Here’s another new download from the Connecticut Quarterly, Volume IV (1898).
It did not take much to be considered a Tory during the times of the American Revolution — being committed to maintaining the status quo was really the only requirement to be categorized as such. As a consequence, Connecticut had many, many people who fell in this category.
As the article points out, not all were subjected to criminal prosecution, but there were many ways in which Connecticut’s Tories paid for their loyalty to King and to the status quo. The “Tory effect” was also lasting. Descendents of Tories often found that it was prudent to move westward rather than stay in their Connecticut home towns with the stigma of being the child or even later descendant of a Tory.
This could result in whole communities forming in newly settled areas in which the occupants generally were guarded about where they came from and why they had elected to settle where they did.
You can access this article for download on the “Connecticut Miscellany” page of our main website.