The Loyalists of the United Empire

The United States of America was formed in 1776. The 13 colonies of Britain declared their independence from the crown. War returned to the North American continent. The “Loyalists” were a group of 40,000 people who owed allegiance to the crown and were loyal to it. This group of people left America to settle in the provinces of Quebec and Nova Scotia. The group of loyalists called Mohawk Indians was led by Joseph Brant into Canada. Loyalists to the British crown came from a variety of backgrounds. Apart from the British, they also included German, Dutch, Aboriginals, and Scandinavians. Other loyalists had Catholic, Quaker, Jewish, Methodist, Baptist, Anglican, and Presbyterian backgrounds. A group of 3,000 slaves, freedmen, and loyalists moved to the Northern side of the country for a better life. A colony for the freed slaves was established in Sierra Leone in West Africa (in 1792). These were the black people from Nova Scotia who were allotted poor land. The latter moved to create a new British colony.