Loyalist

Loyalists in the American Revolution / American War of Independence

Loyalists (capitalized L) were British North American colonists who remained loyal subjects of the British crown during the American Revolutionary War.

During the war, several military units were made up of Loyalists, many of whom had their lands or property seized. A large number of Loyalist families took refuge in New York City.

Following the end of the the American Revolution, or American War of Independence, at the time of the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783, the Loyalist soldiers and ordinary British subjects were evacuated from New York and resettled in other colonies of the British Empire, most notably in the areas of Canada later known as Upper Canada (present day Ontario) and the Eastern Townships area of Lower Canada (present day Quebec) and New Brunswick which was part of the colony of Nova Scotia at the time. This group of people are most often referred to as United Empire Loyalists.

Others who left the former 13 colonies and returned to Britain are also referred to as Loyalists.

Many of the descendants of Loyalists still make claim to their ancestors' property in the United States. They wait until the day that the current regime is overthrown so that they may reclaim their property rights which they assert were taken away from them by a small group of revolutionaries that had no respect for property rights. Most would say that their claims are too ancient, or that the change in circumstance that resulted from the overthrow of the British prevents any such claims from being recognized through customary international law because as the British recognized the independence of the colonies the United States thereafter had sovereign status to determine property rights within U.S. territory; but this is no more than to say that any commitment may be repudiated at the price of future credibility.

External link

• "Who were the Loyalists" by Ann Mackenzie (http://www.uelac.org/loyalist.pdf) (5-page, in pdf format)

A loyalist in Northern Ireland is someone on the extreme fringe of Northern Ireland unionism who resorts to violence, or threatens to do so, in what they perceive as their defence of their community, protestantism and Northern Ireland's position as part of the United Kingdom. Loyalists within Northern Ireland live within small working enclaves within the major urban centres, such as Belfast and Derry.

A number of loyalist terrorist groups exist; these include the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF), Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF), etc.

Though loyalists claim to speak on behalf of their community and the unionist community, the evidence of electoral contests suggest that their support is minimal and exclusively urban, working class based. Only one moderate pro-Belfast Agreement loyalist party won any seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly[?] in 1999.

Officially most loyalist organisations are in ceasefire mode as a result of the Belfast Agreement, though numerous breaches of the ceasefire have been recorded.