Editing American Revolution (section)

==Ideology and factions==
The population of the Thirteen States was not homogeneous in political views and attitudes. Loyalties and allegiances varied widely within regions and communities and even within families, and sometimes shifted during the Revolution.

===Ideology behind the revolution===
{{Main|Age of Enlightenment|American Enlightenment}}
The American Enlightenment was a critical precursor of the American Revolution. Chief among the ideas of the American Enlightenment were the concepts of natural law, natural rights, consent of the governed, individualism, property rights, self-ownership, self-determination, liberalism, republicanism, and defense against corruption. A growing number of American colonists embraced these views and fostered an intellectual environment which led to a new sense of political and social identity.<ref>Robert A. Ferguson, ''The American Enlightenment, 1750–1820'' (1997).</ref>

====Liberalism====
{{main|Liberalism in the United States}}
{{see also|Social contract|Natural rights and legal rights}}
{{Liberalism sidebar}}
[[File:Samuel_Adams_by_John_Singleton_Copley.jpg|thumb|[[Samuel Adams]] points at the [[Explanatory charter|Massachusetts Charter]], which he viewed as a constitution that protected the people's rights, in this {{circa|1772}} portrait by [[John Singleton Copley]].<ref>Alexander, ''Revolutionary Politician'', 103, 136; Maier, ''Old Revolutionaries'', 41–42.</ref>]]
[[John Locke]] is often referred to as "the philosopher of the American Revolution" due to his work in the [[Social Contract]] and [[Natural Rights]] theories that underpinned the Revolution's political ideology.<ref>{{cite book|author=Jeffrey D. Schultz|title=Encyclopedia of Religion in American Politics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dy1MNv8ou-0C&pg=PA148|year=1999|publisher=Greenwood|page=148|display-authors=etal|isbn=978-1573561303}}</ref> Locke's ''[[Two Treatises of Government]]'' published in 1689 was especially influential. He argued that all humans were created equally free, and governments therefore needed the "[[consent of the governed]]".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Waldron|first=Jenny|title=God, Locke, and Equality|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|year=2002|pages=136|doi=10.1017/CBO9780511613920|isbn=978-0-521-81001-2 }}</ref> In late eighteenth-century America, belief was still widespread in "equality by creation" and "rights by creation".<ref>Thomas S. Kidd (2010): ''God of Liberty: A Religious History of the American Revolution'', New York, pp. 6–7</ref> Locke's ideas on liberty influenced the political thinking of English writers such as [[John Trenchard (writer)|John Trenchard]], [[Thomas Gordon (writer)|Thomas Gordon]], and [[Benjamin Hoadly]], whose political ideas in turn also had a strong influence on the American Patriots.<ref>Middlekauff (2005), pp. 136–138</ref> His work also inspired symbols used in the American Revolution such as the "Appeal to Heaven" found on the [[Pine Tree Flag]], which alludes to Locke's concept of the [[right of revolution]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Right of Revolution: John Locke, Second Treatise, §§ 149, 155, 168, 207–10, 220–31, 240–43|url=https://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch3s2.html|access-date=June 7, 2024|website=press-pubs.uchicago.edu}}</ref>

The theory of the social contract influenced the belief among many of the Founders that the [[Right of revolution|right of the people to overthrow their leaders]], should those leaders betray the historic [[rights of Englishmen]], was one of the "natural rights" of man.<ref name=Toth1989>Charles W. Toth, ''Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite: The American Revolution and the European Response''. (1989) p. 26.</ref><ref name=Cohen2008>Philosophical Tales, by Martin Cohen, (Blackwell 2008), p. 101</ref> The Americans heavily relied on [[Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu|Montesquieu]]'s analysis of the wisdom of the "balanced" British Constitution ([[mixed government]]) in writing the state and national constitutions.

====Republicanism====
{{main| Republicanism in the United States}}
{{Republicanism sidebar}}
The American interpretation of [[republicanism]] was inspired by the [[Whig (British political party)|Whig party]] in Great Britain which openly criticized the corruption within the British government.<ref name= Weintraub2005>Stanley Weintraub, ''Iron Tears: America's Battle for Freedom, Britain's Quagmire, 1775–1783'' (2005) chapter 1</ref> Americans were increasingly embracing republican values, seeing Britain as corrupt and hostile to American interests.<ref>Bailyn, '' The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution'' (1992) pp. 125–137</ref> The colonists associated political corruption with ostentatious luxury and inherited aristocracy.<ref>Wood, ''The Radicalism of the American Revolution'' (1992) pp. 35, 174–175</ref>

The Founding Fathers were strong advocates of republican values, particularly [[Samuel Adams]], [[Patrick Henry]], [[John Adams]], [[Benjamin Franklin]], [[Thomas Jefferson]], [[Thomas Paine]], [[George Washington]], [[James Madison]], and [[Alexander Hamilton]],<ref>Shalhope, ''Toward a Republican Synthesis'' (1972) pp. 49–80</ref> which required men to put civic duty ahead of their personal desires. Men were [[Honour|honor bound]] by civic obligation to be prepared and willing to fight for the rights and liberties of their countrymen. John Adams wrote to [[Mercy Otis Warren]] in 1776, agreeing with some classical Greek and Roman thinkers: "Public Virtue cannot exist without private, and public Virtue is the only Foundation of Republics." He continued:
{{blockquote|There must be a positive Passion for the public good, the public Interest, Honour, Power, and Glory, established in the Minds of the People, or there can be no Republican Government, nor any real Liberty. And this public Passion must be Superior to all private Passions. Men must be ready, they must pride themselves, and be happy to sacrifice their private Pleasures, Passions, and Interests, nay their private Friendships and dearest connections, when they Stand in Competition with the Rights of society.<ref name=Rahe1994>Adams quoted in Paul A. Rahe, ''Republics Ancient and Modern: Classical Republicanism and the American Revolution. Volume: 2'' (1994) p. 23.</ref>}}

====Protestant dissenters and the Great Awakening====
{{main|English Dissenters|First Great Awakening}}
{{see also|List of clergy in the American Revolution|Quakers in the American Revolution}}
Protestant churches that had separated from the [[Church of England]], called "dissenters", were the "school of democracy", in the words of historian Patricia Bonomi.<ref name=Bonomi>Bonomi, p. 186, Chapter 7 "Religion and the American Revolution"</ref> Before the Revolution, the [[Southern Colonies]] and three of the [[New England Colonies]] had official [[established church]]es: [[Congregationalism in the United States|Congregational]] in [[Province of Massachusetts Bay|Massachusetts Bay]], [[Connecticut Colony|Connecticut]], and [[Province of New Hampshire|New Hampshire]], and the Church of England in [[Province of Maryland|Maryland]], [[Colony of Virginia|Virginia]], [[Province of North-Carolina|North-Carolina]], [[Province of South Carolina|South Carolina]], and [[Province of Georgia|Georgia]]. The [[Province of New York|New York]], [[Province of New Jersey|New Jersey]], [[Province of Pennsylvania|Pennsylvania]], [[Delaware Colony|Delaware]], and the [[Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations]] had no officially established churches.<ref name="Colonial America">{{cite book|first1=Oscar T.|last1=Barck|first2=Hugh T.|last2=Lefler|title=Colonial America|publisher=Macmillan|place=New York|year=1958|page=404}}</ref> Church membership statistics from the period are unreliable and scarce,<ref>{{cite book|first1=John Mack|last1=Faragher|title=The Encyclopedia of Colonial and Revolutionary America|publisher=Da Capo Press|year=1996|page=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofco00fara/page/359 359]|isbn=978-0306806872|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofco00fara/page/359}}</ref> but what little data exists indicates that the Church of England was not in the majority, not even in the colonies where it was the established church, and they probably did not comprise even 30 percent of the population in most localities (with the possible exception of Virginia).<ref name="Colonial America"/>
<!--- The following paragraph is hidden because it is mind-numbing statistics that have nothing whatsoever to do with this section; it's not deleted completely on the off chance that someone can edit it to make it pertinent to this section:
By the time of the Revolutionary War, 82 to 84 percent of the approximately 2,900 churches in the Thirteen Colonies were affiliated with non-Anglican Protestant denominations, with 64 to 68 percent specifically affiliated with Protestant Dissenter denominations (Congregational, Presbyterian, Baptist, or Quaker) and the other 14 to 20 percent being Lutheran, Dutch Reformed, or German Reformed. Some 14 to 16 percent remained Anglican but were declining in number, and the remaining 2 percent of the churches were Catholic.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Oscar T.|last1=Barck|first2=Hugh T.|last2=Lefler|title=Colonial America|publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers (United States)|Macmillan]]|place=New York|year=1958|page=404|quote=The number of churches of each denomination at this time has been estimated as follows: Congregational 658; Presbyterian 543; Baptist 498; Anglican 480; Quaker 295; German and Dutch Reformed 251; Lutheran 151; Catholic 50.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first1=John Mack|last1=Faragher|title=The Encyclopedia of Colonial and Revolutionary America|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofco00fara|url-access=registration|publisher=Da Capo Press|year=1996|pages=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofco00fara/page/358 358–359]|isbn=978-0306806872}}</ref> --->

[[John Witherspoon]], who was considered a "new light" [[Presbyterianism|Presbyterian]], wrote widely circulated sermons linking the American Revolution to the teachings of the [[Bible]]. Throughout the colonies, dissenting [[Protestantism|Protestant]] ministers from the Congregational, [[Baptists|Baptist]], and Presbyterian churches preached Revolutionary themes in their sermons while most [[Church of England]] clergymen preached loyalty to the king, the [[Supreme Governor of the Church of England|titular head]] of the English [[state church]].<ref name=Nelson1961>William H. Nelson, ''The American Tory'' (1961) p. 186</ref> Religious motivation for fighting tyranny transcended socioeconomic lines.<ref name=Bonomi/> The Declaration of Independence also referred to the "Laws of Nature and of Nature's God" as justification for the Americans' separation from the British monarchy: the signers of the Declaration professed their "firm reliance on the Protection of divine Providence", and they appealed to "the Supreme Judge for the rectitude of our intentions".<ref>Kidd (2010), p. 141</ref>

Historian [[Bernard Bailyn]] argues that the evangelicalism of the era challenged traditional notions of natural hierarchy by preaching that the Bible teaches that all men are equal, so that the true value of a man lies in his moral behavior, not in his class.<ref>Bailyn'', The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution'' (1992) p. 303</ref> Kidd argues that religious [[Disestablishmentarianism|disestablishment]], belief in God as the source of human rights, and shared convictions about sin, virtue, and divine providence worked together to unite rationalists and evangelicals and thus encouraged a large proportion of Americans to fight for independence from the Empire. Bailyn, on the other hand, denies that religion played such a critical role.<ref name="Thomas S. Kidd 2010">Thomas S. Kidd, ''God of Liberty: A Religious History of the American Revolution'' (2010)</ref> Alan Heimert argues that New Light anti-authoritarianism was essential to furthering democracy in colonial American society, and set the stage for a confrontation with British monarchical and aristocratic rule.<ref>Alan Heimert, ''Religion and the American Mind: From the Great Awakening to the Revolution''. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1967.</ref>

===Class and psychology of the factions===
{{main|Political culture of the United States}}
{{further||Social class in the United States|Culture of the United States}}
[[File:Philip_Dawe_(attributed),_The_Bostonians_Paying_the_Excise-man,_or_Tarring_and_Feathering_(1774).jpg|thumb|[[Patriots (American Revolution)|Patriots]] [[tarring and feathering]] Loyalist [[John Malcolm (Loyalist)|John Malcolm]] depicted in a 1774 painting]]
[[John Adams]] concluded in 1818:

{{blockquote|The Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people&nbsp;.... This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people was the real American Revolution.<ref>John Ferling, ''Setting the World Ablaze: Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and the American Revolution'' (2002) p. 281</ref>}}

In the mid-20th century, historian [[Leonard Woods Labaree]] identified eight characteristics of the Loyalists that made them essentially conservative, opposite to the characteristics of the Patriots.<ref name="Labaree, 1948 pp. 164-65">Labaree, ''Conservatism in Early American History'' (1948) pp. 164–165</ref> Loyalists tended to feel that resistance to the Crown was morally wrong, while the Patriots thought that morality was on their side.<ref name="Hull 1978 pp. 344">Hull et al., ''Choosing Sides'' (1978) pp. 344–366</ref><ref name="Wallace, 1972 pp. 167">Burrows and Wallace, ''The American Revolution'' (1972) pp. 167–305</ref> Loyalists were alienated when the Patriots resorted to violence, such as burning houses and [[tarring and feathering]]. Loyalists wanted to take a centrist position and resisted the Patriots' demand to declare their opposition to the Crown. Many Loyalists had maintained strong and long-standing relations with Britain, especially merchants in port cities such as New York and Boston.<ref name="Hull 1978 pp. 344"/><ref name="Wallace, 1972 pp. 167"/> Many Loyalists felt that independence was bound to come eventually, but they were fearful that revolution might lead to anarchy, tyranny, or mob rule. In contrast, the prevailing attitude among Patriots was a desire to seize the initiative.<ref name="Hull 1978 pp. 344"/><ref name="Wallace, 1972 pp. 167"/> Labaree also wrote that Loyalists were pessimists who lacked the confidence in the future displayed by the Patriots.<ref name="Labaree, 1948 pp. 164-65"/>

Historians in the early 20th century such as [[J. Franklin Jameson]] examined the class composition of the Patriot cause, looking for evidence of a class war inside the revolution.<ref>J. Franklin Jameson, ''The American Revolution Considered as a Social Movement'' (1926); other historians pursuing the same line of thought included [[Charles A. Beard]], [[Carl L. Becker|Carl Becker]], and [[Arthur Schlesinger, Sr.]]</ref> More recent historians have largely abandoned that interpretation, emphasizing instead the high level of ideological unity.<ref>Wood, ''Rhetoric and Reality in the American Revolution'' (1966) pp. 3–32</ref> Both Loyalists and Patriots were a "mixed lot",<ref name="Nash 2005">Nash (2005)</ref><ref name="Resch 2006">Resch (2006)</ref> but ideological demands always came first. The Patriots viewed independence as a means to gain freedom from British oppression and to reassert their basic rights. Most yeomen farmers, craftsmen, and small merchants joined the Patriot cause to demand more political equality. They were especially successful in Pennsylvania but less so in New England, where John Adams attacked Thomas Paine's ''Common Sense'' for the "absurd democratical notions" that it proposed.<ref name="Nash 2005"/><ref name="Resch 2006"/>

====King George III====
{{main|George III}}
{{see also|Monarchy of the United Kingdom|Royal prerogative in the United Kingdom}}
[[File:Portrait of George III by Johann Heinrich von Hurter.jpg|thumb|King [[George III]] depicted in a 1781 portrait]]
The revolution became a personal issue for [[George III|the king]], fueled by his growing belief that British leniency would be taken as weakness by the Americans. He also sincerely believed that he was defending [[British constitution|Britain's constitution]] against usurpers, rather than opposing patriots fighting for their natural rights.<ref>Andrew Jackson O'Shaughnessy, "'If Others Will Not Be Active, I must Drive': George III and the American Revolution". ''Early American Studies'' 2004 2(1): pp. 1–46. P. D. G. Thomas, "George III and the American Revolution". ''History'' 1985 70(228)</ref>
King George III is often accused of obstinately trying to keep Great Britain at war with the revolutionaries in America, despite the opinions of his own ministers.<ref>O'Shaughnessy, ch 1.</ref> In the words of the British historian [[Sir George Trevelyan, 2nd Baronet|George Otto Trevelyan]], the King was determined "never to acknowledge the independence of the Americans, and to punish their contumacy by the indefinite prolongation of a war which promised to be eternal."<ref>Trevelyan, vol. 1 p. 4.</ref> The king wanted to "keep the rebels harassed, anxious, and poor, until the day when, by a natural and inevitable process, discontent and disappointment were converted into penitence and remorse".<ref>Trevelyan, vol. 1 p. 5.</ref> Later historians defend George by saying in the context of the times no king would willingly surrender such a large territory,<ref name=dnb>{{Cite ODNB|first=John|last=Cannon|title=George III (1738–1820)|date=September 2004|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/10540|access-date=October 29, 2008|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/10540}}</ref><ref name="cg">Cannon and Griffiths, pp. 510–511.</ref> and his conduct was far less ruthless than contemporary monarchs in Europe.<ref>Brooke, p. 183.</ref> After the surrender of a British army at Saratoga, both Parliament and the British people were largely in favor of the war; recruitment ran at high levels and although political opponents were vocal, they remained a small minority.<ref name=dnb/><ref>Brooke, pp. 180–182, 192, 223.</ref>

With the setbacks in America, [[Lord North]] asked to transfer power to [[Lord Chatham]], whom he thought more capable, but George refused to do so; he suggested instead that Chatham serve as a subordinate minister in North's administration, but Chatham refused. He died later in the same year.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hibbert|first=Christopher|author-link=Christopher Hibbert|title=[[Redcoats and Rebels]]|publisher=[[Grafton Books]]|year=1990|pages=156–157}}</ref> Lord North was allied to the "King's Friends" in Parliament and believed George III had the right to exercise powers.<ref>Willcox & Arnstein, p. 157.</ref> In early 1778, [[Early modern France|Britain's chief rival France]] signed a [[Treaty of Alliance (1778)|treaty of alliance]] with the United States, and the confrontation soon escalated from a "rebellion" to something that has been characterized as "world war".<ref name="Willcox161165">Willcox & Arnstein, pp. 161, 165.</ref> The French fleet was able to outrun the British naval blockade of the Mediterranean and sailed to North America.<ref name=Willcox161165/> The conflict now affected North America, Europe and [[Colonial India|India]].<ref name=Willcox161165/> The United States and France were joined by [[Enlightenment in Spain|Spain]] in 1779 and the [[Dutch Republic]], while Britain had no major allies of its own, except for the Loyalist minority in America and German auxiliaries (i.e. ''Hessians''). [[Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford|Lord Gower]] and [[Thomas Thynne, 1st Marquess of Bath|Lord Weymouth]] both resigned from the government. Lord North again requested that he also be allowed to resign, but he stayed in office at George III's insistence.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Ayling|first=Stanley|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XPtu4yoZ5TkC&q=george%20the%20third%20stanley%20ayling|title=George the Third|publisher=[[Knopf]]|year=1972|pages=275–284|isbn=978-0-394-48169-2 }}</ref> Opposition to the costly war was increasing, and in June 1780 contributed to disturbances in London known as the [[Gordon riots]].<ref name=":0" />

As late as the [[Siege of Charleston]] in 1780, Loyalists could still believe in their eventual victory, as British troops inflicted defeats on the Continental forces at the [[Battle of Camden]] and the [[Battle of Guilford Court House]].<ref>''The Oxford Illustrated History of the British Army'' (1994) p. 129.</ref> In late 1781, the news of Cornwallis's surrender at the siege of Yorktown reached London; Lord North's parliamentary support ebbed away and he resigned the following year. The king drafted an abdication notice, which was never delivered,<ref name=cg/><ref>Brooke, p. 221.</ref> finally accepted the defeat in North America, and authorized peace negotiations. The [[Peace of Paris (1783)|Treaties of Paris]], by which Britain recognized the independence of the United States and [[Spanish Florida|returned Florida]] to Spain, were signed in 1782 and 1783 respectively.<ref>U.S. Department of State, [https://history.state.gov/milestones/1776-1783/treaty Treaty of Paris, 1783]. Retrieved July 5, 2013.</ref> In early 1783, George III privately conceded "America is lost!" He reflected that the Northern colonies had developed into Britain's "successful rivals" in commercial trade and fishing.<ref>Bullion, ''George III on Empire, 1783'', p. 306.</ref>

When [[John Adams]] was appointed [[United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom|American Minister to London]] in 1785, George had become resigned to the new relationship between his country and the former colonies. He told Adams, "I was the last to consent to the separation; but the separation having been made and having become inevitable, I have always said, as I say now, that I would be the first to meet the friendship of the United States as an independent power."<ref>{{Citation|title=The works of John Adams, second president of the United States|date=1850–1856|volume=VIII|pages=255–257|editor-last=Adams|editor-first=C.F.}}, quoted in Ayling, p. 323 and Hibbert, p. 165.</ref>

====Patriots====
{{Main|Patriot (American Revolution)}}
{{Further|Sons of Liberty}}
Those who fought for independence were called "Revolutionaries", "Continentals", "Rebels", "Patriots", "Whigs", "Congress-men", or "Americans" during and after the war. They included a full range of social and economic classes but were unanimous regarding the need to defend the rights of Americans and uphold the principles of republicanism in rejecting monarchy and aristocracy, while emphasizing civic virtue by citizens. The signers of the Declaration of Independence were mostly—with definite exceptions—well-educated, of British stock, and of the Protestant faith.<ref>[[Caroline Robbins]],  "Decision in '76: Reflections on the 56 Signers". ''Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society''. Vol. 89 pp. 72–87, quote at p. 86.</ref><ref>See also Richard D. Brown, "The Founding Fathers of 1776 and 1787: A collective view". ''William and Mary Quarterly'' (1976) 33#3: 465–480.  [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1921543 online]</ref> [[Early American publishers and printers|Newspapers were strongholds of patriotism]] (although there were a few Loyalist papers) and printed many pamphlets, announcements, patriotic letters, and pronouncements.<ref>Carol Sue Humphrey, ''The American Revolution and the Press: The Promise of Independence'' (Northwestern University Press; 2013)</ref>

According to historian Robert Calhoon, 40 to 45 percent of the white population in the Thirteen Colonies supported the Patriots' cause, 15 to 20 percent supported the Loyalists, and the remainder were neutral or kept a low profile.<ref>Robert M. Calhoon, "Loyalism and neutrality" in {{cite book|author1=Jack P. Greene|author2=J.R. Pole|title=A Companion to the American Revolution|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xK1NuzpAcH8C&pg=PA235|year=2008|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|page=235|isbn=978-0470756447}}</ref> Mark Lender concludes that ordinary people became insurgents against the British because they held a sense of rights which the British were violating, rights that stressed local autonomy, fair dealing, and government by consent. They were highly sensitive to the issue of tyranny, which they saw manifested in the British response to the Boston Tea Party. The arrival in Boston of the British Army heightened their sense of violated rights, leading to rage and demands for revenge. They had faith that God was on their side.<ref>Mark Edward Lender, review of ''American Insurgents, American Patriots: The Revolution of the People'' (2010) by T. H. Breen, in ''The Journal of Military History'' (2012) 76#1 pp. 233–234</ref>

Thomas Paine published his pamphlet [[Common Sense (pamphlet)|''Common Sense'']] in January 1776, after the Revolution had started. It was widely distributed and often read aloud in taverns, contributing significantly to concurrently spreading the ideas of republicanism and liberalism, bolstering enthusiasm for separation from Great Britain and encouraging recruitment for the Continental Army.<ref name="Ferguson, 2000 pp. 465">Ferguson, ''The Commonalities of Common Sense'' (2000) pp. 465–504</ref> Paine presented the Revolution as the solution for Americans alarmed by the threat of tyranny.<ref name="Ferguson, 2000 pp. 465"/>

====Loyalists====
{{Main|Loyalist (American Revolution)}}
{{see also|Loyalists fighting in the American Revolution|United Empire Loyalist}}
The consensus of scholars is that about 15 to 20 percent of the white population remained loyal to the British Crown.<ref>Calhoon, "Loyalism and neutrality" in Greene and Pole, eds. ''A Companion to the American Revolution'' (1980) at [https://books.google.com/books?id=xK1NuzpAcH8C&pg=PA235 p. 235]</ref> Those who actively supported the king were known at the time as "Loyalists", "Tories", or "King's men". The Loyalists never controlled territory unless the British Army occupied it. They were typically older, less willing to break with old loyalties, and often connected to the Church of England; they included many established merchants with strong business connections throughout the Empire, as well as royal officials such as Thomas Hutchinson of Boston.<ref>Calhoon, "Loyalism and neutrality" in Greene and Pole, eds. ''A Companion to the American Revolution'' (1980) pp. 235–247,</ref>

There were 500 to 1,000 [[Black Loyalist]]s, enslaved African Americans who escaped to British lines and supported Britain's cause via several means. Many of them died from disease, but the survivors were evacuated by the British to [[British North America|their remaining colonies in North America]].<ref>Mary BethNorton, "The fate of some Black Loyalists of the American Revolution". ''Journal of Negro History'' 58.4 (1973): 402–426 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2716747 online].</ref>

The revolution could divide families, such as [[William Franklin]], son of Benjamin Franklin and royal governor of the [[Province of New Jersey]] who remained loyal to the Crown throughout the war. He and his father never spoke again.<ref>[[Sheila L. Skemp]], ''Benjamin and William Franklin: Father and Son, Patriot and Loyalist'' (1994)</ref> Recent immigrants who had not been fully Americanized were also inclined to support the King.<ref>{{cite book|author=Joan Magee|title=Loyalist Mosaic: A Multi-Ethnic Heritage|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GsENbI3JIo0C&pg=PA137|year=1984|publisher=Dundurn|pages=137ff|isbn=978-1459711426}}</ref>

After the war, the great majority of the half-million Loyalists remained in America and resumed normal lives. Some became prominent American leaders, such as [[Samuel Seabury (1729–1796)|Samuel Seabury]]. Approximately 46,000 Loyalists relocated to Canada; others moved to Britain (7,000), Florida, or the West Indies (9,000). The exiles represented approximately two percent of the total population of the colonies.<ref name="Pole 1994">Greene and Pole (1994) chapters 20–22</ref> Nearly all Black Loyalists left for Nova Scotia, Florida, or England, where they could remain free.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.blackloyalist.com/canadiandigitalcollection/story/exile/chaos.htm|title=Chaos in New York|access-date=October 18, 2007|work=Black Loyalists: Our People, Our History|publisher=Canada's Digital Collections|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071117073405/http://www.blackloyalist.com/canadiandigitalcollection/story/exile/chaos.htm|archive-date=November 17, 2007}}</ref> Loyalists who left the South in 1783 took thousands of their slaves with them as they fled to the [[British West Indies]].<ref name="Pole 1994"/>

====Neutrals====
{{see also|Quakers in the American Revolution}}

A minority of uncertain size tried to stay neutral in the war. Most kept a low profile, but the Quakers were the most important group to speak out for neutrality, especially in Pennsylvania. The Quakers continued to do business with the British even after the war began, and they were accused of supporting British rule, "contrivers and authors of seditious publications" critical of the revolutionary cause.<ref>Gottlieb (2005)</ref>{{full citation needed|date=October 2024}} Most Quakers remained neutral, although [[Quakers in the American Revolution|a sizeable number]] participated to some degree.

====Role of women====
{{Main|Women in the American Revolution}}
{{see also|Republican motherhood}}
[[File:Mrs_James_Warren_(Mercy_Otis),_by_John_Singleton_Copley.jpg|thumb|[[Mercy Otis Warren]] published poems and plays that attacked royal authority and urged colonists to resist British rule.]]
Women contributed to the American Revolution in many ways and were involved on both sides. Formal politics did not include women, but ordinary domestic behaviors became charged with political significance as Patriot women confronted a war which permeated all aspects of political, civil, and domestic life. They participated by boycotting British goods, spying on the British, following armies as they marched, washing, cooking, and mending for soldiers, delivering secret messages, and even fighting disguised as men in a few cases, such as [[Deborah Samson]]. [[Mercy Otis Warren]] held meetings in her house and cleverly attacked Loyalists with her creative plays and histories.<ref>{{cite book|author=Eileen K. Cheng|title=The Plain and Noble Garb of Truth: Nationalism & Impartiality in American Historical Writing, 1784–1860|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9-dg5Zh8n4wC&pg=PA210|year=2008|publisher=University of Georgia Press|page=210|isbn=978-0820330730}}</ref> Many women also acted as nurses and helpers, tending to the soldiers' wounds and buying and selling goods for them. Some of these [[camp followers]] even participated in combat, such as Madam John Turchin who led her husband's regiment into battle.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Pauw|first1=Linda Grant De|title=Roles of Women in the American Revolution and the Civil War|journal=Social Education|date=1994|volume=58|issue=2|page=77}}</ref> Above all, women continued the agricultural work at home to feed their families and the armies. They maintained their families during their husbands' absences and sometimes after their deaths.<ref name="Berkin, 2006 pp. 59–60">Berkin, ''Revolutionary Mothers'' (2006) pp.&nbsp;59–60</ref>

American women were integral to the success of the boycott of British goods,<ref>Greene and Pole (1994) chapter 41</ref> as the boycotted items were largely household articles such as tea and cloth. Women had to return to knitting goods and to spinning and weaving their own cloth—skills that had fallen into disuse. In 1769, the women of Boston produced 40,000 skeins of yarn, and 180 women in [[Middleton, Massachusetts|Middletown, Massachusetts]] wove {{convert|20522|yd|m|0}} of cloth.<ref name="Berkin, 2006 pp. 59–60"/> Many women gathered food, money, clothes, and other supplies during the war to help the soldiers.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Cometti|first1=Elizabeth|title=Women in the American Revolution|journal=The New England Quarterly|date=1947|volume=20|issue=3|pages=329–346|doi=10.2307/361443|jstor=361443}}</ref> A woman's loyalty to her husband could become an open political act, especially for women in America committed to men who remained loyal to the King. Legal divorce, usually rare, was granted to Patriot women whose husbands supported the King.<ref>Kerber, ''Women of the Republic'' (1997) chapters 4 and 6</ref><ref>Mary Beth Norton, ''Liberty's Daughters: The Revolutionary Experience of American Women'' (1980)</ref>

===Other participants===
{{further|Diplomacy in the American Revolutionary War}}

====France and Spain====
{{main|France in the American Revolutionary War|Spain and the American Revolutionary War}}
[[File:LouisXVI-France1.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Louis XVI]], King of France and Navarre]]
In early 1776, France set up a major program of aid to the Americans, and the Spanish secretly added funds. Each country spent one million "livres tournaises" to buy munitions. A [[dummy corporation]] run by [[Pierre Beaumarchais]] concealed their activities. American Patriots obtained some munitions from the Dutch Republic as well, through the French and Spanish ports in the [[West Indies]].<ref>Jonathan Dull, ''A Diplomatic History of the American Revolution'' (1985) pp. 57–65</ref> Heavy expenditures and a weak taxation system pushed France toward bankruptcy.<ref>David Patrick Geggus, "The effects of the American Revolution on France and its empire". in ''A Companion to the American Revolution'', ed. Jack P. Greene and J.R. Pole (Blackwell, 2000) pp: 523–530.{{ISBN|9780631210580}}</ref>

In 1777, [[Charles François Adrien le Paulmier]], Chevalier d'Annemours, acting as a [[Espionage|secret agent]] for France, made sure General [[George Washington]] was privy to his mission. He followed Congress around for the next two years, reporting what he observed back to France.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Founders Online: To George Washington from d'Annemours, 15 February 1789|url=http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-01-02-0224|access-date=May 26, 2021|website=founders.archives.gov}}</ref> The [[Treaty of Alliance (1778)|Treaty of Alliance]] between the French and the Americans followed in 1778, which led to more French money, [[matériel]] and troops being sent to the United States.

Spain did not officially recognize the United States, but it was a French ally and it separately declared war on Britain on June 21, 1779. [[Bernardo de Gálvez]], general of the Spanish forces in [[New Spain]], also served as governor of Louisiana. He led an expedition of colonial troops to capture Florida from the British and to keep open a vital conduit for supplies going to the Americans.<ref>Thompson, Buchanan Parker, ''Spain: Forgotten Ally of the American Revolution'' North Quincy, Mass.: Christopher Publishing House, 1976.</ref>

====Germans====
{{main|Germans in the American Revolution|Hessian (soldier)}}
[[File:Major General Friedrich Wilhelm Augustus Baron von Steuben by Ralph Earl.jpeg|right|thumb|[[Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben]] was a former [[Prussian Army]] officer who served as [[Office of the Inspector General of the United States Army|inspector general]] of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He is credited with teaching the Continental Army [[Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States|the essentials of military drill and discipline]] beginning at [[Valley Forge]] in 1778, considered a turning point for the Americans.]]

Ethnic Germans served on both sides of the American Revolutionary War. As George III was also the [[Prince-elector|Elector]] of [[Electorate of Hanover|Hanover]], many supported the Loyalist cause and served as allies of the [[Kingdom of Great Britain]]; most notably rented [[auxiliaries|auxiliary troops]]<ref name="atwood">{{cite book|last1=Atwood|first1=Rodney|title=The Hessians: Mercenaries from Hessen-Kassel in the American Revolution|date=1980|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge, England}}</ref> from German states such as the [[Landgraviate of Hessen-Kassel]].

American [[Patriot (American Revolution)|Patriots]] tended to represent such troops as [[Mercenary|mercenaries]] in propaganda against the British Crown. Even American historians followed suit, in spite of Colonial-era jurists drawing a distinction between auxiliaries and mercenaries, with auxiliaries serving their prince when sent to the aid of another prince, and mercenaries serving a foreign prince as individuals.<ref name="atwood" /> By this distinction the troops which served in the American Revolution were auxiliaries.

Other German individuals came to assist the American revolutionaries, most notably [[Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben]], who served as a general in the Continental Army and is credited with professionalizing that force, but most Germans who served were already colonists. Von Steuben's native Prussia joined the [[First League of Armed Neutrality|League of Armed Neutrality]],{{sfnp|Commager|1958|p=994}} and King [[Frederick the Great|Frederick II of Prussia]] was well appreciated in the United States for his support early in the war. He expressed interest in opening trade with the United States and bypassing English ports, and allowed an American agent to buy arms in Prussia.{{sfnp|Rosengarten|1906|p=5}} Frederick predicted American success,{{sfnp|Rosengarten|1906|p=13}} and promised to recognize the United States and American diplomats once France did the same.{{sfnp|Rosengarten|1906|p=14}} Prussia also interfered in the recruiting efforts of Russia and neighboring German states when they raised armies to send to the Americas, and Frederick II forbade enlistment for the American war within Prussia.{{sfnp|Rosengarten|1886|p=22}} All Prussian roads were denied to troops from Anhalt-Zerbst,{{sfnp|Lowell|1884|p=50}} which delayed reinforcements that Howe had hoped to receive during the winter of 1777–1778.{{sfnp|Rosengarten|1906|p=17}}

However, when the [[War of the Bavarian Succession]] (1778–1779) erupted, Frederick II became much more cautious with Prussian/British relations. U.S. ships were denied access to Prussian ports, and Frederick refused to officially recognize the United States until they had signed the [[Treaty of Paris (1783)|Treaty of Paris]]. Even after the war, Frederick II predicted that the United States was too large to operate as a [[republic]], and that it would soon rejoin the British Empire with representatives in Parliament.{{sfnp|Rosengarten|1906|p=19}}

====Native Americans====
{{main|Native Americans in the United States}}
{{further|Western theater of the American Revolutionary War|Northern theater of the American Revolutionary War after Saratoga| Treaty of Fort Pitt|Iroquois}}
[[File:Joseph_Brant_painting_by_George_Romney_1776_(2).jpg|thumb|[[Joseph Brant|Thayendanegea]], a [[Mohawk people|Mohawk]] military and political leader, was the most prominent indigenous leader opposing the Patriot forces.<ref name="Cornelison-2004" />]]
Most Indigenous people rejected pleas that they remain neutral and instead supported the British Crown. The great majority of the 200,000 Indigenous people east of the Mississippi distrusted the Americans and supported the British cause, hoping to forestall continued expansion of settlement into their territories.<ref>Greene and Pole (2004) chapters 19, 46 and 51</ref>{{sfnp|Calloway|1995}} Those tribes closely involved in trade tended to side with the Patriots, although political factors were important as well. Some tried to remain neutral, seeing little value in joining what they perceived to be a "white man's war", and fearing reprisals from whichever side they opposed.

The great majority of Indigenous people did not participate directly in the war, with the notable exceptions of warriors and bands associated with four of the [[Iroquois]] tribes in New York and Pennsylvania which allied with the British,{{sfnp|Calloway|1995}} and the [[Oneida people|Oneida]] and [[Tuscarora people|Tuscarora]] tribes among the Iroquois of central and western New York who supported the American cause.<ref>Joseph T. Glatthaar and James Kirby Martin, ''Forgotten Allies: The Oneida Indians and the American Revolution'' (2007)</ref> The British did have other allies, particularly in the [[Province of Quebec (1763–1791)|regions of southwest Quebec]] on the Patriot's frontier. The British provided arms to Indigenous people who were led by Loyalists in war parties to raid frontier settlements from the [[Province of Carolina|Carolinas]] to New York. These war parties managed to kill many settlers on the frontier, especially in Pennsylvania and New York's Mohawk Valley.<ref>Karim M. Tiro, "A 'Civil' War? Rethinking Iroquois Participation in the American Revolution". ''Explorations in Early American Culture'' 4 (2000): 148–165.</ref>

In 1776, [[Cherokee]] war parties attacked American Colonists all along the southern Quebec frontier of the uplands throughout the [[Washington District, North Carolina]] (now Tennessee) and the Kentucky wilderness area.<ref>Tom Hatley, ''The Dividing Paths: Cherokees and South Carolinians through the Era of Revolution'' (1993); James H. O'Donnell, III, ''Southern Indians in the American Revolution'' (1973)</ref> The [[Chickamauga Cherokee]] under [[Dragging Canoe]] allied themselves closely with the British, and fought on for an additional decade after the Treaty of Paris was signed. They launched raids with roughly 200 warriors, as seen in the [[Cherokee–American wars]]; they could not mobilize enough forces to invade settler areas without the help of allies, most often the [[Muscogee|Creek]].

[[Joseph Brant]] (''also'' Thayendanegea) of the powerful [[Mohawk people|Mohawk]] tribe in New York was the most prominent Indigenous leader against the Patriot forces.<ref name="Cornelison-2004">{{Cite book|last=Cornelison|first=Pam|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/60414840|title=The great American history fact-finder : the who, what, where, when, and why of American history|date=2004|publisher=Houghton Mifflin|others=Ted Yanak|isbn=1417594411|edition=2nd|location=Boston|oclc=60414840}}{{page needed|date=April 2022}}</ref> In 1778 and 1780, he led 300 Iroquois warriors and 100 white Loyalists in multiple attacks on small frontier settlements in New York and Pennsylvania, killing many settlers and destroying villages, crops, and stores.<ref>{{cite DCB|last=Graymont|first=Barbara|title=Thayendanegea (Joseph Brant)|url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/thayendanegea_5E.html|volume=5}}</ref>

In 1779, the [[Sullivan Expedition|Continental Army forced the hostile Indigenous people out of upstate New York]] when Washington sent an army under [[John Sullivan (general)|John Sullivan]] which destroyed 40 evacuated Iroquois villages in central and western New York. The [[Battle of Newtown]] proved decisive, as the Patriots had an advantage of three-to-one, and it ended significant resistance; there was little combat otherwise.  Facing starvation and homeless for the winter, the Iroquois fled to Canada.<ref>Joseph R. Fischer, ''A Well-Executed Failure: The Sullivan Campaign against the Iroquois, July–September 1779'' (1997).</ref>

At the peace conference following the war, the British ceded lands which they did not really control, without consultation with their Indigenous allies. They transferred control to the United States of all the land south of the Great Lakes east of the Mississippi and north of Florida. Calloway concludes:

{{blockquote|Burned villages and crops, murdered chiefs, divided councils and civil wars, migrations, towns and forts choked with refugees, economic disruption, breaking of ancient traditions, losses in battle and to disease and hunger, betrayal to their enemies, all made the American Revolution one of the darkest periods in American Indian history.{{sfnp|Calloway|1995|p=290}}}}

====Black Americans====
{{main|African Americans in the Revolutionary War}}
{{further|Black Patriot|Black Loyalist|Book of Negroes}}
[[File:"Crispus_Attucks,"_by_Herschel_Levit,_mural_at_the_Recorder_of_Deeds_building,_built_in_1943._515_D_St.,_NW,_Washington,_D.C_LCCN2010641712.tif|thumb|''Crispus Attucks'', a ({{Circa|1943}}) portrait by [[Herschel Levit]] depicts [[Crispus Attucks|Attucks]], who is considered to be the first American to die for the cause of independence in the Revolution.]]
[[File:Soldiers_at_the_siege_of_Yorktown_(1781),_by_Jean-Baptiste-Antoine_DeVerger_(cropped).png|thumb|An African American soldier (left) of the [[1st Rhode Island Regiment]], widely regarded as the first Black battalion in [[United States Armed Forces|U.S. military]] history]]
Free Blacks in the [[New England Colonies]] and [[Middle Colonies]] in the North as well as [[Southern Colonies]] fought on both sides of the War, but the majority fought for the Patriots. Gary Nash reports that there were about 9,000 Black veteran Patriots, counting the Continental Army and Navy, state militia units, privateers, wagoneers in the Army, servants to officers, and spies.<ref>Gary B. Nash, "The African Americans Revolution", in ''Oxford Handbook of the American Revolution'' (2012) edited by Edward G Gray and Jane Kamensky pp. 250–270, at p. 254</ref> Ray Raphael notes that thousands did join the Loyalist cause, but "a far larger number, free as well as slave, tried to further their interests by siding with the patriots."<ref>Ray Raphael, ''A People's History of the American Revolution'' (2001) p. 281</ref> [[Crispus Attucks]] was one of the five people killed in the [[Boston Massacre]] in 1770 and is considered the first American casualty for the cause of independence.

The effects of the war were more dramatic in the South. Tens of thousands of slaves escaped to British lines throughout the South, causing dramatic losses to slaveholders and disrupting cultivation and harvesting of crops. For instance, [[South Carolina]] was estimated to have lost about 25,000 slaves to flight, migration, or death which amounted to a third of its slave population.<ref>Peter Kolchin, ''American Slavery: 1619–1877'', New York: Hill and Wang, 1993, p. 73</ref>

During the war, the British commanders attempted to weaken the Patriots by issuing proclamations of freedom to their slaves.<ref name="Revolutionary War: The Home Front">[http://memory.loc.gov/learn/features/timeline/amrev/homefrnt/homefrnt.html Revolutionary War: The Home Front], Library of Congress</ref> In the November 1775 document known as [[Dunmore's Proclamation]] Virginia royal governor, [[John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore|Lord Dunmore]] recruited Black men into the British forces with the promise of freedom, protection for their families, and land grants. Some men responded and briefly formed the British [[Ethiopian Regiment]]. Historian [[David Brion Davis]] explains the difficulties with a policy of wholesale arming of the slaves:

{{blockquote|But England greatly feared the effects of any such move on its own [[West Indies]], where Americans had already aroused alarm over a possible threat to incite slave insurrections. The British elites also understood that an all-out attack on one form of property could easily lead to an assault on all boundaries of privilege and social order, as envisioned by radical religious sects in Britain's seventeenth-century civil wars.<ref>Davis p. 148</ref>}}

Davis underscores the British dilemma: "Britain, when confronted by the rebellious American colonists, hoped to exploit their fear of slave revolts while also reassuring the large number of slave-holding Loyalists and wealthy Caribbean planters and merchants that their slave property would be secure".<ref>Davis p. 149</ref> The Americans, however, accused the British of encouraging slave revolts, with the issue becoming one of the [[27 colonial grievances]].<ref>Schama pp. 28–30, 78–90</ref>

The existence of [[Slavery in the colonial United States|slavery in the American colonies]] had attracted criticism from both sides of the Atlantic as many could not reconcile the existence of the institution with the egalitarian ideals espoused by leaders of the Revolution. British writer [[Samuel Johnson]] wrote "how is it we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the drivers of the Negroes?" in a text opposing the grievances of the colonists.<ref>Stanley Weintraub, ''Iron Tears: America's Battle for Freedom, Britain's Quagmire, 1775–1783'' (2005) p. 7</ref> Referring to this contradiction, English abolitionist [[Thomas Day (writer)|Thomas Day]] wrote in a 1776 letter that {{blockquote|if there be an object truly ridiculous in nature, it is an American patriot, signing resolutions of independency with the one hand, and with the other brandishing a whip over his affrighted slaves.<ref>(1) [https://books.google.com/books?id=X2QCAa27Zy4C&pg=PA77 Armitage, ''Global History'', 77.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160510164328/https://books.google.com/books?id=X2QCAa27Zy4C&pg=PA77 |date=May 10, 2016 }}<br />(2) {{cite book|last=Day|first=Thomas|url=https://archive.org/stream/fragmentoforigin00dayt#page/10/mode/2up|title=Fragment of an original letter on the Slavery of the Negroes, written in the year 1776|work=London: Printed for John Stockdale (1784). Boston: Re-printed by [[William Lloyd Garrison|Garrison]] and Knapp, at the office of "[[The Liberator (anti-slavery newspaper)|The Liberator]]" (1831)|page=10|access-date=February 26, 2014|quote=If there be an object truly ridiculous in nature, it is an American patriot, signing resolutions of independency with the one hand, and with the other brandishing a whip over his affrighted slaves.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160316112142/https://archive.org/stream/fragmentoforigin00dayt#page/10/mode/2up|archive-date=March 16, 2016|url-status=live}} At: [https://archive.org/ Internet Archive] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140304015927/https://archive.org/ |date=March 4, 2014 }}: [https://archive.org/details/Johns_Hopkins_University The Johns Hopkins University Sheridan Libraries] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140423235217/https://archive.org/details/Johns_Hopkins_University |date=April 23, 2014 }}: [https://archive.org/details/birney James Birney Collection of Antislavery Pamphlets] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140806025911/https://archive.org/details/birney |date=August 6, 2014 }}.</ref>}} Thomas Jefferson unsuccessfully attempted to include a section in the Declaration of Independence which asserted that King George III had "forced" the [[Atlantic slave trade|slave trade]] onto the colonies.<ref name="MaierAmerican">Maier, ''American Scripture'', 146–150.</ref> Despite the turmoil of the period, African-Americans contributed to the foundation of an American national identity during the Revolution. [[Phyllis Wheatley]], an African-American poet, popularized the image of [[Columbia (name)|Columbia]] to represent America.<ref name="Hochschild p.50-51">Hochschild pp.&nbsp;50–51</ref>{{full citation needed|date=October 2024}}

The 1779 [[Philipsburg Proclamation]] expanded the promise of freedom for Black men who enlisted in the British military to all the colonies in rebellion. British forces gave transportation to 10,000 slaves when they evacuated [[Savannah, Georgia|Savannah]] and [[Charleston, South Carolina|Charleston]], carrying through on their promise.<ref>Kolchin, ''American Slavery'', p. 73</ref> They evacuated and resettled more than 3,000 [[Black Loyalist]]s from New York to [[Nova Scotia]], [[Upper Canada]], and [[Lower Canada]]. Others sailed with the British to England or were resettled as freedmen in the [[West Indies]] of the Caribbean. But slaves carried to the Caribbean under control of Loyalist masters generally remained slaves until British abolition of slavery in its colonies in 1833–1838. More than 1,200 of the Black Loyalists of Nova Scotia later resettled in the British colony of [[Sierra Leone]], where they became leaders of the [[Sierra Leone Creole people|Krio]] ethnic group of [[Freetown]] and the later national government. Many of their descendants still live in Sierra Leone, as well as other African countries.<ref>Hill (2007), see also [http://www.blackloyalist.com/ blackloyalist.com]</ref>{{full citation needed|date=October 2024}}