- This article concerns Loyalists in the American Revolution. For other uses of the word "loyalist", see the disambiguation page.
Loyalists (capitalized L) were British North American colonists who remained loyal subjects of the British crown during the American Revolutionary War. They were also called Tories or "King's Men". Those Loyalists settling in what would become Canada are often called United Empire Loyalists. Their colonial opponents, who supported the Revolution, were called Patriots, Whigs, or just Americans.
Loyalists were loosely associated with Anglicanism in the same way that Patriots were associated with Presbyterianism. They also enjoyed the reputation of being relatively wealthier and better-educated than their Patriot opponents; but there were also many Loyalists of humble means, particularly in New York's Mohawk Valley and on the frontiers of Georgia and South Carolina.
John Adams estimated that when the first shot of the revolution was fired by "the embattled farmers" of Concord and Lexington, the Loyalists numbered one-third of the whole population of the colonies, or 700,000 whites. Others believe that the number was larger, and that the revolutionary
party was in a minority even after the Declaration of Independence.
The greater number of the Loyalists were to be found in the present state of
New York, where the capital was in possession of the British from
September, 1776, until the evacuation in 1783. They were also the
majority in Pennsylvania and the southern colonies of South Carolina and
Georgia. In all the other states they represented a large minority of
the elites of their respective communities.
During the war, about 50 military units were made up of Loyalists, many of whom had their lands or property seized. It is estimated that there were actually from 30–35,000, at one time or other, enrolled in regularly organised corps, without including the bodies which waged guerilla warfare in South Carolina and elsewhere. A large number of Loyalist families took refuge in New York City and Long Island. Other Loyalists reestablished a pro-British colonial government in Georgia.
An estimated 70,000 Loyalists left the Thirteen Colonies, about 3% of the total population. Loyalists began leaving early in war when transport was available. In areas under Patriot control, they were subject to confiscation of property and even tar and feathering or worse. They could be arrested for being loyal to the British, some were even blackmailed, whipped, abused, threatened, and attacked by mobs of Revolutionaries.
Following the end of the American Revolution, or American War of Independence, at the time of the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783, the Loyalist soldiers and ordinary British subjects 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 25,000 Loyalist refugees) and Canada (including the Eastern Townships and modern-day Ontario, receiving altogether some 10,000 refugees). This group of people are most often referred to as United Empire Loyalists. 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. For a consideration of Loyalists' role in the formation of English Canadian identity, see Canadian identity.
Others who left the former 13 colonies and returned to Britain are also referred to as Loyalists. Still others, particularly Southern Loyalists, went to the Bahamas, particularly to the Abaco Islands.
Many Native Americans also left the 13 colonies for Canada. The descendents 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 left Nova Scotia and settled in Sierra Leone.
Many of the descendants of Loyalists still make claim to their ancestors' property in the United States. They wait until the day that the current regime is overthrown so that they may reclaim their property rights which they assert were taken away from them by a small group of revolutionaries that had no respect for property rights. Most would say that their claims are too ancient, or that the change in circumstance that resulted from the overthrow of the British prevents any such claims from being recognized through customary international law because as the British recognized the independence of the colonies the United States thereafter had sovereign status to determine property rights within U.S. territory; but this is no more than to say that any commitment may be repudiated at the price of future credibility.
See also: Martin v. Hunter's Lessee, United Empire Loyalist
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