I lealisti furono i coloni americani che rimasero fedeli al regno di Gran Bretagna e alla monarchia durante la guerra d'indipendenza americana.
Storia Erano spesso chiamati col nome di Tories, Royalists oppure Uomini del Re dai rivoluzionari (ovvero da coloro che sostenevano la causa americana). Molti lealisti, avendo una difficile condizione di vita nelle mani dei patrioti americani, abbandonarono le colonie e si stabilirono nel Nord America Britannico (in posti come il Canada, dove presero il nome di Lealisti dell'Impero Unito) oppure nelle Indie occidentali britanniche (come le Bahamas). Tra loro vi erano anche i Black Loyalists.
Gli storici hanno stimato che erano lealisti tra il 15 e il 20% della popolazione. Calhoon, "Loyalism and neutrality" p.235 Lo storico Robert Middlekauff stima che circa 500 000 coloni (ovvero il 19% della popolazione bianca) rimasero fedeli alla Gran Bretagna.Middlekauff (2005) pp. 563-564
Note
Bibliografia Bailyn, Bernard. The Contagion of Liberty. In The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution, enlarged edition, 230-319. (1992). Bailyn, Bernard. The Ordeal of Thomas Hutchinson: Loyalism and the Destruction of the First British Empire (1974), full scale biography of the most prominent Loyalist Bradley, James E. "The Reprieve of a Loyalist: Count Rumford's Invitation Home." New England Quarterly 1974 47(3): 368-385. ISSN 0028-4866 in Jstor Brown, Wallace. The King's Friends: The Composition and Motives of the American Loyalist Claimants (1966). Calhoon, Robert M. "Loyalism and neutrality" in Jack P. Greene and J.R. Pole, eds., The Blackwell Encyclopedia of the American Revolution (1991) Calhoon, Robert M. The Loyalists in Revolutionary America, 1766-1781 (1973), the most detailed study Robert M. Calhoon, Timothy M. Barnes and George A. Rawlyk, eds. Loyalists and Community in North America (1994). Jensen, Merrill; The New Nation: A History of the United States during the Confederation, 1781-1789 1950; detailed discussion of return of Loyalists, popular anger at their return; repeal of wartime laws against them Kermes, Stephanie. "'I Wish for Nothing More Ardent upon Earth, than to See My Friends and Country Again': The Return of Massachusetts Loyalists." Historical Journal of Massachusetts 2002 30(1): 30-49. ISSN 0276-8313 Kerber, Linda. Women of the Republic: Intellect and Ideology in Revolutionary America (1997) Knowles, Norman. Inventing the Loyalists: The Ontario Loyalist Tradition and the Creation of Usable Pasts (1997) explores the identities and loyalties of those who moved to Canada. Lohrenz, Otto; "The Advantage of Rank and Status: Thomas Price, a Loyalist Parson of Revolutionary Virginia." The Historian. 60#3 (1998) pp 561+. online Middlekauff, Robert. "The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763–1789." (2005 edition) Moore, Christopher. The Loyalist: Revolution Exile Settlement. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, (1994). Mason, Keith. “The American Loyalist Diaspora and the Reconfiguration of the British Atlantic World.” In Empire and Nation: The American Revolution and the Atlantic World, ed. Eliga H. Gould and Peter S. Onuf (2005). Nelson, William H. The American Tory (1961) Norton, Mary Beth. Liberty's Daughters: The Revolutionary Experience of American Women, 1750-1800 (1996) Peck, Epaphroditus; The Loyalists of Connecticut Yale University Press, (1934) online Potter, Janice. The Liberty We Seek: Loyalist Ideology in Colonial New York and Massachusetts (1983). Quarles, Benjamin; Black Mosaic: Essays in Afro-American History and Historiography University of Massachusetts Press. (1988) Smith, Paul H. "The American Loyalists: Notes on Their Organization and Numerical Strength," William and Mary Quarterly 25 (1968): 259-77. in JSTOR Van Tyne, Claude Halstead. The Loyalists in the American Revolution (1902) online Mason Wade, The French Canadians: 1760-1945 (1955) 2 vol.
Voci correlate Lealisti dell'Impero Unito
Collegamenti esterni "Who were the Loyalists" by Ann Mackenzie (5-page, in pdf format)
Haldimand Collection The main source for historians in the study of the settlement of the American Loyalists in Canada. More than 20 thousand letters and documents, now fully indexed, and free on the Web. Benjamin Franklin to Baron Francis Maseres, June 26, 1785 (Opinion of Benjamin Franklin on persons who called themselves "Loyalists", whom he judged better called "Royalists")
Categoria:Guerra d'indipendenza americana