Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

LOYALISTS

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 80 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

LOYALISTS or TORIES, in See also:

America, the name given to the colonists who were loyal to See also:Great See also:Britain during the See also:War of See also:Independence. In New See also:England and the See also:Middle Colonies loyalism had a religious as well as a See also:political basis. It represented the See also:Anglican as opposed to the Calvinistic See also:influence. With scarcely an exception the Anglican ministers were ardent Loyalists, the writers and pamphleteers were the ministers and teachers of that faith, and virtually all the military or See also:civil leaders were members of that See also:church. The Loyalists See also:north of See also:Maryland represented the old Tory traditions. In the See also:southern colonies, where Anglicanism predominated, the See also:division did not follow religious lines so closely. In See also:Virginia and See also:South Carolina the Whig leaders were almost without exception members of the established church. Out of twenty Episcopal ministers in South Carolina only five were Loyalists. Although many of the wealthy Anglican planters of the See also:tide-See also:water See also:section fought for the See also:mother See also:country, the Tories derived their See also:chief support from the non-Anglican Germans and Scotch in the upper country. The natural leaders in these colonies were members of the same church as the See also:governor and vied with him in their zeal for the support of that church. Since See also:religion was not an issue, the disputes over questions purely political in See also:character, such as See also:taxation, See also:distribution of See also:land and See also:appointment of officials, were all the more See also:bitter. The settlers on the frontier were snubbed both socially and politically by the See also:low-country See also:aristocracy, and in North Carolina and South Carolina were denied courts of See also:justice and any adequate See also:representation in the colonial See also:assembly.

Naturally they refused to follow such leaders in a war in See also:

defence of principles in which they had no material See also:interest. They did not drink See also:tea and had little occasion for the use of stamps, since they were not engaged in See also:commerce and had no courts in which to use legal documents. The failure of the See also:British See also:officers to realize that conditions in the south differed from those in the north, and the tendency on their See also:part to treat all Dissenters as rebels, were partly responsible for the ultimate loss of their southern See also:campaign. The Scotch-Irish in the south, influenced perhaps by memories of commercial and religious oppression in See also:Ulster, were mostly in sympathy with the See also:American cause. Taking the Thirteen Colonies as a whole, loyalism See also:drew its strength largely from the following classes: (I) the See also:official class—men holding positions in the civil, military and See also:naval services, and their immediate families and social connexions, as, for example, See also:Lieutenant-Governor See also:Bull in South Carolina, Governor See also:Dunmore in Virginia and Governor See also:Tryon in New See also:York; (2) the professional classes—lawyers, physicians, teachers and ministers, such as See also:Benjamin Kissam, See also:Peter See also:Van Schaack and Dr Azor Betts of New York and Dr Myles See also:Cooper, See also:president of See also:King's See also:College (now See also:Columbia University) ; (3) large landed proprietors and their tenants, e.g. See also:William Wragg in South Carolina and the De Lanceys, De Peysters and Van Cortlandts in New York; (4) the wealthy commercial classes in New York, See also:Albany, See also:Philadelphia, See also:Baltimore and See also:Charleston, whose business interests would be affected by war; (5) natural conservatives of the type of See also:Joseph See also:Galloway of See also:Pennsylvania, and numerous political trimmers and opportunists. Before 1776 the Loyalists may be divided into two See also:groups. There was a minority of extremists led by the Anglican ministers and teachers, whofavoured an unquestioning obedience to all British legislation. The moderate See also:majority disapproved of the mother country's unwise colonial policy and advocated opposition to it through legally organized bodies. Many even sanctioned non-importation and non-exportation agreements, and took part in the See also:election of delegates to the First See also:Continental See also:Congress. The aggressive attitude of Congress, the subsequent See also:adoption of the See also:Declaration of Independence, and the refusal to consider See also:Lord See also:Howe's conciliatory propositions finally forced them into armed opposition. Very few really sanctioned the British policy as a whole, but all See also:felt that it was their first See also:duty to fight for the preservation of the See also:empire and to leave constitutional questions for a later See also:settlement.

See also:

John See also:Adams's estimate that one-third of all the See also:people in the thirteen states in 1776 were Loyalists was perhaps approximately correct. In New England the number was small, perhaps largest in See also:Connecticut and in the See also:district which after-wards became the See also:state of See also:Vermont. New York was the chief stronghold. The " De Lancey party " or the " Episcopalian party " included the majority of the wealthy farmers, merchants and bankers, and practically all communicants of the Anglican church. New See also:Jersey, Pennsylvania, See also:Delaware, Maryland and Virginia contained large and influential Loyalist minorities; North Carolina was about equally divided; South Carolina probably, and See also:Georgia certainly, had Loyalist majorities. Some of the Loyalists joined the See also:regular British See also:army, others organized guerilla bands and with their See also:Indian See also:allies inaugurated a reign of terror on the frontier from New York to Georgia. New York alone furnished about 15,00o Loyalists to the British army and See also:navy, and about 8500 See also:militia, making in all 23,500 Loyalist troops. This was more than any other See also:colony supplied, perhaps more than all the others combined. See also:Johnson's " Loyal Greens " and See also:Butler's " Tory Rangers " served under See also:General St Leger in the See also:Burgoyne campaign of 1777, and the latter took part in the See also:Wyoming and See also:Cherry Valley massacres of 1778. The strength of these Loyalists in arms was weakened in New York by General See also:Sullivan's success at See also:Newtown (now See also:Elmira) on the 29th of See also:August 1779, and broken in the north-See also:west by See also:George See also:Rogers See also:Clark's victories at Kaskaskia and See also:Vincennes in 1778 and 1779, and in the south by the battles of King's See also:Mountain and See also:Cowpens in 1780. Severe See also:laws were passed against the Loyalists in all the states. They were in general disfranchised and forbidden to hold See also:office or to practise See also:law.

Eight of the states formally banished certain prominent Tories either conditionally or unconditionally, and the remaining five, Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, did practically the same indirectly. Social and commercial See also:

ostracism forced many others to flee. Their See also:property was usually confiscated for the support of the American cause. They went to England, to the West Indies, to the See also:Bahamas, to See also:Canada and to New York, See also:Newport, Charleston and other cities under British See also:control. According to a trustworthy estimate 6o,000 persons went into See also:exile during the years from 1775 to 1787. The great majority settled in Nova See also:Scotia and in Upper and See also:Lower Canada, where they and their descendants became known as " See also:United Empire Loyalists." Those who remained in the United States suffered for many years, and all the laws against them were not finally repealed until after the War of 1812. The British See also:government, however, endeavoured to look after the interests of its loyal colonists. During the war a number of the prominent Loyalists (e.g. Joseph Galloway) were appointed to lucrative positions, and rations were issued to many Loyalists in the cities, such as New York, which were held by the• British. During the See also:peace negotiations at See also:Paris the treatment of the Loyalists presented a difficult problem, Great Britain at first insisting that the United States should agree to remove their disabilities and to See also:act toward them in a spirit of conciliation. The American commissioners, knowing that a treaty with such provisions would not be accepted at See also:home, and that the general government had, moreover, no See also:power to bind the various states in such a See also:matter, refused to accede; but in the treaty, as finally ratified, the United States agreed (by See also:Article V.) to recommend to the legislatures of the various states that Loyalists should " have See also:free See also:liberty to go to any part or parts of any of the thirteen United States, and therein to remain twelve months, unmolested in their endeavours to obtain the restitution of such of their estates, rights and properties as may have been confiscated," that acts and laws in the premises be reconsidered and revised, and that restitution of estates, &c., should be made. The See also:sixth article provided " that there shall be no future confiscations made, nor any prosecutions commenced against any See also:person " for having taken part in the war; and that those in confinement on such charges should be liberated.

In Great Britain opponents of the government asserted that the Loyalists had virtually been betrayed; in America the treaty aroused opposition as making too great concessions to them. Congress made the promised recommendations, but they were unheeded by the various states, in spite of the advocacy by See also:

Alexander See also:Hamilton and others of a conciliatory treatment of the Loyalists; and Great Britain, in See also:retaliation, refused until 1796 to evacuate the western posts as the treaty prescribed. Immediately after the war See also:parliament appointed a See also:commission of five to examine the claims of the Loyalists for See also:compensation for services and losses; and to satisfy these claims and to establish Loyalists in Nova Scotia and Canada the British government expended fully f,6,000,000. See C. H. van See also:Tyne, The Loyalists in the American Revolution (New York, 1902), which contains much valuable See also:information but does not explain adequately the causes of loyalism. More useful in this respect is the monograph by A. C. Flick, Loyalism in New York during the American Revolution (New York, 1901). On the See also:biographical See also:side see Lorenzo See also:Sabine, Biographical Sketches of Loyalists of the American Revolution (2 voh.. See also:Boston, 1864); on the See also:literary side, M. C See also:Tyler, Literary See also:History of the American Revolution, 1763—1783 (2 vols., New York, 1897).

End of Article: LOYALISTS

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
LOXODROME (from Gr. Xo os, oblique, and Spoµos, co... 		[next]
LOYALTY

Site © 2006 - Net Industries