United Empire Loyalist

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The name United Empire Loyalists is an honorific given after the fact to those American Loyalists who resettled in British North America and other British Colonies as an act of loyalty after the British failure in the American Revolutionary War and prior to the Treaty of Paris. Reasons for their movement north range from opposition to violent rebellion, to loyalty to King George III and the British Empire, to a rejection of the republican ideals of the American Revolution, to an offer of free land grants, plus food and building materials, in British North America.[1] Many were prominent Americans whose ancestors had originally settled in the early 17th century, while a portion were recent settlers in the Thirteen Colonies with few economic or social ties. Many had their property confiscated by the revolutionaries.[2]


Loyalists from the slave-owning regions of the American South brought their slaves with them as slavery was also legal in Canada. Some 2000 slaves arrived in British North America: Some 500 in Upper Canada (Ontario), some 300 in Lower Canada (Quebec) but some 1200 in the main area of resettlement, the Maritime colonies of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. The presence and condition of the latter population would become a particular issue, as the community was large in number and the original purpose, in most cases, of their purchase - to work the sugar-plantations - no longer applied. In due course many would be freed and returned to Africa, together with existing freedmen, to be re-settled yet again, this time in the designated colony for freedmen, Sierra Leone. Meanwhile an imperial law in 1790 assured prospective immigrants to Canada that their slaves would remain their property. From 1793, the trade in, but not the possession of, slaves was abolished in the colony of Upper Canada. The trade in slaves was abolished across the British Empire in 1807 and the abolition of possession was completed across the Empire in 1834. Most Black Loyalists were free, however, having been given their freedom from slavery by fighting for the British or joining British lines during the Revolution. The government also helped them resettle in Canada, transporting nearly 3500 free blacks to New Brunswick.[3]



During the American Revolution, a significant proportion of the population of New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, East Florida, West Florida, and other colonies remained loyal to the Crown. They were compelled to flee to the protection of their King, and the British Empire. The reasons were varied, but primarily were either loyalty to the King, or the belief in peaceful and evolutionary independence, as did eventually occur in Canada. As Daniel Bliss of Concord, Massachusetts (who later became a Chief Justice of New Brunswick) stated: "Better to live under one tyrant a thousand miles away, than a thousand tyrants one mile away."[citation needed] Many Loyalist refugees made the difficult overland trek into Canada after losing their homes, property, and security during the Revolution. The Loyalists, many of whom helped found America from the early 17th century, left a well-armed population hostile to the King and his loyalist subjects to build the new nation of Canada. The motto of New Brunswick, created out of Nova Scotia for loyalist settlement, is Spem reduxit ("Hope restored").

Many of the Loyalist refugees had fought bravely for King George. Land in Canada was sometimes allotted to Loyalist refugees according to which Loyalist regiment a man had fought in. See Loyalists Fighting in the American Revolution#The fate of the Tories.

Loyalist refugees, mainly of British descent, later called United Empire Loyalists, began leaving at the end of the war whenever transport was available, with considerable loss of property and transfer of wealth. An estimated 70,000 left the newly independent United States, representing about 3% of the total American population, of which 20-30% had supported the Crown during the American War for Independence.[citation needed] Approximately 62,000 were White (who also had 17,000 black slaves) and 8,000 Black; 46,000 went to Canada,[4] 8,000 to Britain, and 8,000 to the Caribbean.[citation needed] Beginning in the mid-1780s and lasting until the end of the century, some returned to the United States from the Caribbean and Nova Scotia.[citation needed]

Following the end of the Revolution and the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783, Loyalist soldiers and civilians were evacuated from New York and resettled in other colonies of the British Empire, most notably in Canada. The two colonies of Nova Scotia (including modern-day New Brunswick), received about 33,000 Loyalist refugees;[4] Prince Edward Island 2,000; and Quebec (including the Eastern Townships and modern-day Ontario) received some 10,000 refugees. An unknown but substantial number of refugees were unable to establish themselves in British North America and eventually returned to the United States.[5] Many in Canada continued to maintain close ties with relatives in the United States, and as well conducted commerce across the border without much regard to British trade laws.[6]



The arrival of the Loyalists after the American war of independence (1783) led to the division of Canada into the provinces of Upper Canada (what is now southern Ontario) and Lower Canada (what is now southern Quebec). They arrived and settled in groups of ethnicity and religion.[7]


Realising the importance of some type of recognition, on November 9, 1789, Lord Dorchester, the governor of Quebec and Governor General of British North America, declared "that it was his Wish to put the mark of Honour upon the Families who had adhered to the Unity of the Empire".[8] As a result of Dorchester's statement, the printed militia rolls carried the notation:


Some of the richest and most prominent Loyalists went to Britain to rebuild their lives, and many received pensions. Southern Loyalists, many taking along their slaves, went to the West Indies and the Bahamas, particularly to the Abaco Islands.[citation needed]




War of 1812[edit]











In Canadian heraldry, Loyalist descendants are entitled to use a Loyalist coronet in their coat of arms.[14][15]

List of Loyalist settlements in present-day Canada[edit]



See also[edit]


  1. ^ Robert Allen (1982). Loyalist Literature: An Annotated Bibliographic Guide to the Writings on the Loyalists of the American Revolution. Dundurn. p. 44. 
  2. ^ Robert M. Calhoon, The Loyalists in Revolutionary America, 1766-1781 (1973) p 400
  5. ^ Retrieved from http://www.loyalistsatshelburne.com/loyalist-history.php.
  6. ^ Rees, 2000
  8. ^ "Dorchester Proclamation", Archives, Rootsweb
  11. ^ United Empire Loyalist-List, Rootsweb
  13. ^ Canada Post stamp
  14. ^ [1][dead link]

Further reading[edit]


Primary sources[edit]


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