Patriots American Revolution: Definition & Facts | StudySmarter

While studying the American Revolution, it is easy to perceive that all American colonists favored the independence movement. However, that could not be farther from the truth. American Revolution Patriots were a minority group in the colonies, a loud group, but approximately a third of the colonist identified as Patriots even at the outbreak of war. Another third were Loyalists, holding fast to their status as British citizens and saw the movement for independence as treason. And a final third was indecisive, a group of colonists who either had conflicting views on both independence and the British government or were more concerned about whether or not their crops would bring in a good harvest. Who were the Patriots of the American Revolution? Why did they want independence from Britain? What issues did they have with Loyalists? And what was the Patriots’ influence on the American Revolutionary War?

Definition of Patriots: American Revolution

The beginnings of the Patriot movement in the American colonies did not happen overnight; it resulted from decades of economic and political issues with England and an influence of Enlightenment ideas such as republicanism.

Patriots: The American colonists who openly rebelled and fought the political and economic authority of the British Government. Also known as Whigs, revolutionaries, colonials, continentals, and Yankees.

Loyalists: The American colonists who remained loyal to the British government. Most were wealthy merchants and aristocrats who had financially solid connections with England and relied on the trade and policies of England to maintain their wealth. Also known as Royalists, Tories, and King’s Men.

Patriots American Revolution: Facts

The Patriots based their notions of rebellion on the Enlightenment philosophy of republicanism, the idea that government should reject the institution of monarchy and central control and embrace individual liberty, natural rights, and sovereignty granted by the people.

Fig. 1 – The Spirit of 1776, a painting that exemplified the defiant spirit of the American patriots

Most individuals who claimed to be Patriots were from Boston, a city at the heart of the independence movement since the Stamp Act in 1765. Boston became the epicenter of rebellion as many of the taxation, enforcement, and governmental policies passed by England from the 1750s to 1770s directly impacted Bostonians.

Most Bostonians who identified as Patriots were also members of revolutionary groups such as the Sons of Liberty.

Soon, the Patriot movement spread to cities such as Baltimore and Philadelphia and in pockets of resistance in New York City. Many different Americans of varying backgrounds gravitated toward the Patriot cause, most directly influenced by the passage of policies such as the Stamp Act, the Townshend Acts, the Tea Act, and the Intolerable Acts. They consisted of lawyers, merchants, plantation owners, farmers, slaves and freemen, and politicians.

Famous Patriots: American Revolution

Listed below are several, but not all, prominent Patriots of the American Revolution: