United Empire Loyalists

United Empire Loyalists

UNITED EMPIRE LOYALISTS

UNITED EMPIRE LOYALISTS was the name given to inhabitants of the thirteen colonies who remained loyal to the British crown during the American Revolution, and particularly to those who migrated to present-day Canada. In 1783 and 1784 the United States lost between 50,000 and 60,000 people, many of whom became the backbone of English-speaking pioneer settlement in Canada. Historians estimate that perhaps 100,000 United Empire Loyalists fled America during the revolutionary period. They emigrated mainly from New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island in 1783, and to Upper and Lower Canada (now Ontario and Quebec) in 1784.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Calhoon, Robert M. The Loyalists in Revolutionary America, 1760–1781. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1973.

Norton, Mary Beth. The British-Americans: The Loyalist Exiles in England, 1774–1789. Boston: Little, Brown, 1972.

Lawrence J.Burpee/e. m.

See alsoCanada, Relations with ; Revolution, American: Political History .

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"United Empire Loyalists." Dictionary of American History. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"United Empire Loyalists." Dictionary of American History. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3401804333.html

"United Empire Loyalists." Dictionary of American History. 2003. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3401804333.html

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United Empire Loyalists

United Empire Loyalists in Canadian history, name applied to those settlers who, loyal to the British cause in the American Revolution, migrated from the Thirteen Colonies to Canada. Some emigrated during the Revolution, but the greatest number left the colonies in 1783–84, after the Treaty of Paris had failed to make adequate provision for the Loyalists . Numbers estimated at up to 50,000 went to British North America—principally to Nova Scotia and Quebec. In Nova Scotia, so many settled north of the Bay of Fundy that this region was separated from Nova Scotia and organized as the province of New Brunswick in 1784. Others, flocking to the region north of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River, were numerous enough to cause the creation (1791) of Upper Canada (Ontario).

Bibliography: See studies by W. S. Wallace (1914, repr. 1972) and A. G. Bradley (1932, repr. 1972).

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"United Empire Loyalists." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"United Empire Loyalists." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-UntdEm.html

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United Empire Loyalists

United Empire Loyalists Some 50,000 Americans who were loyal to the British king George III and who emigrated to Canada during the War of INDEPENDENCE. By 1784 about 35,000 had settled in Nova Scotia and some 10,000 in the Upper St Lawrence valley and round Lake Ontario, an area designated Upper Canada (later Ontario) in 1791. They came mainly from New England and New York and among them were several distinguished loyalists, or Tories as they were called, as well as thousands of farmers and artisans. In 1789 the governor-general ordained that all who had arrived by 1783 could put “UE” for United Empire Loyalist after their and their descendants' names — later arrivals were called “Late Loyalists”. These “marks of honour” were treasured throughout the 19th century.

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"United Empire Loyalists." A Dictionary of World History. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"United Empire Loyalists." A Dictionary of World History. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O48-UnitedEmpireLoyalists.html

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United Empire Loyalists

United Empire Loyalists was the term coined by the governor of British North America, Lord Dorchester, in 1789 to designate those citizens of the thirteen colonies who remained loyal to Britain during the American Revolution and fled to what is now Canada or returned to England.

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JOHN CANNON. "United Empire Loyalists." A Dictionary of British History. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

JOHN CANNON. "United Empire Loyalists." A Dictionary of British History. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O43-UnitedEmpireLoyalists.html

JOHN CANNON. "United Empire Loyalists." A Dictionary of British History. 2004. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O43-UnitedEmpireLoyalists.html

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