Dishonored Americans: The Political Death of Loyalists in Revolutionary America

With the final words of the Declaration of Independence, the signatories famously pledged to one another their lives, their fortunes, and their "sacred Honor." But what about those who made the opposite choice? By looking through the analytical lens of honor culture, Dishonored Americans offers an innovative assessment of the experience of Americans who made the fateful decision to remain loyal to the British Crown during and after the Revolution.

Loyalists, as Timothy Compeau explains, suffered a "political death" at the hands of American Patriots. A term drawn from eighteenth-century sources, ‘political death’ encompassed the legal punishments and ritualized dishonors Patriots used to defeat Loyalist public figures and discredit their counter-revolutionary vision for America. By highlighting this dynamic, Compeau makes a significant intervention in the long-standing debate over the social and cultural factors that motivated colonial Americans to choose sides in the conflict, narrating in compelling detail the severe consequences for once-respected gentlemen who were stripped of their rights, privileges, and power in Revolutionary America.

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Dishonored Americans: The Political Death of Loyalists in Revolutionary America

With the final words of the Declaration of Independence, the signatories famously pledged to one another their lives, their fortunes, and their "sacred Honor." But what about those who made the opposite choice? By looking through the analytical lens of honor culture, Dishonored Americans offers an innovative assessment of the experience of Americans who made the fateful decision to remain loyal to the British Crown during and after the Revolution.

Loyalists, as Timothy Compeau explains, suffered a "political death" at the hands of American Patriots. A term drawn from eighteenth-century sources, ‘political death’ encompassed the legal punishments and ritualized dishonors Patriots used to defeat Loyalist public figures and discredit their counter-revolutionary vision for America. By highlighting this dynamic, Compeau makes a significant intervention in the long-standing debate over the social and cultural factors that motivated colonial Americans to choose sides in the conflict, narrating in compelling detail the severe consequences for once-respected gentlemen who were stripped of their rights, privileges, and power in Revolutionary America.

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Dishonored Americans: The Political Death of Loyalists in Revolutionary America

Dishonored Americans: The Political Death of Loyalists in Revolutionary America

by Timothy Compeau
Dishonored Americans: The Political Death of Loyalists in Revolutionary America

Dishonored Americans: The Political Death of Loyalists in Revolutionary America

by Timothy Compeau

eBook

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Overview

With the final words of the Declaration of Independence, the signatories famously pledged to one another their lives, their fortunes, and their "sacred Honor." But what about those who made the opposite choice? By looking through the analytical lens of honor culture, Dishonored Americans offers an innovative assessment of the experience of Americans who made the fateful decision to remain loyal to the British Crown during and after the Revolution.

Loyalists, as Timothy Compeau explains, suffered a "political death" at the hands of American Patriots. A term drawn from eighteenth-century sources, ‘political death’ encompassed the legal punishments and ritualized dishonors Patriots used to defeat Loyalist public figures and discredit their counter-revolutionary vision for America. By highlighting this dynamic, Compeau makes a significant intervention in the long-standing debate over the social and cultural factors that motivated colonial Americans to choose sides in the conflict, narrating in compelling detail the severe consequences for once-respected gentlemen who were stripped of their rights, privileges, and power in Revolutionary America.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780813950471
Publisher: University of Virginia Press
Publication date: 11/29/2023
Series: The Revolutionary Age
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 270
File size: 810 KB
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

Timothy Compeau is Assistant Professor of History at Huron University College at the University of Western Ontario.

What People are Saying About This

Brad Jones

Dishonored Americans offers an entirely new and innovative approach to understanding Loyalism during the American Revolution. Well written and deeply researched, Timothy Compeau draws readers into a world largely forgotten today, where a deeply entrenched culture of honor – and dishonor – in colonial society shaped wartime political allegiances, and ultimately helped Loyalist exiles navigate their post-war Empire.

Rebecca Brannon

An amazingly well-written book that is calculated to appeal to a wide audience while making an important and timely intervention in both the study of honor and Loyalist history. The argument is perceptive and convincing: that what united ordinary white Loyalists with elite Loyalists was the visceral sense of disrespect deliberately perpetuated by Patriots in their campaign.

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