Portfolio: Essay #2

The other day in the street, multiple patriots attacked a couple loyalists who were simply minding their own business. They only attacked the loyalists because they were loyalists and wanted to remain loyal to the king, which was the opposite of what the patriots wanted. So, it is because of the cruel statements said and the harsh treatment received from the Patriots that I am a Rhode Island loyalist today in 1777. I believe that the American colonies should remain loyal to the King. The patriots want to separate the colonies from the Crown, but I believe this to be an idea that would doom us all. Without the support and protection that the King and Britain so graciously offer us, I think the colonies would be in danger. It is with all good intentions that my view point is based. I would not be a loyalist if I thought staying loyal to the King would cause a fatal downfall for our beautiful colonies. We loyalists deserve to be treated with the utmost respect and kept protected economically and with militia; and Britain is the supporter that can meet and fulfill those requests and keep America a prospering country.

We, the loyalists of the colonies were not treated as we should have been by the colonies. Our opinions were never heard and many of us decided to emigrate so that we would not have to deal with the drama of the patriots trying to go against and separate the colonies from the Crown. I do not see why so many people were against staying loyal to the King. Our loyalty to Britain is what kept our relationship so healthy over all these years. By trying to change the laws and become independent, our relationship with Britain and the King of England will fall apart. Loyalty is what has kept us alive thus far. Rhode Island may have been somewhat divided before, but by trying to make our own laws there will probably be more disagreements and divisions among the different groups of people.

Even before the American Revolution began, we were a divided colony. Whether it was by economic class or patriotism and loyalists, Rhode Island was not a united colony. Some counties believed that staying loyal to the King was the best idea, while others thought that trying to become an independent colony would be a wise decision. “Newport and the Narragansett counties remained loyal, whereas the agrarian north, which was in control of the government, declared Rhode Island’s independence of Britain” (Thompson 367). We may have had a better chance of staying loyal if all government officials that were for independence were not all located in the same county. Because they were located so close to each other, they did not have to travel far to discuss and create new laws and they did not need to wait for responses from any other government figures because they were all in the same general area. This provided the Rhode Island patriots with an unfair advantage over us loyalists.

Another reason the patriots had an unfair advantage over us loyalists was because the Patriots did not trust anyone but themselves. They passed the Test Act in 1776 that “empowered any member of the Assembly who suspected his neighbor of being unfriendly to the cause of the United American colonies, to summon such neighbor before him, and demand that he should subscribe to the Declaration” (Vernon 5). Patriots were allowed to try to turn loyalists in to the government for punishment. Afterwards some of us were forced to support the Declaration for Independence, which is something we did not want to have anything to do with. We wanted to keep connections with Britain, which would prevent selfish colonial government leaders from creating unnecessary acts that would basically only affect us loyalists in a bad way.

The only way we are going to keep our strength as a colony is to keep connections and ties with Britain. We need to remain under the King’s watchful eye for our own protection. Britain has a prosperous military that can be used to protect themselves and our colonies from any danger that may come. But without Britain there to act as our guardian, we will most likely fade to failure and become no longer a colony of the New World because we do not have a strong military force such as the one Britain acquires. Many of our loyalists have already decided to emigrate because they felt that independence from Britain was an extremely bad choice. We loyalists feel that we need the protection and already written out laws that Britain offers to remain happy and successful. Of those loyalists that emigrated “many chose to live in Canada among other loyal British subjects” (Kling 77) to fit in and still be connected to and working with Britain. Because so many loyalists were deciding to emigrate, the population of loyalists in Rhode Island decreased rapidly. Without a stable relationship with Britain, no one will want to wait around to see what happens with the decision to give independence a try.