Para lembrar àqueles que gostam tanto de celebrar as efemérides alheias que a revolução americana tem uma história um pouco mais complexa do que a Declaração de Independência deixa ver...
De: http://www.livinghistorypages.com/Loyalists.html
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History has not been kind to the loyal Americans who fought, died, and in most cases were exiled from America during the Revolution. But who were the Loyalists? Ann Gorman Condon, associate professor of history at the University of New Brunswick at St. John, Canada, writes that there were three categories of Loyalists.
The people in the first category were Loyalists because they had "a vested interest in the imperial establishment" and these were the people you'd expect to remain loyal to the King: colonial governors, royal officials, judges, and Anglican ministers. Their positions depended on loyalty to George III.
The second category of Loyalists were people who belonged to religious and cultural minorities. They remained loyal because they feared increasing American power- power that could destroy them. British tolerance and protection offered these minorities a chance for survival. This category included French Huguenots, Catholics, Quakers as well as blacks (free and slave) and the Native American Indians. All of these groups felt that British rulers had their best interests at heart more so than the Americans. It is interesting-to note that these groups chose British "tolerance" over American "freedom."
The third category of Loyalists were the Tory elite, the people who opposed the Revolution "out of principle." These were the people who wrote pamphlets, organized regiments, and drafted plans to defeat the rebels. These were men such as John Johnson, son of Sir William Johnson, Oliver DeLancey, Alexander McKee, and Matthew Elliot. These people opposed the Revolution because they had hoped to maintain America as a stable part of the British Empire, and seriously doubted that American self-rule would lead all men to be "free." Many also feared that once the rebels gained power America would be ruled by the mob, as was evident in Boston in 1773. Reverend Mather Byles, a noted Tory, wrote, "Which is better-to be ruled by one tyrant 3000 miles away or 3000 tyrants not a mile away?" Many Loyalists felt the same way.
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Every one of the 13 colonies fielded Loyalist regiments against the rebels and the Crown was well served by units such as the United Provincial Corps of Pennsylvania and Maryland Loyalists, the North Carolina Highlanders, the New Jersey Volunteers, and the East Florida Rangers.
Minority groups also formed military units to stand up to the rebels, and the Americans found themselves facing groups like the Royal Catholic Volunteers, the Company of Negroes, the Volunteers of Ireland, and Skinner's Cowboys from New Jersey.
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The years immediately following the Revolution were a nightmare for the loyal Americans. As had been done throughout the War, loyalist property was seized by state governments and was often given to Continental soldiers as a reward for their service in the Rebellion. For the Loyalists whose property had been seized, as well as for those who had no desire to live under the new American government, the only choice left was exile.
Bibliography
"The Loyal Americans. The Military Role of the Loyalist Provincial Corps and Their Settlement in British North America, 1775-1784". Robert S. Allen, General Editor, Canadian War Museum, National Museum of Canada, 1983
"The Loyalists: Revolution, Exile, Settlement". Christopher Moore, McClelland and Stewart, Inc., 1994
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