Loyalist (American Revolution)

Loyalists were American colonists who remained loyal to the British monarchy during the American Revolutionary War. At the time they were often called Tories, Royalists, or King's Men; Patriots called them, "persons inimical to the liberties of America." They were opposed by the Patriots, those who supported the revolution. When their cause was defeated, about 15% of the Loyalists or 65,000–70,000 fled to other parts of the British Empire, to Britain or elsewhere in British North America. The southern colonists moved mostly to Florida, which had remained loyal to the Crown, and to British Caribbean possessions, while northern colonists largely migrated to Ontario, Quebec, and Nova Scotia, where they were called United Empire Loyalists. Most were compensated with Canadian land or British cash distributed through formal claims procedures.

Historians have estimated that between 15 and 20 percent of the 2.5 million whites in the colonies were Loyalists, or about 500,000 men, women and children.

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