Loyalists

American Loyalists, or "Tories" as their opponents called them, opposed the Revolution, and many took up arms against the rebels. Most educated Americans, whether Loyalist or Revolutionary, accepted John Locke's theory of natural rights and limited government. Loyalists wanted to pursue peaceful forms of protest because they believed that violence would give rise to mob rule or tyranny. The Loyalists were generally passive, waiting for London to send in an army to suppress the rebellion. Most loyalists were wealthy, well-educated conservative people who supported British authority in order to maintain domestic stability, and they would be able to maintain their current standards of living. Some Loyalists just considered themselves realists, and they weren't willing to sacrifice for a war that was inevitably going to be won by the larger, more elite, British military.Exact numbers of these groups are not available.Anglican clergymen and many wealthy landowners were often Loyalists. The ranks of the merchants and lawyers were more evenly divided.Loyalists probably were in the majority in New York, New Jersey and Georgia, but were weakest in the oldest colonies, Virginia and Massachusetts.More than 4,000 claims were made by Loyalists after the war, but the U.S. government dragged its feet on an issue that clearly had little public support. At the end of the war, thousands of Loyalists left the country; 30,000 departed from New York alone. Many from the North fled into Canada, particularly to Nova Scotia, while others in the South went to the Bahamas and West Indies. Homesickness was common and caused some to return to the United States. A number of the early returns were treated harshly, but it cooled over time.