Loyalists and the American Revolution

[Pretty Flaco]

Whatever happened to British Loyalists and monarchist-supporters after the American Revolution? We always hear about them in the textbooks but then after the revolutionary war... they suddenly disappear! gasp!

I'd like to know how it played out for them after the war.

[Os Cangaceiros]

Some of them fled to British territory in the Caribbean. Others stayed in the thirteen colonies and presumably went on with their lives after the revolution.

[Red Commissar]

ES pretty much said it. Some also went to Florida and Canada. Wikipedia has an acceptable entry on the loyalists:


The vast majority of the white Loyalists (450-500,000) remained where they lived during and after the war. Starting in the mid-1780s a small percentage of those who had left returned to the United States.

During and following the end of the American Revolutionary War in 1783, Loyalists (especially soldiers and former officials) could choose evacuation. Loyalists whose roots were not yet deeply embedded in the New World were more likely to leave; older people who had familial bonds and had acquired friends, property, and a degree of social respectability were more likely to remain in the US.

Approximately 10 to 15 % left (about 62,000 white Loyalists, or about 2 % of the total US population of 3 million in 1783). Many of these later emigrants were motivated by the desire to take advantage of the British government's offer of free land, but many also were disillusioned by the continuing hostility to Tories and eventually decided to leave the new Republic.

About 46,000 went to British North America (present-day Canada). Of these 34,000 went to Nova Scotia, 2,000 to Prince Edward Island and 10,000 to Ontario. 7,000 went to Great Britain and 9,000 to the Bahamas and British colonies in the Caribbean. The 34,000 who went to Nova Scotia, where they were not well received by the Nova Scotians who were mostly descendants of New Englanders settled there before the Revolution, so the colony of New Brunswick, until 1784 part of Nova Scotia, was created for the 14,000 who had settled in those parts. Of the 46,000 who went to Canada, 10,000 went to the Province of Quebec, especially the Eastern Townships of Quebec and modern-day Ontario. The Haldimand Collection is the main source for historians in the study of American Loyalist settlement in Canada.

Realizing the importance of some type of consideration, on November 9, 1789, Lord Dorchester, the governor of Quebec, declared that it was his wish to "put the mark of Honour upon the Families who had adhered to the Unity of the Empire." As a result of Dorchester's statement, the printed militia rolls carried the notation:

Those Loyalists who have adhered to the Unity of the Empire, and joined the Royal Standard before the Treaty of Separation in the year 1783, and all their Children and their Descendants by either sex, are to be distinguished by the following Capitals, affixed to their names: U.E. Alluding to their great principle The Unity of the Empire.

The postnominals "U.E." are rarely seen today, but the influence of the Loyalists on the evolution of Canada remains. Their ties to Britain and their antipathy to the United States provided the strength needed to keep Canada independent and distinct in North America. The Loyalists' basic distrust of republicanism and "mob rule" influenced Canada's gradual path to independence. 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.

The wealthiest and most prominent Loyalist exiles went to Great Britain to rebuild their careers; many received pensions. Many Southern Loyalists, taking along their slaves, went to the West Indies and the Bahamas, particularly to the Abaco Islands.

Many Loyalists brought their slaves with them to Canada (mostly to areas that later became Ontario and New Brunswick) where slavery was legal. An imperial law in 1790 assured prospective immigrants to Canada that their slaves would remain their property.

Thousands of Iroquois and other Native Americans were expelled from New York and other states and resettled in Canada. The descendants 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 African-American Loyalists settled in Nova Scotia but emigrated again for Sierra Leone after facing discrimination there.

Benjamin Thompson (Count Rumford) was a loyalist who fled to London when the war began. He became a scientist noted for pioneering thermodynamics and for his research on artillery ordnance. He expressed a desire to return to the United States in 1799 and was eagerly sought by the Americans (who needed help in fighting the Quasi-War with France). Rumford eventually decided to stay in London because he was engrossed with establishing the Royal Institution in England.

Many of the Loyalists were forced to abandon substantial amounts of property to America, and restoration of or compensation for this lost property was a major issue during the negotiation of the Jay Treaty in 1794.

[Jimmie Higgins]

Some had their wealth and land confiscated, but I do not know how widespread or systematic this was.

[Red Commissar]

Some had their wealth and land confiscated, but I do not know how widespread or systematic this was.

The wikipedia article claims that in the process of writing the Jay Treaty, that the issue of confiscated property of loyalists was a 'major' concern in their negotiations with the British

Additionally the two points of the Treaty of Paris which ended the revolution:

5. The Congress of the Confederation will "earnestly recommend" to state legislatures to recognize the rightful owners of all confiscated lands "provide for the restitution of all estates, rights, and properties, which have been confiscated belonging to real British subjects [Loyalists]";

6. United States will prevent future confiscations of the property of Loyalists;

I'm assuming if these were conditions, then the issue of confiscated property was large enough to warrant it being put down by the British as a condition for peace

[RED DAVE]

I had a friend who was descended from an old New England family. She told me that part of her family had been Loyalists and had fled to Canada while the bulk of the family were with the Revolution.

The two branches of the family stayed in touch sporadically for over a century, but they didn't meet again till about 1900. There was still some animosity from the Loyalist branch about property they had left behind in the hands of the ones who stayed behind.

RED DAVE

[syndicat]

The American "revolution" was a kind of civil war among the elite. The loyalists were part of the "establishment" at that time. One of the economic motives for the "Founding Fathers" was confiscating the lands of the loyalists. These properties were sold off. But only people with the money to buy could bid, and people connected to the government were on the "inside" and scarfed up most of the lands. Some loyalists filtered back into the country after things settled down. Most went to Canada.

In general, control over land had a lot to do with the "revolution." The brits had made a deal with the Indians after the war with France in 1763 to respect Indian lands west of the Allegheny mountains. Many of the top "revolutionary" leaders were land speculators who wanted the western lands. With the Brits out of the way, nothing would stop them from expanding west of the Alleghenies.