The American Revolution and Popular Loyalism in the British Atlantic World

The American Revolution and Popular Loyalism in the British Atlantic World

The American Revolution and Popular Loyalism in the British Atlantic World Brad A. Jones Doctor of Philosophy University of Glasgow Faculty of Arts, Department of History January 2006 (c) Brad A. Jones 2006 2 Abstract My thesis explores the American Revolution and War for Independence within the broader context of the British Atlantic world. It examines how the war and the revolutionary ideology affected the ways in which Britons living throughout the Atlantic world understood and articulated their loyalty to Great Britain. The American Revolution directly challenged the legitimacy of British whig ideology and self- definition, and forced peoples and communities throughout the Empire to rethink commonplace assumptions about their rights and liberties as British subjects. The thesis is organized and focused around five specific British Atlantic communities: London, New York City, Glasgow, Halifax (Nova Scotia) and Kingston Oamaica). During the first half of the eighteenth century diverse peoples throughout Britain's Atlantic empire united in their allegiance to the Hanoverian monarchy and expressed a Protestant Whig identity that was contrasted with the perceived oppressive regime, and lack of political and religious freedoms of an alien French enemy. The American Revolution, however, presented an explicit challenge to these Protestant whig ideals, for these same beliefs had also inspired the American Patriots. For the first time, Britons were opposed in war not by the French, but rather by fellow Protestant Britons. Consequently, American resistance and eventual rebellion to British imperial rule in the 1760s and 1770s served to divide rather than unite loyal Britons throughout the Atlantic world. Britons struggled to articulate a shared empire-wide opposition to an enemy and ideology that appeared not all that different from their own Protestant whig beliefs. The Franco-American alliance of 1778 thus assumed enormous significance for loyal Britons. Once again, they could identify the enemy as opponents of whig and Protestant beliefs. Britons were shocked by the hypocrisy of a revolutionary ideology that was supposedly based upon a superior definition of Whig ideology, yet was now allied with an arbitrary empire. Britons throughout the Atlantic world were able to redefine their American foes as no longer being fellow Britons, while simultaneously celebrating their loyalty within a broader empire-wide conception of Britishness. The result of which was a more determined and defiant expression of loyalty to Great Britain that was shared by Britons throughout the Atlantic world. Thus the American Revolution not only created a new American nation, but it also created a more determined British national identity shared by Britons throughout the Atlantic world. 3 Table of Contents Acknowledgments 5 Introduction 6 The British Atlantic World 11 Atlantic Approaches to the American Revolution 12 Chapter Outline 16 Chapter 1 Britishness and the Atlantic World to 1765 Introduction 22 Origins of the British Atlantic Empire 24 London 25 Kingston 31 New York City 37 Glasgow 42 Halifax 48 Popular Politics in the British Atlantic World 55 France, War, and Identity 64 Chapter 2 Imperial Crises and Loyalty in the British Atlantic World, 1763-1773 Introduction 71 The Stamp Act Crisis (1765) 73 Stamp Act Repealed (1766) 87 Sugar and Free Ports Act Riot (1766) 94 The Liberty Pole Riots (1766-1770) 97 Townshend Revenue Acts (1767) 102 Boston Massacre (1770) 105 Boston Tea Party (1773) 112 Conclusion 116 4 Chapter 3 Britishness and the American Enemy, 1774-1777 Introduction 118 The Association 121 Associations, Non-Importation and the Coming of War (17741775) 124 The Shot Heard Around the World: Lexington and Concord (1775) 144 American Independence and the First Years of the Rebellion (1776-1777) 155 Conclusion 166 Chapter 4 Britishness and the Franco-American Alliance, 1778-1781 Introduction 169 Loyalty, Identity and the British Defeat at Saratoga 173 Britishness and the New American Enemy 179 No Popery Riots (1779) 185 Keppel and Liberty (1779) 189 The Gordon Riots (1780) 193 Conclusion 200 Conclusion Loyalty, Britishness and American Independence Accepting Defeat (1781-1783) 203 Rodney's Victory at the Saintes (1782) 209 Conclusion 219 Bibliography 224 5 Acknowledgments One of the great challenges of doing Atlantic world history is the distance and costs involved with the research. During the past three years I have regularly traversed two continents and spent substantial amounts of time in nearly a dozen British and American cities. None of this would have been possible, of course, without the generous financial assistance of several institutions. For this I am grateful to the fellowship committees and staff at the following libraries: The Library Company of Philadelphia, the Friends of the Princeton University Library, the Gilder Lehrman Institute and the New-York Historical Society, the Huntington Library, the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies and the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Additionally, the Faculty of Arts, School of History and Archaeology and the Department of History at Glasgow University have each provided several generous travel grants to help me complete my research. The completion of this thesis benefited from the help of numerous friends and colleagues. I would like to thank Barbara Clark Smith, who sacrificed many afternoons to discuss the Revolution, crowds and popular protest in the halls of our nation's museum. I would also like to thank Rob Parkinson, who offered invaluable advice for the thesis and for getting through the long arduous days of writing. A special thanks is also in order for Doug Aiton, Mairi Langan and Neil Murphy, who graciously answered a last minute call to comment on the final draft of this thesis. Above all, I am thankful to my advisor, Simon Newman. He has proven to be an honest and good-natured critic, an inspiring historian, and most importantly, a great friend. I would also like to thank the many friends who have helped in innumerable ways over the past three years. A special thanks to Amy Wolfe, Rob Bowie and the Sutton family (and Maestro), whose generosity enabled a poor postgraduate to save a few dollars on rent. To my new in-laws, Mr. and Mrs. Cheung (and Calvin), for feeding and housing me during my long journey across the US. To Alison and Margo for putting up with And family my seemingly endless number of questions and requests. of course to my - for Mom, Dad, Matt, Kara, Mallory, Todd and Jen - all that they have done for me, not just over the past three years, but for the past thirty. Lastly, I would like to thank my wife Flo, without whom I could not have written this thesis. Now we can finally go on that honeymoon! Introduction In May 1780, as the American War for Independence drew to a close, Loyalists in British-occupied New York City read in Rivington's Gazette about a funeral in Philadelphia for a Spanish Roman Catholic. The dead man had probably been a soldier, and had died at Morristown where he had been encamped with General George Washington and his American allies. The funeral procession in Philadelphia consisted leading of the dignitaries of the American Patriot community and their French allies. The French Ambassador Chevalier De La Luzerne was at the head of the parade, followed by representatives of the American Congress, along with the General Officers of the Continental Army, and finally a large crowd of `American Citizens' who were said to be `extremely numerous' on the occasion! Upon arrival at the city's Roman Catholic chapel, the officiating priest `presented the Holy Water to Mons. Lucerne, who, after sprinkling himself, presented it to Mr. Huntington, President in Congress. ' Samuel Huntington, who was described as a strict Calvinist, `paused a considerable time... but at length his affection for the great and good ally conquered all scruples of conscience, and he too besprinkled and sanctified himself with all the adroitness of a veteran Catholic.! 'Without hesitation', the rest of the congressmen `followed the righteous example of their proselyted President. ' Before those attending the ceremony departed from the chapel `curiosity induced some persons to uncover the bier, when they were highly enraged at finding the whole a sham, there being no corpse under the cloth, the body of the Spanish gentleman having been several days before interred at Morris-Town. The bier was surrounded with wax-candles, and every member of this egregious Congress, now reconciled to the Popish communion, carried a taper in his hand. ' Within a month, this rather colourful story had travelled from New York City and found its way into British newspapers all around the Empire. News of the mock funeral procession arrived in London in the middle of June and appeared in The London ' Chronicle. A week later the story had travelled north to Glasgow, Scotland, where merchants and mechanics alike eagerly anticipated news of events occurring in the war- I `New-York, May 20. ', Bitinglon's Gazette, 20 May 1780. Rivington's newspaper went through various name changes during its existence. In order to avoid confusion, I will refer to it as Riaington'.c Gazette hereafter. 2 `From Rivington's New York Gazette', TheLondon Chronicle,20 June 1780 torn American colonies. In early July The Royal Gazettein Kingston, Jamaica had also reprinted the story. ' The dead Spanish officer was not a well-known figure, and Britons and Americans alike were tired of a war that was almost over. Why, then, did stories such as these circulate so effectively around the empire, and what did they mean to those who read them? Newspapers and magazines published throughout Britain's far-flung Atlantic empire printed many pieces in the 1770s and 1780s that defined and re-defined British imperial identity against the new United States. In this case, the narrative of a Catholic funeral procession described an illegitimate alliance between a naive, impressionable and ultimately traitorous American people who had been deceived by the oppressive Catholic French and Spanish empires.

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