Loosen up.
Obviously I'm not talking about Loyalists in today's world. I'm talking in the context of the 1770s. And I can tell you that the "conservatives" of that era, while they might have been loyal to a king, have more in common with today's conservatives than do the rabble of that day. Now, again, you are certain to take me wrong, and conclude that I am talking about the people that signed the Declaration if Independence. I'm not. I'm talking about the yahoos that took innocent men and women out of their homes in the middle of the night, terrorizing them, actually, and doing them bodily harm.
People were killed, maimed, tarred and feathered, had property taken with not a thought to due process, and the people doing this were not conservatives. Don't kid yourself. They were the MOB; they were socially, mentally, and politically akin to today's Democrats. They have nothing in common with the folks I have been proud to be associated with on Free Republic for the past eight years.
And thanks, but I have read many books on the days of the Revolution, although I must say I haven't read this particular one. I may read it, at your suggestion, but it won't convince me to judge eighteenth century people by 21st century standards.
In South Carolina, the Crown continued to send in new settlers throughout the Revolution in a reprise of the technique the Crown had used to push back the Spanish a century before.
In short, many of the "new settlers" were actually hired terrorists.
What you are forgetting is that this was a war, not some sort of "crime wave". People had only a few tools to defend themselves and they used them.
Confusion over definitions always leads to misunderstandings. Leftists are always trying to obfuscate and confuse by revising the meanings of words to their advantage. (I'm not implying you are a leftist. Unfortunately conservatives tend to use definitions invented by the left).
So what is a liberal, classical liberal, progressive or conservative? And how does it relate to the word "loyalist" in this articles context?
Tories and Loyalists are the modern day equivalent of today's "elitists" and their clients. As embodied by the John Kerrys, Warren Buffetts, Hollywood big shots, various liberal snobs of the world and their non elitist clients. Clients of the elitists are for instance: Jesse Jackson, his followers, the NEA and big labor union leadership who have a financial interest in the status quo. i.e. "dictionary conservatives".
They have nothing in common with modern day "conservatives". Today's definition of the term "conservative" used in the context of a political "type" is equivalent to yesterday's "liberal". But since the "left" (modern day totalitarians) hijacked the good word for their own nefarious purposes we've had to use the term "conservative" meaning "classical liberal". Our founding fathers were "classical liberals".
Or another way of looking at it is that we tried to "conserve" yesterday's liberal (classical) traditions.
See link below