Rebels Unseat the Wealthy Loyalists

The Tea Party Fakeriots teach that our Founding Fathers hated socialism and class warfare, yet, the revolutionaries threatened to take away THE LAND AND PROPERTY of the Loyalists if they did not go along with the rabel. When many fled to Canada and Britain, their land was seized by the rebels. What they did with it, I am not sure. Did they distribute it, or, pass around the monies from the sale of this land? Did the New Federal Government take this land as payback? This is hardly Capitalism at its finest, thus, why let the Fakeriots take anything away from anybody! STOP THEM! Take away their power – now!

Jon Presco

The departure of so many royal officials, rich merchants and landed gentry destroyed the hierarchical networks that had dominated most of the colonies. In New York, the departure of key members of the DeLancy, DePester Walton and Cruger families undercut the interlocking families that largely owned and controlled the Hudson Valley. Likewise in Pennsylvania, the departure of powerful families—Penn, Allen, Chew, Shippen—destroyed the cohesion of the old upper class there. Massachusetts passed an act banishing forty-six Boston merchants in 1778, including members of some of Boston’s wealthiest families. The departure of families such as the Ervings, Winslows, Clarks, and Lloyds deprived Massachusetts of men who had thither to been leaders of networks of family and clients. The bases of the men who replaced them were much different. New men became rich merchants but they shared a spirit of republican equality that replaced the elitism and the Americans never recreated such a powerful upper class.[citation needed]One rich patriot in Boston noted in 1779 that “fellows who would have cleaned my shoes five years ago, have amassed fortunes and are riding in chariots.”[30]

The name United Empire Loyalistsis an honorific given after the fact to those American Loyalists who resettled in British North America and other British Colonies as an act of fealty to King George III after the Britishdefeat in the American Revolutionary War and prior to the Treaty of Paris. Reasons for their movement north range from loyalty to Britain, a rejection of the republican ideals of the American Revolution and an offer of free land in British North America. Many were prominent Americans whose ancestors had originally settled in the early 17th century, while a portion were recent settlers in the Thirteen Colonieswith few economic or social ties. Many had their property confiscated by the rebels[1]
These Loyalists settled in what was initially Quebec(including the Eastern Townships) and modern-day Ontario, where they received land grants of 200 acres (81 ha) per person, and in Nova Scotia(including modern-day New Brunswick). Their arrival marked the beginning of a predominantly English-speakingpopulation in the future Canadawest and east of the Quebec border. Many Loyalists from the American South brought their slaves with them as slaverywas also legal in Canada. An imperial law in 1790 assured prospective immigrants to Canada that their slaves would remain their property. However most black Loyalists were free, having been given their freedom from slavery by fighting for the British or joining British lines during the Revolution. The government helped them resettle in Canada as well, transporting nearly 3500 free blacks to New Brunswick.[2]

According to Calhoon,[14]Loyalists tended to be older and wealthier, but there were also many Loyalists of humble means. Many active Church of England members became Loyalists. Some recent arrivals from Britain, especially those from Scotland, had a high Loyalist proportion. Loyalists in the southern colonies were suppressed by the local Patriots, who controlled local and state government. Many people — including former Regulators in North Carolina— refused to join the rebellion, as they had earlier protested against corruption by local authorities who later became Revolutionary leaders. The oppression by the local Whigsduring the Regulation led to many of the residents of backcountry North Carolina sitting out the Revolution or siding with the Loyalists.[14]
In areas under rebel control, Loyalists were subject to confiscation of property, and outspoken supporters of the king were threatened with public humiliation such as tarring and feathering, or physical attack. It is not known how many Loyalist civilians were harassed by the Patriots, but the treatment was a warning to other Loyalists not to take up arms. In September 1775, William Draytonand Loyalist leader Colonel Thomas Fletchall signed a treaty of neutrality in the interior community of Ninety Six, South Carolina.[15]For actively aiding the British army when it occupied Philadelphia, two residents of the city would be executed by returning Patriot forces.

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 Indiesand 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.[28]
Thousands of Iroquoisand other Native Americanswere 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.