You are a patriot in a loyalist vs patriots debate?

Answer 1

Ask the Loyalists:

How do you benefit by supporting the king?

What benefits do you get from the taxes you pay?

Why should the colonists be taxed?

Is it really worth it to not sacrifice so many lives?

Ask the Patriots:

How do you benefit from turning against the king?

How else should you pay for the war?

Why shouldn't the colonists be taxed?

Is it really worth it to lose so many lives?

After the war the Patriots believed they had the right to expel the Loyalists and abuse them. Few were killed but many were forced to leave their homes and were pushed out into the countryside or forced out of the country entirely. This is one of the firsts acts the Patriots made as newly liberated men.

Was this the right thing to do? No, probably not; but we have to remember how the Patriots were treated by the Loyalists during the Revolution. If a Loyalist found you were a Patriot plotting with other Patriots on tactics of liberating the colonies from the King they would not hesitate to turn you and in let you be punished. So really the Patriots acts were a form of payback but it still does not justify either of their foolhardy actions. The Loyalists did not have the right to abuse the Patriots during the Revolution and the Patriots did not have the right to abuse the Loyalists after the Revolution.

Answer 2

As a Patriot, you are strongly in favor of independence from England with the intent to establish a new government that fits the new world. Your neighbors may be Loyalists who report your actions to authorities who would be in contact with King George III and his staff. While you intend for moments such as the Declaration to be peaceful requests for freedom, you are prepared to go to great lengths to gain it, and in doing so you become a traitor to the crown. Keep in mind - many of our leaders lost their homes - or at the very least could not be at home throughout the war due to these issues.