United Empire Loyalists

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The name United Empire Loyalists is given to those American Loyalists who resettled in British North America and other British Colonies as an act of fealty to King George III after the British defeat in the American Revolutionary War. Some sought to recover fortunes (land and private property) lost under laws enacted by the Continental Congress as a way of financing the revolution. Most, however, are believed to have fled north to escape persecution and because they rejected the republican ideals of the American Revolution, which they regarded as anarchistic. These Loyalists settled in what was initially Quebec (including the Eastern Townships) and modern-day Ontario, where they received land grants of two hundred acres per person, and in Nova Scotia (including modern-day New Brunswick). Their arrival marked the beginning of a predominantly English-speaking population in the future Canada west and east of the Quebec border.

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[edit] Origins and history

During the American Revolution, a significant proportion of the population of New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, East Florida and other colonies was determined to remain loyal to the crown and desired to remain within the British Empire. The reasons were as varied as the people themselves, but the overriding principle was the traditional loyalty to the King.

Joseph Brant Thayendenegea.
Joseph Brant Thayendenegea.

Loyalists began leaving at the end of the war whenever transport was available. An estimated 70,000 Loyalists, approximately 62,000 white and 8,000 black (representing about 3% of the total American population of which 20-30% supported the Crown during the American War for Independence), left the thirteen newly independent states: 46,000 to Canada; 7,000 to Britain and 17,000 to the Caribbean. Beginning in the mid-1780s and lasting until the end of the century, however, a small percentage chose to return from the Caribbean and Nova Scotia.

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 the future Canada. The two colonies of Nova Scotia (including modern-day New Brunswick), received some 32,000 Loyalist refugees, and Quebec (including the Eastern Townships and modern-day Ontario) received some 10,000 refugees.

The arrival of the Loyalists led to the division of the province of Quebec in 1791 into the provinces of Upper Canada in what is now Ontario and Lower Canada in what is now Quebec. The creation of Upper and Lower Canada allowed the Loyalists to live under English laws and institutions while the French-speaking population of Lower Canada could maintain French civil law and the Catholic religion.

Realizing 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." As a result of Dorchester's statement, the printed militia rolls carried the notation:

"Those Loyalists who have adhered to the Unity of the Empire, and joined the Royal Standard before the Treaty of Separation in the year 1783, and all their Children and their Descendants by either sex, are to be distinguished by the following Capitals, affixed to their names: U.E. Alluding to their great principle The Unity of the Empire."

Sir John Wentworth, governor of New Hampshire and later Nova Scotia.
Sir John Wentworth, governor of New Hampshire and later Nova Scotia.

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

Thousands of Iroquois and other pro-British Native Americans were expelled from New York and other states and resettled in Canada. The descendants of one such group of Iroquois, led by Joseph Brant Thayendenegea, settled at Six Nations of the Grand River, the largest First Nations Reserve in Canada. A group of Black Loyalists settled in Nova Scotia but, facing discrimination there, some emigrated again for Sierra Leone.

Many of the Loyalists were forced to abandon substantial amounts of property, and restoration or compensation for this lost property was a major issue during the negotiation of the Jay Treaty in 1795. Negotiations rested on the concept of the American negotiators 'advising' the Congress to provide restitution. For the English this concept carried significant legal weight, far more than it did with the Americans; the U. S. Congress declined to accept the advice. More than two centuries later, some of the descendants of Loyalists still assert claims to their ancestors' property in the United States.

[edit] Today

Modern-day descendants of those original refugees often apply the term United Empire Loyalist to themselves, using "UE" as postnominal letters; the honorific is the only hereditary title in Canada. Such everyday practice is rare, even in the original Loyalist strongholds like southeastern Ontario. However, it is used extensively by historians and genealogists.

In Canadian heraldry, Loyalist descendants are also entitled to use a Loyalist coronet in their coats of arms.

A version of the Union Jack as used from 1707 to 1801, which can still be seen as a common Loyalist symbol in certain parts of Canada.
A version of the Union Jack as used from 1707 to 1801, which can still be seen as a common Loyalist symbol in certain parts of Canada.

The influence of the Loyalists on the evolution of Canada remains. Their ties with Britain and their antipathy to the United States provided the strength needed to keep Canada independent and distinct in North America. The Loyalists' basic distrust of republicanism and "mob rule" influenced Canada's gradual "paper-strewn" path to independence. In effect, the new British North American provinces of Upper Canada (the forerunner of Ontario) and New Brunswick were created as places of refuge for the United Empire Loyalists.

The word "Loyalist" appears frequently in school, street, and business names in loyalist-settled communities such as Belleville, Ontario. The nearby city of Kingston was established as a loyalist stronghold, named in honour of King George III.

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

A view of the Thousand Islands region of eastern Ontario.
A view of the Thousand Islands region of eastern Ontario.
Monument to United Loyalists. Fountain in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada.
Monument to United Loyalists. Fountain in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada.

18th-century names are listed first, alongside their present-day equivalents.

[edit] See also

[edit] Further reading

  • Christopher Moore; The Loyalists: Revolution, Exile, Settlement; 1984, ISBN 0-7710-6093-9.
  • W. Stewart Wallace; The United Empire Loyalists: A Chronicle of the Great Migration; Volume 13 of the "Chronicles of Canada (32 volumes); 1914, Toronto.

[edit] External links

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