Tory

The term Tory applied to the Tory Party, the ancestor of the modern UK Conservative Party. To this day it is often used as a shortened alternative for Conservative. A similar usage for Tory exists in Canada to describe its Conservative Party. It was also used during the American Revolutionary War to refer to British Loyalists in the colonies. During the American Civil War, supporters of the Confederacy extended the term to Southern Unionists.

American Revolution

The term Tory was used in the American Revolution to describe those who remained loyal to the British Crown and government, or Loyalists. Since early in the eighteenth century, Tory had described those upholding the right of the Kings over parliament. During the revolution, particularly after the Declaration of Independence in 1776 this use was extended to cover anyone who remained loyal to the British Crown and government. Those Loyalists who settled in Canada, Nova Scotia, or the Bahamas are known as United Empire Loyalists.

Related Topics:
American Revolution - Loyalists - Declaration of Independence - 1776 - Canada - Nova Scotia - Bahamas - United Empire Loyalists

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Tory was frequently used as an adjective to make otherwise neutral terms pejorative to the revolutionaries. So a Tory militia was a militia unit which took the British side during the Revolutionary War.

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