Loyalism
Loyalist - in general, a term used to refer to individuals who are loyal to the powers that be.
Loyalists in the American Revolution / American War of Independence
Loyalists 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 formerly known asUpper 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 these 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.
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Also used by and to refer to Ulster Unionists and many other groups.