United Empire Loyalist

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The name United Empire Loyalists is a honorific name which has been given after the fact to those American Loyalists who resettled in British North America and other British Colonies as an act of fealty to King George III after the British defeat in the American Revolutionary War. Some sought to recover fortunes (land and private property) lost under laws enacted by the Continental Congress as a way of financing the revolution. Most, however, are believed to have fled north to escape persecution and because they rejected the republican ideals of the American Revolution, which they regarded as anarchistic. A portion of the Loyalists were recent settlers in the 13 colonies and had few economic or social ties to leave. These Loyalists settled in what was initially Quebec (including the Eastern Townships) and modern-day Ontario, where they received land grants of two hundred acres per person, and in Nova Scotia (including modern-day New Brunswick). Their arrival marked the beginning of a predominantly English-speaking population in the future Canada west and east of the Quebec border.

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[edit] Origins and history

The future Canada. The two colonies of Nova Scotia (including modern-day New Brunswick), received some 32,000 Loyalist refugees, and Quebec (including the Eastern Townships and modern-day Ontario) received some 10,000 refugees.

The arrival of the Loyalists led to the division in the war of independence 1783 into the provinces of Upper Canada in what is now Ontario and Lower Canada in what is now Quebec. The creation of Upper and Lower Canada allowed the Loyalists to live under English laws and institutions while the French-speaking population of Lower Canada could maintain French civil law and the Catholic religion.

Realizing the importance of some type of recognition, on November 9, 1789, Lord Dorchester, the governor of Quebec and Governor General of British North America, declared "that it was his Wish to put the mark of Honour upon the Families who had adhered to the Unity of the Empire." [1] As a result of Dorchester's statement, the printed militia rolls carried the notation:

Those Loyalists who have adhered to the Unity of the Empire, and joined the Royal Standard before the Treaty of Separation in the year 1783, and all their Children and their Descendants by either sex, are to be distinguished by the following Capitals, affixed to their names: U.E. Alluding to their great principle The Unity of the Empire.

Sir John Wentworth, governor of New Hampshire and later Nova Scotia.
Sir John Wentworth, governor of New Hampshire and later Nova Scotia.

Some of the richest and most prominent Loyalists went to Britain to rebuild their lives, and many received pensions. Southern Loyalists, some even taking along their slaves, went to the West Indies and the Bahamas, particularly to the Abaco Islands.

Thousands of Iroquois and other pro-British Native Americans were expelled from New York and other states and resettled in Canada. The descendants of one such group of Iroquois, led by Joseph Brant Thayendenegea, settled at Six Nations of the Grand River, the largest First Nations Reserve in Canada. Another smaller group of Iroquois settled on the shores of the Bay of Quinte in modern day South-eastern Ontario. A group of Black Loyalists settled in Nova Scotia but, facing discrimination there, some emigrated again for Sierra Leone.

Many of the Loyalists were forced to abandon substantial amounts of property, and restoration or compensation for this lost property was a major issue during the negotiation of the Jay Treaty in 1795. Negotiations rested on the concept of the American negotiators 'advising' the Congress to provide restitution. For the English this concept carried significant legal weight, far more than it did with the Americans; the U. S. Congress declined to accept the advice. More than two centuries later, some of the descendants of Loyalists still assert claims to their ancestors' property in the United States.

[edit] Lord Dorchester' Proclamation

His Excellency the Right Honourable Lord Dorchester made at the Council Chamber at Quebec a proclamation on 9 November 1789. Accompanying the resolution which was sent to London to be presented to the king, was attached a "Form of militia roll for the western districts to discriminate the families before mentioned" which included the following.... "N.B. Those Loyalits who have adhered to the unity of the Empire, and joined the Royal Standard before the Treaty of Separtaion in the year 1783, and all their children and their descendants by either sex, are to be distinguished by the following capitals, affixed to their names: U.E. allluding to their great principle the unity of the Empire."


[edit] Today

Modern-day descendants of those original refugees often apply the term United Empire Loyalist to themselves, using "UE" as postnominal letters; the honorific is one of few hereditary titles in Canada, though this is disputed by some. [2] Such everyday practice is rare, even in the original Loyalist strongholds like southeastern Ontario. However, it is used extensively by historians and genealogists.

In Canadian heraldry, Loyalist descendants are also entitled to use a Loyalist coronet in their coat of arms.

A version of the Union Flag as used from 1707 to 1801, which can still be seen as a common Loyalist symbol in certain parts of Canada.
A version of the Union Flag as used from 1707 to 1801, which can still be seen as a common Loyalist symbol in certain parts of Canada.

The influence of the Loyalists on the evolution of Canada remains. Their ties with Britain and their antipathy to the United States provided the strength needed to keep Canada independent and distinct in North America. The Loyalists' basic distrust of republicanism and "mob rule" influenced Canada's gradual "paper-strewn" path to independence. In effect, the new British North American provinces of Upper Canada (the forerunner of Ontario) and New Brunswick were created as places of refuge for the United Empire Loyalists. The mottos of the two Provinces reflect this history - Ontario's motto is "Ut incepit fidelis sic permanet" (Loyal she began, loyal she remains), New Brunswick's motto is: "Spem Reduxit" (Hope restored).

The word "Loyalist" appears frequently in school, street, and business names in loyalist-settled communities such as Belleville, Ontario. The nearby city of Kingston was established as a loyalist stronghold, named in honour of King George III. There is also a township named Loyalist in the suburban outskirts of Kingston.

In 1996, Canadian politicians John Godfrey and Peter Milliken sponsored the Godfrey-Milliken Bill, which would have entitled Loyalist descendants to reclaim ancestral property in the United States that was confiscated by the American government during the American Revolution. The bill, which did not pass in the House of Commons, was primarily intended as a satirical response to the contemporaneous American Helms-Burton Act.

[edit] List of Loyalist settlements in present-day Canada

A view of the Thousand Islands region of eastern Ontario.
A view of the Thousand Islands region of eastern Ontario.
Monument to United Loyalists. Fountain in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada.
Monument to United Loyalists. Fountain in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada.

18th-century names are listed first, alongside their present-day equivalents.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Dorchester Proclamation, transcript at "http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/UNITED-EMPIRE-LOYALIST/2001-05/0989875861"
  2. ^ see for example this http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/UNITED-EMPIRE-LOYALIST/2001-05/0989875861 on Rootsweb

[edit] Further reading

  • Christopher Moore; The Loyalists: Revolution, Exile, Settlement; 1984, ISBN 0-7710-6093-9.
  • W. Stewart Wallace; The United Empire Loyalists: A Chronicle of the Great Migration; Volume 13 of the "Chronicles of Canada (32 volumes); 1914, Toronto.
  • "The Book of Negroes" Lawrence Hill, Harper Collins Publishers Ltd. 2007, 486 pages.

[edit] External links