontario) and New Brunswick were founded as places of refuge for the United Empire Loyalists.

The richest and most prominent Loyalist exiles went to Britain to rebuild their careers; many received pensions. Many Southern Loyalists, taking along their slaves, went to the West Indies and the Bahamas, particularly to the Abaco Islands.

Thousands of Iroquois and other Native Americans were expelled from New York and other states and resettled in Canada. The descendants of one such group of Iroquois, led by Joseph Brant Thayendenegea, settled at Six Nations of the Grand River, the largest First Nations Reserve in Canada. A group of Black Loyalists settled in Nova Scotia but, facing discrimination there, emigrated again for Sierra Leone.

Many of the Loyalists were forced to abandon substantial amounts of property, and restoration of or compensation for this lost property was a major issue during the negotiation of the Jay Treaty in 1795.

Return of some Loyalists

Most Loyalists never left the United States. Of those who left Massachusetts, virtually all expressed a desire to return to what they considered their native home. After the last wave of anti-Toryism passed in the wake of the peace treaty of 1783, a number of Loyalists, typically young, native born, and still emotionally attached to the area, made their way back to Massachusetts between 1784 and 1789. On reentering Massachusetts, they encountered, for the most part, a warm welcome from anti-Toryists and were able to integrate themselves into society, reclaiming property, collecting debts, and joining the conservative, Federalist political culture of the state. 2002

Count Rumford (Benjamin Thompson) was a loyalist who fled to London when the War began. He became a world class scientist, famous also for research in artillery ordnance. His expressed a desire to return to the United States in 1799 and was eagerly sought by the Americans (who needed help in fighting the Quasi-War with France). Rumford eventually decided to stay in London because he was engrossed with establishing the Royal Institution in England. 1974

Prominent Loyalists

See also

References

  • Bailyn, Bernard. “The Contagion of Liberty.” In The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution, enlarged edition, 230-319. (1992).
  • Bailyn, Bernard. The Ordeal of Thomas Hutchinson: Loyalism and the Destruction of the First British Empire (1974), full scale biography of the most prominent Loyalist
  • Bradley, James E. "The Reprieve of a Loyalist: Count Rumford's Invitation Home." New England Quarterly 1974 47(3): 368-385. Issn: 0028-4866 Fulltext: in Jstor
  • Brown, Wallace. The King's Friends: The Composition and Motives of the American Loyalist Claimants (1966).
  • Calhoon, Robert M. "Loyalism and neutrality" in Jack P. Greene and J.R. Pole, eds., The Blackwell Encyclopedia of the American Revolution (1991)
  • Calhoon, Robert M. ''The Loyalists in Revolutionary America, 1766-1781 (1973), the most detailed study
  • Robert M. Calhoon, Timothy M. Barnes and George A. Rawlyk, eds. Loyalists and Community in North America (1994).
  • Jensen, Merrill; The New Nation: A History of the United States during the Confederation, 1781-1789 1950; detailed discussion of return of Loyalists, popular anger at their retrurn; repeal of wartime laws against them
  • Kermes, Stephanie. "'I Wish for Nothing More Ardent upon Earth, than to See My Friends and Country Again': The Return of Massachusetts Loyalists." Historical Journal of Massachusetts 2002 30(1): 30-49. Issn: 0276-8313
  • Kerber, Linda. Women of the Republic: Intellect and Ideology in Revolutionary America (1997)
  • Knowles, Norman. Inventing the Loyalists: The Ontario Loyalist Tradition and the Creation of Usable Pasts (1997) explores the identities and loyalties of those who removed to Canada.
  • Moore, Christopher. The Loyalist: Revolution Exile Settlement. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, (1994).
  • Mason, Keith. “The American Loyalist Diaspora and the Reconfiguration of the British Atlantic World.” In Empire and Nation: The American Revolution and the Atlantic World, ed. Eliga H. Gould and Peter S. Onuf (2005).
  • Nelson, William H. The American Tory (1961)
  • Norton, Mary Beth. Liberty's Daughters: The Revolutionary Experience of American Women, 1750-1800 (1996)
  • Potter, Janice. The Liberty We Seek: Loyalist Ideology in Colonial New York and Massachusetts (1983).
  • Quarles, Benjamin; Black Mosaic: Essays in Afro-American History and Historiography University of Massachusetts Press. (1988)
  • Smith, Paul H. "The American Loyalists: Notes on Their Organization and Numerical Strength," William and Mary Quarterly 25 (1968): 259-77.
  • Van Tyne, Claude Halstead. The Loyalists in the American Revolution (1902)
  • Mason Wade, The French Canadians: 1760-1945 (1955) 2 vol.

External links

American Revolution | History of Canada | United Empire Loyalists

Loyalisten (Amerikanische Unabhängigkeit) | Loyalistes | Lojaliści (rewolucja amerykańska) | Лоялисты

Notes

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Loyalist (American Revolution)".

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