Radicals, Reconciliation and Revolution: A Loyalists Perspective

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With the passing of the Intolerable Acts, the colonist had finally had enough. Between September 5 and October 26 1774 the First Continental Congress met and elected representatives to respond to the Intolerable Acts passed by Parliament.[11] The skirmishes between patriots at Concord and Lexington along with the call for freedom from the tyranny of Parliament and the Crown had won enough support within the Continental Congress that the Declaration of Independence was drafted and sent to King George, enumerating the perceived injustices in the colonies. Loyalist Thomas Hutchinson published a 32-page rebuttal to the Declaration of Independence shortly after it was published. In his rebuttal he points out the various claims for independence as being “false and frivolous”,[12] He also points out some of the inconsistencies such as the following excerpt:

In what sense all men are created equal, or how far life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness may be said to be unalienable. Only I could wish to ask the Delegates of Maryland, Virginia, and the Carolinas how their Constituents justify the depriving more than an hundred thousand Africans of their rights to liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and in some degree to their lives, if these rights are so absolutely unalienable[13]

Thomas Hutchinson closed his rebuttal with the comment “Discerning men have concealed their sentiments, because under the present free government in America, no man may, by writing or speaking, contradict any part of this Declaration without being deemed an enemy to his country, and exposed to the rage and fury of the populace.”[14] This is an interesting insight into the beliefs of many Loyalists during the time of the Revolution.

While no exact figures are documented as to the numbers of loyalists in comparison to the number of patriots. In his book Tories, fighting for the King in America’s first Civil War, author Thomas B. Allen wrote that “the estimate of the number of Loyalists ranged from 441,000 to 556,080 and that of the 772 battles and skirmishes during the revolt, Loyalists fought in 576 of them”[15]. It is often stated that only about one third of the population was in favor of the revolution and that a large majority of the population remained neutral or were loyal to the British. In his article Localism, evangelicalism, and loyalism: The sources of discontent in the revolutionary Chesapeake, Keith Mason discussed some of the problems Patriots had with Loyalists, he noted, “In the lower counties of Somerset and Worcester, Tories outnumbered Patriots by as many as two or three to one.”[16] with such a large number of loyalist or even neutral colonists, the numbers appeared to favor the British in any open conflict. It is clear that the population of the colonies was noticeably divided into three camps, the loyalists, the patriots and those who choose to remain neutral in the conflict.

Prior to, and during the war, the Loyalists presented their own counter-arguments against patriot propaganda in the hopes of swaying neutral colonist to remain loyal. They printed their own accounts of the violent and dangerous acts perpetrated by the patriots in the name of freedom, and urged calmer heads to sue for reconciliation with Britain. Had the neutral colonist joined in the cries for peace, the tide of the war would have quickly turned in favor of the British which made remaining loyal to the crown a sensible choice for many colonists.

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Bibliography

Allen, Thomas B. "Tories Fighting for the King in America's First Civil War." tories fighting for the king. 2010. http://www.toriesfightingfortheking.com/WhoTories.htm (accessed May 20, 2016).

Brackemyre, Ted. "The American Revolution." US History Scene. April 10, 2015. http://ushistoryscene.com/article/am-rev-european-ordeal/ (accessed April 20, 2016).

Cooper, Myles. "The Patriots of North America: A Sketch." America in Class: Making the REvolution: America 1763 - 1791. 1775. http://americainclass.org/sources/makingrevolution/rebellion/text1/cooperpatriotsnorthamerica.pdf (accessed April 20, 2016).

Great Awakening Staff. "Significance of the Great Awakening: Roots of Revolution." Great Awakening. June 2011. http://www.great-awakening.com/roots-of-revolution/ (accessed April 20, 2016).

Hewitt, N. A. and Lawson, S. F. "Exploring American Histories: To 1865." Soomo Learning, 2016.

Hutchinson, Thomas. "A loyalist's Rebuttal to the Declaration of Independence." America in Class: Making the Revolution: America 1763 - 1791. 1776. http://americainclass.org/sources/makingrevolution/rebellion/text8/hutchinsonrebuttal.pdf (accessed June 2, 2016).

Inglis, Charles. "The Deceiver Unmasked; Or, Loyalty and Interest United: In Answer to a Pamphlet Entitled Common Sense." America in Class: Making the Revolution: America, 1763 - 1791. January 1776. http://americainclass.org/sources/makingrevolution/rebellion/text7/inglisdeceiverunmasked.pdf (accessed April 20, 2016).

Mason, Keith. "Localism, Evangelicalism, and Loyalism: The Sources of Discontent in the Revolutionary Chesapeake." In The Journal of Southern History 56, No. 1, 23-54. 1990.

Nash, Gary B. "The Social and Intellectual Legacy of the American Revolution." The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. March 26, 2012. http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/war-for-independence/essays/social-and-intellectual-legacy-american-revolution (accessed May 10, 2016).

Oliver, Peter. "Origin and Progress of the American Rebellion." America in Class; Making the Revolution: America 1763 - 1791. February 23, 1775. http://americainclass.org/sources/makingrevolution/rebellion/text2/oliverloyalistsviolence.pdf (accessed April 20, 2016).

Thomas, Pegg. "Restraining Act of 1699 - The Wool Act ." Colonial Quills. May 27, 2016. http://colonialquills.blogspot.com/2016/05/restraining-act-of-1699-wool-act.html (accessed June 2, 2016).

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