Compare and contrast the 2 sides.
2006-10-04 07:30:25 · 4 answers · asked by Megan C 1 in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
The patriots were fighting for their Independence. The Loyalists weren't "bad". They merely felt it was wrong to separate from England and the King. However, when the king had been petitioned to remedy certain injustices, those that later became patriots became disillusioned and eventually rebelled. The patriots then colored anyone supporting the king as "bad".
2006-10-07 19:42:40 · answer #1 · answered by Scottish Dachsy 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My flippant side says it's because history is written by the winners, and the patriots won.
Seriously, though, they were well aware of the cost of failure. When you know that the best you can expect if you lose is a dishonorable grave, it can be a great motivator--and a large helping of idealism doesn't come amiss, either.
What's more, the patriots were fully aware of the common practices of European armies at the time, and probably a lot of them weren't too keen on the idea of having their wives, daughters, sisters, and mothers gang raped. In that respect, the Native Americans were light years ahead of the British (rape was not something they practiced on the women of their enemies), which led a man on the New York frontier to refer to the advancing army of Barry St. Leger to be "composed of American Savages and even more Savage Britons."
The loyalists, on the other hand, tended to be members of the class with money and had financial ties to Britain. They tended to look down on the small farmers and businessmen who supported the cause of liberty, and didn't really want to see any change in the status quo. After all, life was pretty good for them, so why get entangled in a radical experiment (there were, of course, notable exceptions to this rule--John Hancock and Haym Salomon, to name just two)?
But there is one thing both sides had in common: it was a war on their home ground, and anyone, no matter which side he supported, would likely want to fight to protect his home and family.
2006-10-04 14:55:07 · answer #2 · answered by Chrispy 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Who says the patriots were better? They won the war and look at where we are today. If the loyalists had prevailed we'd look a lot more like Canada with a socialist, European style form of government. Which is better? Depends on who you ask...
2006-10-04 14:39:53 · answer #3 · answered by dardekkis 4 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Americans were fighting for freedom and the british were fighting for money
the americans were close to home
without the patroits we would be british right now
2006-10-04 14:34:13 · answer #4 · answered by lovee me hate mee♥ 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋