Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: conservativegramma

I think Loyalists and Tories are the same thing. Did you mean:

1/3 Patriots, 1/3 Neutral, 1/3 Tories/Loyalists?


11 posted on 03/11/2009 8:37:07 AM PDT by bradthebuilder (War is peace; Ignorance is strength; Freedom is slavery)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies ]


To: bradthebuilder
I think Loyalists and Tories are the same thing. Did you mean:

A lot believe they were the same thing. But if you want to get really technical there was a distinction.

A Tory was in the strict sense of the term a member of a political party at the time, while all Tories were loyalists, not all loyalists were actually members of the Tory political party. See http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery?s=Tory&gwp=16

Even though all members of the Tory political party were Loyalists and both groups supported the crown, not all loyalists fought alongside the British preferring to remain 'neutral'. The vast majority of the Tory party did not remain neutral - they actively fought alongside the British and were referred to as the King's "American Troops".

The term has been used interchangeably then as now, and the debate still goes on among American history buffs. Some sources say they were the same, other sources point out the above political party affliation as a distinct difference. I suppose you could compare it to modern politics. Not every liberal is a Democrat, as we all know, some are also Republican. And not every Conservative is a Republican some are Libertarians and some are part of the Constitution party. If that helps any.

39 posted on 03/11/2009 9:13:32 AM PDT by conservativegramma
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson