330 Loyalism in the British Atlantic World
Ben Franklin's World
Liz Covart
4.6 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 7 June 2022
⏱️ 70 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
We’ll never know for certain how many Americans supported the American Revolution, remained loyal to the British Crown and Parliament, or tried to find a middle way as someone who was disaffected from either loyalty. But we can know about the different ideologies that drove people to support the Revolution, to remain loyal to crown and parliament, or to become disaffected from both sides.
Brad Jones, Professor of History at California State University, Fresno and author of the book, Resisting Independence: Popular Loyalism in the Revolutionary British Atlantic, joins us to investigate what loyalists believed and how loyalism was not just a loyalty or ideology adopted by British Americans living in the 13 rebellious colonies, but by Britons across the British Atlantic World.
Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/330
Join Ben Franklin's World!
Sponsor Links
Complementary Episodes
- Episode 119: Steve Pincus, The Heart of the Declaration
- Episode 122: Andrew O’Shaugnessy, The Men Who Lost America
- Episode 151: Defining the American Revolution
- Episode 232: Christopher Hodson, The Acadian Diaspora
- Episode 238: Stephen Brumwell, Benedict Arnold
- Episode 283: Anne Marie Lane Jonah, Acadie 300
- Episode 306: The Horse’s Tail
- Episode 311: Katherine Carté, Religion and the American Revolution
Listen!
- Apple Podcasts
- Spotify
- Google Podcasts
- Amazon Music
- Ben Franklin's World iOS App
- Ben Franklin's World Android App
Helpful Links
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | You're listening to an airwave media podcast. |
| 0:04.0 | Ben Franklin's world is a production of the |
| 0:06.2 | Omaha Institute and is sponsored by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. and welcome to episode 330 of Van Franklin's world. |
| 0:24.0 | The podcast dedicated to helping you, |
| 0:27.0 | learn more about how the people and events of our early American past |
| 0:30.0 | have shaped the present day world we live in. |
| 0:32.0 | And I'm your host, Liz Kovart. have shaped the present day world we live in. |
| 0:33.0 | And I'm your host, Liz Kovart. |
| 0:36.3 | In an 1815 letter to Massachusetts Senator James Lloyd, |
| 0:39.8 | John Adams famously stated, quote, |
| 0:42.2 | I should say that full one-third of Americans were averse |
| 0:44.9 | to the revolution, an opposite third gave themselves up to the enthusiasm and gratitude to France. |
| 0:51.0 | A middle third, always averse to war, were rather lukewarm both to England and France." |
| 0:57.0 | End quote. |
| 0:58.0 | Now, although Adams was writing to Lloyd about American support for the French Revolution. |
| 1:02.8 | His ideas about thirds when considering questions of loyalty |
| 1:06.1 | came to stick when trying to describe sentiments and loyalties |
| 1:09.4 | during the American Revolution. |
| 1:11.6 | The reality is, we'll never know for certain how many Americans supported the |
| 1:15.4 | American Revolution, remain loyal to the British crown and parliament, or tried to |
| 1:19.8 | find a middle way as someone who was both on the fence or disaffected from either loyalty. |
| 1:24.8 | Now while we'll never be able to precisely measure American's |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Liz Covart, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Liz Covart and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.