Loyalist (American Revolution)
Loyalists were colonists in the Thirteen Colonies of British America who remained loyal to the British crown. The term was initially coined in 1774 when political tensions rose before the outbreak of the American Revolution. Those supporting the revolution self-identified as Patriots or Whigs, and considered the Loyalists "persons inimical to the liberties of America."
Prominent Loyalists repeatedly assured the British government that many thousands of them would spring to arms and fight for the Crown. The British government acted in expectation of that, especially during the Southern campaigns of 1780 and 1781. However, Britain was able to protect the people only in areas where they had military control; thus, the number of military Loyalists was significantly lower than what had been expected. Loyalists were often under suspicion of those in the British military, who did not know whom they could fully trust in such a conflicted situation.
Patriots watched suspected Loyalists very closely and would not tolerate organized Loyalist opposition. Many outspoken or militarily active Loyalists were forced to flee, especially to their stronghold of New York City. William Franklin, the colonial governor of New Jersey and son of Patriot leader Benjamin Franklin, became the leader of the Loyalists after his release from a Patriot prison in 1778. He worked to build Loyalist military units to fight in the war. Woodrow Wilson wrote:
"there had been no less than twenty-five thousand loyalists enlisted in the British service during the five years of the fighting. At one time they had actually outnumbered the whole of the continental muster under the personal command of Washington."When their cause was defeated, about 15 percent of the Loyalists fled to other parts of the British Empire; especially to the Kingdom of Great Britain or to British North America and became known as United Empire Loyalists. Most were compensated with Canadian land or British cash distributed through formal claims procedures. The southern Loyalists moved mostly to East or West Florida or to British Caribbean possessions. Loyalists who left the US received over £3 million, or about 37% of their losses, from the British government. Loyalists who stayed in the US were generally able to retain their property and become American citizens. Many Loyalists eventually returned to the US after the war and after discriminatory laws had been repealed. Historians have estimated that between 15% and 20% of the 2,000,000 whites in the colonies in 1775 were Loyalists.
Background
The American War of Independence was a global conflict, but also a civil war. Families were often divided during the conflict, most famously Founding Father Benjamin Franklin and his son William Franklin, the last royal governor of New Jersey. Many felt themselves to be both American and British, still owing loyalty to the mother country. Maryland lawyer Daniel Dulany the Younger opposed taxation without representation but would not break his oath to the king or take up arms against him. He wrote: "There may be a time when redress may not be obtained. Till then, I shall recommend a legal, orderly, and prudent resentment". Most Americans hoped for a peaceful reconciliation but were forced to choose sides by the Patriots who took control nearly everywhere in the Thirteen Colonies in 1775–76.Motives for loyalism
In 1948, Yale historian Leonard Woods Larabee identified eight characteristics of the Loyalists that made them essentially conservative and loyal to the king and to Britain:- They were older, better established, and resisted radical change.
- They felt that rebellion against the Crown—the legitimate government—was morally wrong. They saw themselves as "British born in the colonies" loyal to the British Empire and saw a rebellion against the metropole as a betrayal of the empire. At the time, the national identity of the Americans was still in formation, and the very idea of two separate peoples with their own sovereign states was itself revolutionary. Eventually and gradually, as the war progressed and it became clear that the United States and Great Britain would become two separate countries, the Loyalists who remained in the United States adopted the national identity of Americans.
- They felt alienated when the Patriots resorted to violence, such as burning down houses and tarring and feathering.
- They had a moderate position but were driven to support the Crown by Patriot violence.
- They had business and family links with Britain, and being a part of the British Empire was crucial in terms of commerce and their business operations.
- They felt that independence would come in due time, but wanted it to be by a consensual process.
- They were wary that chaos, corruption, and mob rule would come about as a result of revolution.
- Some were "pessimists" who did not display the same belief in the future that the Patriots did. Others, believing the Patriot cause doomed, recalled the experiences of the Jacobites after the failure of their 1715 and 1745 rebellions, who often had their lands confiscated by the Hanoverian government.
- They believed in Parliamentary sovereignty and the need for a stable legal order.
- In New York, powerful families had assembled colony-wide coalitions of supporters; the de Lancey family formed De Lancey's Brigade with support from its associates.
- They felt weak or threatened within American society and in need of an outside defender such as the British Crown and Parliament.
- Black Loyalists were promised freedom from slavery by the British.
Demographics
Historian Robert Calhoon wrote in 2000, concerning the proportion of Loyalists to Patriots in the Thirteen Colonies:File:Jury finding Kentucky County Virginia John Connolly Daniel Boone 1780.jpg|thumb|upright|right|A jury finding from Kentucky County, Virginia in July 1780, confiscating lands of two men adjudged to be British subjects. Daniel Boone was listed as a member of the jury.
Before Calhoon's work, estimates of the Loyalist share of the population were somewhat higher, at about one-third, but these estimates are now rejected as too high by most scholars. In 1968, historian Paul H. Smith estimated there were about 400,000 Loyalists, or 16% of the white population of 2.25 million in 1780.
Historian Robert Middlekauff summarizes scholarly research on the nature of Loyalist support as follows:
The largest number of loyalists 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 stayed loyal to the king.
File:Johnson Hall, Johnstown, NY.jpg|left|thumb|Johnson Hall, seat of Sir John Johnson in the Mohawk Valley
After the British military capture of New York City and Long Island it became the British military and political base of operations in North America from 1776 to 1783, prompting revolutionaries to flee and resulting in a large concentration of Loyalists, many of whom were refugees from other states.
According to Calhoon, Loyalists tended to be older and wealthier, but there were also many Loyalists of humble means. Many active Church of England members became Loyalists. Some recent arrivals from Britain, especially those from Scotland, had a high Loyalist proportion. Loyalists in the southern colonies were suppressed by the local Patriots, who controlled local and state government. Many people—including former Regulators in North Carolina—refused to join the rebellion, as they had earlier protested against corruption by local authorities who later became Revolutionary leaders. The oppression by the local Whigs during the Regulation led to many of the residents of backcountry North Carolina sitting out the Revolution or siding with the Loyalists.
In areas under Patriot control, Loyalists were subject to confiscation of property, and outspoken supporters of the king were threatened with public humiliation such as tarring and feathering or physical attack. It is not known how many Loyalist civilians were harassed by the Patriots, but the treatment was a warning to other Loyalists not to take up arms. In September 1775, William Drayton and Loyalist leader Colonel Thomas Fletchall signed a treaty of neutrality in the interior community of Ninety Six, South Carolina. For actively aiding the British army when it occupied Philadelphia, two residents of the city were tried for treason, convicted, and executed by returning Patriot forces.