A deep dive into U.S. history

Rick Morain

The deeper one dives into history, the more nuanced and complicated it seems. The nuances are all-important, though, because they enrich our understanding of human nature and of why things happened as they did.

Last month marked the 250th anniversary of the skirmishes at Lexington and Concord, Mass., generally recognized as the opening round of American Revolution military action. Americans today rightly celebrate the bravery and determination of the colonials who stood against the vaunted British army, which was recognized at the time as the Western world’s most powerful fighting force.

As it’s usually taught, American Revolutionary War history details the story of an infant nation’s arduous eight-year struggle for independence from the British crown. That’s the main story, and it should be. No other Western colonial people had ever successfully seceded from its overlords. In that sense, the United States is the oldest modern nation.

It’s easy to imagine a single-minded populace, unanimous in its opposition to British oppression, and totally supportive of General Washington and his combined military forces. It’s easy, but it’s not the way it was.

The population of the United States in 1780 totaled about 2,600,000. Around 2,100,000 were white and around 500,000 were black. (I’m using the term “United States” because the nation was created by its own law in 1776, and operated as a new country under the Articles of Confederation after 1777 until 1789, when the Constitution was adopted.)

Historians generally agree that at the outset of the war in 1775, somewhere around 15 or 20% of the adult white male population were Loyalists; that is, they opposed the revolution and remained loyal to the British crown. Their number totaled around 400,000.

Another 35% or so tried to avoid involvement in the conflict altogether: pacifists, recent immigrants and/or the simply apolitical.

The key point to these statistics: those who actively supported the Revolution numbered only a bare majority at most, and more likely constituted about 40 or 45%.

The orientation of Loyalists derived from several factors. Generally they were older, had longer tenure in America and were uncomfortable with radical change. Some of them depended on British trade for their livelihoods or had strong ties with relatives in Great Britain. Some liked the idea of independence but preferred that it arrive organically over time, rather than through armed revolt. And some saw the Revolution as morally wrong.

Demographics shaped the approach to the Revolution for others. Many backcountry whites in the South, chafing under the political power of coastal planters, cast their lot with the British instead. Many blacks, promised freedom from slavery by the British, opposed their white revolutionary state governments and that of the United States as well.

After the war, most loyalists quietly accepted the new order and went on with their lives. However, about 10%, maybe 50,000 or so, left the newly-minted United States. A few of those later returned, but most made a new home in Canada, the West Indies, northern Florida (under British ownership at that time) or Britain itself.

The departure of wealthy and influential Loyalist families significantly changed American society and government after independence was achieved. In Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania, a new governing class of Patriots and “Whigs” supplanted the former royalist and “Tory” governments, democratizing power to a considerable degree.

Understanding the existence of a sizable pro-British minority among the American population during the Revolutionary War should boost our appreciation of the Patriots’ accomplishment. While only a few Loyalists actually took up arms against Washington’s forces, non-support for the Patriots’ cause added to the difficulty of achieving revolutionary success.

The Patriots had not only to defeat the British military (and its tribal allies); they had to do so in the face of significant opposition on their home territory. Americans need to be aware of that fact when they celebrate the Revolutionary War.

Rick Morain is a reporter and columnist with the Jefferson Herald.