by Martin Haschka

Created on: August 22, 2009

The War for Independence united the American colonists in their fight for liberty against the British! That is how we would like to remember the founding of our Great Nation. But the truth is, just like today, severe differences in opinion led to factions bitterly opposing each other.

Even four years after the Declaration of Independence, American colonists were all but united. On October 7, 1780, 225 men died for their vision of the future at Kings Mountain in South Carolina. In a battle that lasted only 65 minutes, 19 Patriots sacrificed their lives for the American Dream. The rest were Loyalist Militia who still supported the British efforts to regain control over the renegade colonies. Except for their leader, Major Patrick Ferguson, none of the Loyalists was a Redrock, a regular British soldier. They were all colonists, voluntarily supporting the Empire.

No reliable data exists concerning the strength of these two factions. Also unknown is the number of neutrals - people who didn't openly support either faction. Some sources, among them John Adams, a prominent Patriot leader who later became the second President of the United States, assumed that roughly a third of the population supported the Patriots, another third the Loyalists, whereas the last third remained neutral.

NEUTRALS:
Modern research suggests that between 30 % and 65% of the population stayed neutral during the American Revolution. At least they did not openly commit themselves to support either side. Some had religious reasons, like the Quakers, others didn't want to jeopardize the safety of their families. Many were simply apolitical.

PATRIOTS:
Their strength is believed to have been between 2/5 and 1/2 of the population. In the years before the Declaration of Independence, the Moderates among the Patriots were driven by their desire to reverse the injustices caused by British legislature. They didn't question the status of the colonies as part of the British Empire.

The Stamp Act of 1765, later followed by the Townshend Acts and 1773 by the Tea Act, all had negative impact on life and the economy of the North American colonies. While the moderate Patriots favored negotiations with England and had some success, the radical Patriots were enraged about what they regarded as unlawful interference into the internal affairs of the colonies. One of the strongest radical Patriot groups were the Sons of Liberty, founded 1765 in Boston and lead among others by Paul Revere, John Hancock, and John and

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