Our First Civil Conflict: Patriots and Loyalists within the American Revolution

What causes a person to forsake his nation and take arms in opposition to it? What prompts others, hardly distinguishable in station or success, to defend that nation in opposition to the rebels?  That’s the query H. W. Manufacturers solutions in his authentic new narrative historical past of the American Revolution.

George Washington and Benjamin Franklin have been the unlikeliest of rebels. Washington within the 1770s stood on the apex of Virginia society. Franklin was extra profitable nonetheless, having risen from humble origins to world fame. John Adams might need appeared a extra apparent candidate for rise up, being of cantankerous temperament. Even so, he revered the regulation. But all three males grew to become rebels in opposition to the British Empire that fostered their success.  

William Franklin might need been anticipated to hitch his father, Benjamin, in rise up however remained loyal to the British. So did Thomas Hutchinson, a royal governor and buddy of the Franklins, and Joseph Galloway, an early challenger to the Crown. They quickly heard themselves denounced as traitors–for
not having betrayed the nation the place they grew up. Native People and the enslaved have been additionally compelled to decide on sides as civil warfare broke out round them.

After the Revolution, the Patriots have been solid as heroes and founding fathers whereas the Loyalists have been relegated to bit components greatest forgotten.
Our First Civil Conflict reminds us that earlier than America may win its revolution in opposition to Britain, the Patriots needed to win a bitter civil warfare in opposition to their sons and neighbors.