Essay 2 Roughdraft 3

“The charge of our intending to enslave you should come oftenest from the mouths of those lawyers who in southern provinces, at least, have made you slaves themselves”. It is 1775, and the peak of the American Revolution. I am a small farmer living in the back country of South Carolina and I am intended a rally where another fellow loyalists spoke these words. During the American Revolution, the colonies were divided between loyalists, patriots and the ones that were undecided. Sometimes, the factor of where a certain individual lived would play a big part in whether they would want to take the loyalists side or the patriot’s side. The flourishing economy of the eastern side of South Carolina has caused loyalists like myself of the back country to resent and go against the selfish ideas of those patriots whom have all the political power.

Becoming an independent country would be awful for my family and I and all the loyalists that surrounding me. In the state of South Carolina, most of where the economy is thriving is on the east side of Carolina where the “coastal region north of Santee River [has been] increase[ing] in population and prosperity”. Not only this region, but most of the east side of Carolina where the wealthy own big plantations with many slaves to help them prosper. In almost all cases, the wealthier some one is this society, the more political power they would have, because they automatically have more time on their hands when their slaves are doing all their work on their plantations. Most of the east side of South Carolina is patriots. There might be little pockets of loyalists but the majority is patriots, and many of the patriots have a say in the government. It is obvious that loyalist s and patriots have two different view points on society and the way the government should run, and if they were to win, then only their view points would be represented in the government.

On the contrary, the British winning is what the American colonists need right now for guidance and support, because the British way of government has worked for hundreds of years and there is no reason why we need to change now. All my family and I wish is that “our Majesty may enjoy a long and prosperous reign, and that [his] descendants may govern [his] dominions with honor to themselves and happiness to their subjects, is our sincere and fervent prayer”. Our country was founded on the British and their principles and we should not abandon them now just because the patriots want to be selfish.

In conclusion, if the American colonies were to become independent, then all that we stood for when we came to North America representing Britain is forgotten about. Britain has supported us the short time we've been in these colonies, and there is no reason for us to leave now.



Citations/Resources

Title: A Note on James Stuart, Loyalist Clergyman in South Carolina
Author(s): Henry D. Bull
Source: The Journal of Southern History, Vol. 12, No. 4 (Nov., 1946), pp. 570-575
Publisher(s): Southern Historical Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2197692

Title: The Fate of Some Black Loyalists of the American Revolution
Author(s): Mary Beth Norton
Source: The Journal of Negro History, Vol. 58, No. 4 (Oct., 1973), pp. 402-426
Publisher(s): Association for the Study of African-American Life and History, Inc.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2716747

Title: A Note on James Stuart, Loyalist Clergyman in South Carolina
Author(s): Henry D. Bull
Source: The Journal of Southern History, Vol. 12, No. 4 (Nov., 1946), pp. 570-575
Publisher(s): Southern Historical Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2197692

Continental Congress, "Petition to the King." Journals of the Continental Congress (1775 ):