Loyalists sought reforms to the relationship between Britain and the colonies short of outright revolution. In 1774, Joseph Galloway (1731-1803) presented a plan at the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia to allow the American colonies a united government but let Britain handle international affairs. The proposal narrowly failed.

Historians often represent the American Revolution as proceeding from great principles, but for ordinary people, wartime experiences shaped allegiances. Jasanoff gives the example of the ordeal of Thomas Brown (1750-1825). Brown came from England in 1774 to start a settlement in Georgia. Patriot neighbors sought his support for the revolution, but Brown was not interested. A patriot mob attacked him in August of 1775. Brown survived and formed the King’s Rangers, a loyalist militia.

There was vigorous public debate about the revolution. When Thomas Paine (1737-1809) published Common Sense in January of 1776 supporting revolution, assistant rector of Trinity Church in New York City, Charles Inglis (1734-1816), argued for peace in The True Interest of America, Impartially Stated (1776).

On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence proclaimed the United States a sovereign nation, making loyalty to Britain treason to the new country. In August of 1776, 30,000 British troops landed in Brooklyn and routed Washington’s patriot army, which escaped in the night.