rist wrote,
quoting:

This word, Rebellion, hath frozen them up,
Like fish in a pond.

But the event which brought the greatest reinforcement
to the Loyalist ranks was the Declaration of Independence.
Six months before the Declaration of Independence was
passed by the Continental Congress, the Whig leaders had
been almost unanimous in repudiating any intention of
severing the connection between the mother country and
the colonies. Benjamin Franklin told Lord Chatham that
he had never heard in America one word in favour of
independence 'from any person, drunk or sober.' Jonathan
Boucher says that Washington told him in the summer of
1775 'that if ever I heard of his joining in any such
measures, I had his leave to set him down for everything
wicked.' As late as Christmas Day 1775 the revolutionary
congress of New Hampshire officially proclaimed their
disavowal of any purpose 'aiming at independence.'
Instances such as these could be reproduced indefinitely.
When, therefore, the Whig leaders in the summer of 1776
made their right-about-face with regard to independence,
it is not surprising that some of their followers fell
away from them. Among these were many who were heartily
opposed to the measures of the British government, and
who had even approved of the policy of armed rebellion.
but who could not forget that they were born British
subjects. They drank to the toast, 'My country, may she
always be right; but right or wrong, my country.'

Other motives influenced the growth of the Loyalist party.
There were those who opposed the Revolution because they
were dependent on government for their livelihood, royal
office-holders and Anglican clergymen for instance. There
were those who were Loyalists because they thought they
had picked the winning side, such as the man who candidly
wrote from New Brunswick in 1788, 'I have made one great
mistake in politics, for which reason I never intend to
make so great a blunder again.' Many espoused the cause
because they were natives of the British Isles, and had
not become thoroughly saturated with American ideas: of
the claimants for compensation before the Royal
Commissioners after the war almost two-thirds were persons
who had been born in England, Scotland, or Ireland. In
some of the colonies the struggle between Whig and Tory
followed older party lines: this was especially true in
New York, where the Livingston or Presbyterian party
became Whig and the De Lan