Loyalty is a quality that incorporates a person's ideas and understandings concerning the customs, principles, or causes of another person or certain party. Staying faithful or true to these beliefs or persons is an important part of the loyalist aspect. When all is said and done, blind faith is the term best used to describe true loyalty.
Before the Declaration of Independence was established, the Loyalists that now were living in the colonies and still true to the king were definitely not favorable among the rebel society. However, the rebels were rather sympathetic toward the Loyalists when violent actions were considered the best way to go. And although some violence did occur, most events resulted in many discriminatory actions such as the tarring and feathering of supporters of King George III. .
After Thomas Jefferson's draft was accepted, the line drawn between the Tories and the Whigs was much more defined. Harsher punishments for such traitorous beliefs began to take place. Many Patriots thought it fair to imprison the Loyalists, confiscate their land, put them in exile, and revoke their legal rights as colonists. Those who didn't flee or get forced to return to England or Canada, had to deal with the hardships of being known as traitors in American society. Rebel colonists saw these Loyalists as spies for British forces, helpers to the Iroquois tribes, and allies to the many English sympathizers. These new insights and callous treatments helped to widen the gap between the two diverse groups.
Since Loyalists held somewhat of a higher standard of themselves above the rebels and were mostly wealthy and conservative, the poorer, more radical Whigs refused to listen to their beliefs of what a British victory might do. For instance, the small militia's being formed were nothing compared to the great British protection given to the colonies by England. Religion was also another reason for siding with the Loyalist views since it was believed that there would be more religious freedoms in America under British rule.
