LOYALISTS

The old cliché that winners write the history is applicable when discussing the domestic losers of the American Revolution, the Loyalists. Found in every colony, Loyalists were those American colonists who sided with the British throughout the entire imperial crisis, including the Revolutionary War. Too often, Loyalists are classified as those Americans who supported Britain during the Revolutionary War; actually, however, Loyalists were those who supported Britain from the Stamp Act of 1765 through the Revolution. Historians are unsure of the actual percentage of colonists who considered themselves Loyalists, but the fact that approximately eighty thousand people fled the country after the American victory in 1783 suggests that a large number of people remained loyal to the crown during the entire conflict.

location and strength of loyalists

John Adams once remarked that the American people could be broken into thirds regarding their feelings on the Revolution, with one-third in support, one-third against, and the other third neutral. An educated guess at best, historians view Adams's remarks with some skepticism. In all likelihood, but with no certainty, there were greater numbers who either opposed the Revolution or remained neutral. What is known is that the Loyalists were most numerous and politically powerful in New York and South Carolina. This concentration of Loyalists in New York is attributed to the diverse ethnicities of its inhabitants, many of whom believed that Britain and its empire offered a greater degree of liberty and religious toleration than an American republic likely would, while those in South Carolina embraced and supported the empire for the commercial success that it made possible. Loyalism also persisted in the frontier regions of the colonies, especially the frontiers of the southern colonies from Georgia to North Carolina. In part, loyalism there, as in New York, can be attributed to the ethnic and religious diversity of the frontier and the protection from a dominant Anglo-American culture they thought the empire could provide. Finally, the Iroquois nation can be labeled as Loyalist, for it too supported the British cause.

reasons for supporting britain

Loyalists could be found among all socioeconomic classes, but the best-known and most vocal opponents of the Revolution came from the elites of the respective colonies. Indeed, if the American colonies can be said to have had any form of aristocracy, it consisted primarily of persons who became Loyalists. Most of the elites owed their political position to royal appointments to office, although many of the elite Loyalists were also lawyers or merchants. For example, perhaps the most famous Loyalist, Thomas Hutchinson (1711–1780) of Massachusetts, was not only a wealthy merchant, but was also the crownappointed governor of his colony. Hutchinson's attorney general, Samuel Sewall, owed his position to not just his ability but also to connections within the British government. Even William Franklin (1731–1813), governor of New Jersey, owed his appointment to his famous father, Benjamin, who used his political connections to secure the post for his son. Thus, many of the Loyalists in the colonial political elite owed their social standing to the British monarchy. The many colonial leaders who received support from the British government were reluctant to address colonial grievances, which only further angered the colonists. Ironically, however, the Loyalists never formed an organized, cohesive body of opposition to the revolutionaries. One of the consequences of the Revolution was the crumbling of the Loyalists' political power, which created a power vacuum that the revolutionaries filled.

Along with the political connections that tied the Loyalists to Britain, those Loyalists outside of politics, namely merchants, remained loyal because, in their estimation, the empire provided the best protection of their livelihoods. The mercantile system of the empire, as well as the strength of the British navy, afforded merchants opportunity for wealth and protection of their wares. Even those Loyalists who were neither politicians nor merchants remained loyal to England, in part because of the protection the British army provided on the frontier. In other cases, Loyalists did not embrace the republicanism of the revolutionaries or simply wished to remain British subjects.

Support for the British came from places and people beyond the cities and the elites. In the frontier regions of the colonies, support for Britain ran high. It is important to note that frontiersmen did not necessary disagree with the arguments of the Patriots. Rather, they supported the British for two simple and self-interested reasons. First, they feared the further encroachment of settlers into the frontier regions. Only the British, they believed, would be able to halt westward expansion past the Appalachian Mountains. Second, they believed that only British troops could protect them from the various Indian tribes on the frontier.

A final reason for supporting Britain lies in ethnicity. Too often, the natural assumption of both historians and laity is that Loyalists were either English born or of English heritage. Such an assumption, however, is incorrect, as a very large number—the exact percentage is unknown—of Loyalists belonged to non-English ethnic groups. Among the more prominent groups that for the most part supported Britain in the Revolution were the Dutch, Germans, and Scots. To find precise motives for their loyalty is difficult, yet it is not unreasonable to assume that they sought British protection from what would be an Anglo-American cultural majority in an American nation. They may have also understood that minorities were more likely to be protected in a larger empire than in a smaller nation controlled by local majorities.

loyalist ideology

Along with the socioeconomic and political reasons, ideological reasons guided loyalism. Generally, and in part because they never formed an organized resistance, Loyalists did not have the same overarching ideology that guided the revolutionaries. There were, however, common threads of thought. The most common characteristic of Loyalist thought was its conservatism. Nearly all Loyalists of any consequence believed in the political status quo. Undoubtedly, this conservatism stemmed in part from a desire to preserve political power, but Loyalists also believed that any disruption of the traditional political arrangement was hazardous to the body politic. Furthermore, Loyalists tied their commitment to the status quo to their belief in aristocracy and deference. Many Loyalists believed that society could function only with an established and ruling aristocracy—not one that was necessarily hereditary or titled but elite nonetheless—with each level of society deferential to those above it.

Further evidence of Loyalists' conservative ideology was their use of history in arguments over politics, society, and human nature. Whereas many revolutionaries relied on the theories of philosophers such as David Hume (1711–1776) or John Locke (1632–1704) to justify not only rebellion but also human nature, Loyalists ignored theorists, relying instead on historical precedents or incidents to argue against revolution and to demonstrate an innately corrupt human nature. From their use of history and beliefs about human nature, the Loyalists argued that the revolutionaries were a self-seeking political faction bent on disrupting the status quo by attempting to establish a democratic or mob government based on a majoritarian tyranny.

Much like their Revolutionary counterparts, the Loyalists embraced the traditional view of liberty as being freedom from arbitrary power. Where the two camps separated was on the degree of order needed to maintain liberty. Many revolutionaries believed that order, while necessary for liberty to flourish, must be kept to a minimum; otherwise, it would result in tyranny. Loyalists, again exhibiting their conservative ideology, argued that order was the fundamental ingredient needed for liberty to thrive. Loyalists did not embrace absolutism; far from it, they insisted that political society must first acknowledge and then follow a clearly defined rule of order before liberty could exist. This belief in order explains why so many Loyalists were shocked and terrified at the numerous instances of mob action during the imperial crisis leading up to the Revolution, labeling such action as lawlessness or licentiousness. Ironically, many Loyalists believed that the colonists had genuine grievances, especially regarding the Stamp Act and other revenue-garnishing measures. Yet because Loyalists also believed in the enforcement of law and order, they risked their social and political standing by supporting the enforcement of such measures. Thomas Hutchinson is perhaps the best example of the risk many Loyalists placed themselves under. Although Hutchinson, the lieutenant governor of Massachusetts at the time, opposed the Stamp Act, he nonetheless believed in the enforcement of the act. Although he was not a tax collector and played no enforcement role, protesters stormed his family home and then ransacked and set fire to it.

american treatment of loyalists

The destruction of Hutchinson's house is perhaps the most extreme example of what some Loyalists underwent during the imperial crisis. Yet during the Revolutionary War, many of them suffered persecution at the hands of the revolutionaries. Each state governments passed a Test Act requiring persons to take an oath forswearing allegiance to King George III. Anyone who refused the oath could face several penalties, including imprisonment, disenfranchisement, additional taxes, land confiscation, and banishment. In November 1777, the Continental Congress recommended that the states confiscate Loyalists' property. The recommendation came somewhat late, as most of the states had already confiscated large amounts of Loyalists' land. Also, by 1777 most states had passed legislation that declared loyalism a treasonous act. Pennsylvania, for example, drew up a list, known as the "black list," containing the names of 490 Loyalists who were convicted of treason for supporting the British. Although the Pennsylvanian governor pardoned a number of these Loyalists, some executions occurred. Not surprisingly, those states where Loyalists were the strongest, such as New York and South Carolina, had the most stringent anti-Loyalist legislation, as well as the heaviest level of enforcement.

The confiscation of land and other legislative measures were not the only methods by which the Patriots made the Loyalists suffer. More often than facing formal, legal punishments, Loyalists had to bear informal consequences such as becoming social outcasts in their own neighborhoods or being forced to leave their communities by extralegal committees. Other such consequences were losing servants, being denied services, or losing customers. Violent extralegal punishments included tarring and feathering, often followed by forced "rides" on a rail—a painful punishment in which the victim, always male, had a ragged and often splintered rail scooted between his legs.

Perhaps the harshest punishment many Loyalists (along with revolutionaries) underwent was the splitting of their families over the war. As in every conflict with a civil war dimension, families were sometimes torn asunder, with family members taking opposite sides. The American Revolution was no different. The most notable example is Benjamin Franklin and his son William. A fervent revolutionary, Benjamin suffered humiliation over the fact that his son, the last royal governor of New Jersey, remained a strong Loyalist. So angry was Benjamin at his son's refusal to become a revolutionary that Franklin disowned William. Despite several attempts by William after the war to reunite with his father, the two never reconciled.

Because of all their ill treatment at the hands of the Americans during the war as well as their fidelity to the crown, approximately eighty thousand Loyalists fled America. While a number of states forced the exile of some Loyalists, the overwhelming majority fled on their own accord. Some traveled to London and other parts of England in hopes of either settling down or influencing the government in its conduct of the war. Others traveled to Jamaica or elsewhere in the British Caribbean seeking a new life under British rule. A large number of Loyalists sojourned to Upper Canada, where they settled in areas such as southern Ontario. The overwhelming majority of exiled Loyalists, however, traveled to Nova Scotia, where they lived the rest of their lives in settled communities. During the 1780s, some exiled Loyalists returned to America, where they were reintegrated into society.

The Treaty of Paris of 1783 concerned itself with American treatment of Loyalists in three of its ten sections. Article 4 allowed the Loyalists' American creditors to attempt recovery of any contracted debt owed to them. Article 5, among the longest sections of the document, required the Continental Congress to recommend to the states that all confiscated land and other property of Loyalists be returned to them and that any law that targeted Loyalists be reconsidered and revised. The article also ensured the physical protection of Loyalists who returned to the country to retrieve any confiscated property. Article 6 of the treaty was the last to deal with the Loyalists. It prohibited any further confiscation of Loyalist property and called for the release of any Loyalists imprisoned because of their loyalism.

During the 1780s, a large number of Loyalists, including those who returned to their homeland as well as a smaller number who remained abroad, attempted to regain their confiscated property as provided for by the treaty. Not surprisingly, these attempts led to a great deal of litigation in the states. Much of it went on well into the nineteenth century, with the Loyalists most often meeting with some success. Perhaps the most well-known court cases concerning the recovering of property were the those of Fairfax's Devisee v. Hunter's Lessee (1812) and Martin v. Hunter's Lessee (1816). These related cases, decided during the tenure of Chief Justice John Marshall, originated in Virginia within five years of the treaty and were decided in favor of the Loyalist, Lord Fairfax.

british treatment of the loyalists

In those areas controlled by the British army, the Loyalists obviously did not suffer the violence that beset those in Patriot-held territory. But while the British army afforded protection, the Loyalists often complained that it ignored them, either by not listening to their advice or by not trusting them enough to allow them to join the army. Although there is some indication that the British intended to organize Loyalists, such plans were never more than plans, as the British made no serious attempt to form them into a fighting force. Loyalists were also quick to criticize the inept campaigning of some British generals and the failure of the British to restore civil government in areas under their control. In sum, while the British in North America did not treat the Loyalists with violence, as the Patriot side often did, their conduct was, nevertheless, inept.

Those Loyalists who fled to London were at first welcome guests of the British government. Many of the more prominent Loyalists received audiences with high-ranking members of the British government. Thomas Hutchinson, for example, met with King George III. Soon, however, as the number of exiles increased, their novelty wore off. Many American Loyalists, even those of high standing in the colonies, were treated with disdain and were often cheated out of money and other possessions. A good number of Loyalists who fled to England were disgusted with what they believed to be the decadence and luxury of London. This shock at London's size and perceived decadence, coupled with homesickness, caused many English exiles to attempt to return to their homes in America.

See alsoRevolution as Civil War: Patriot-Loyalist Conflict .

bibliography

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Aaron N. Coleman