How did the sides in the American revolution differ?

Answer 1

Patriots were the colonists who wanted to separate from England to form an independent nation. Some of the issues they were concerned about were 1] paying high taxes to support a government abroad that they had no part in (and the making of laws they had no part in since no colonist served in British Parliament) 2] paying higher taxes than some of the other British colonies to basically finance England's wars with France and other countries 3] (see Benjamin Franklin's essay on this topic] British prisoners sent to populate the colonies to ease prison overcrowding in England. 4] British control of American shipping/exporting -- ie: telling the colonies what countries they could and could not trade with 5] the requirement that colonists, whenever asked (more like "told") had to billet British troops who were in the colonies to keep the peace -- this means that with no notice, troops could arrive at a colonist's farm and demand food and shelter for an indefinite period. . . sometimes even taking over the homestead as a headquarters without repaying the owner.

Women Patriots, though not likely to take up arms showed their support of an independent and free America by boycotting British goods and imports. They quit wearing the fashions from London and wore "homespun" -- dresses hand-made from fabrics like wool and cotton made in the colonies. Some families refused to buy tea. . . others boycotted sugar from British West Indies.

Loyalists were those colonists who wanted to remain loyal to Britian and the King. A primary concern was that cutting ties to the "mother country" could result in a disintegration of decent society. They feared that "democracy" meant the same thing as rule by the mob and that many people (like immigrants from countries they didn't much care for or like poor and/or uneducated people) were not fit to make political decisions (or even to vote). Loyalists were also concerned that without England's protection, the colonies might not be able to militarily defend themselves and some other nation might invade and take them over.