Steadily Attached to His Majesty? Varieties of Loyalism in Revolutionary New York

Abstract

This paper responds to most recent works on the complexity of loyalist identities during the American Revolution. It forms a close reading of over 400 claims submitted by self-identified loyalist claimants from the former colony of New York to the Loyalist Claims Commission. Through a case study of three New York counties (the city and county of New York, Albany County and Tryon County), the paper demonstrates that the loyalist experience differed greatly between the three distinct geographic regions; different counties entered the war at different stages, while demonstrations of loyalism and the range of services provided by loyalists to advance the British cause varied considerably. The paper also outlines (and justifies the use of) the potential of three broad categories by which to analyze loyalist claimants: namely, ‘active’, ‘reluctant’ and ‘passive’. Ultimately, this paper concludes that the varying nature of loyalism was largely the product of local contextual circumstance.