, in his words, in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. In the face of this evil plan, Americans had no choice but to fight for their independence. Listen to Jeffersons words: it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.The Declaration of Independence had very little effect upon the British. King George refused to see how colonists could defy his rule, and even the colonists allies in Parliament began to think that the Americans had gone too far. But the Declaration did have an enormous effect on Americans who tended to favor independence from Great Britain. American read Common Sense and the Declaration and in the end, about 2/5 of American colonists openly declared to the patriot cause. (out of a population around 2.5 million, so we have about a million patriots) Some other Americans were less impressed. About 2/5 of the American colonists blew in the wind and didnt really take a side on the issue. But, if my math is correct, this leaves about 1/5 of the colonists. These were the loyalists (so you all are in the minority). About 500,000 colonists actively supported the British cause. The loyalists were especially strong in the middle and southern colonies and included government officials appointed by the King, merchants who had strong connections to British firms, clergymen of the Church of England. Some even sided with the British because their enemies had sided with the Patriots. For example, in New York, elite families such as the Livingstons and the Van Rensselaers sided with the Patriots, so their political enemies became loyalists. The loyalists played a critical role in the Revolution: they spied for the British, helped supply the British army, and even raised militia units of their own. The British also tried to take advantage of the racial divisions of the southern colonies. Remember that in many s...
