|
On July fourth, seventeen seventy-six, the Second Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, approved the Declaration of Independence. The new country, the United States of America, was at war with its former colonial ruler, Britain. Yet not everyone in the former colonies agreed with the decision to declare independence. No one knows for sure how many Americans remained loyal to Great Britain. John Adams, the Massachusetts political leader, thought that about a third of the colonists supported independence, a third supported Britain and a third supported neither side. Today many historians think that only about twenty percent of the colonists supported Britain. Some colonists supported whichever side seemed to be winning. As many as thirty thousand Americans fought for the British during the war. Others helped Britain by reporting the movements of American troops. Who supported Britain? These groups included people who were appointed to their jobs by the king. They also included leaders of the Anglican Church and people with business connections to the British. Professor Gordon Wood at Brown University in Rhode Island says many colonists from minority groups remained loyal to the king. "One of the problems of the American revolution that emerged very quickly was the tyranny of the majority, which the founders, revolutionary leaders, had not anticipated. But I think we're seeing the problems that emerge when you overthrow an authoritarian leader, and you're going to have a relatively democratic society. Then the protecting the minority becomes a problem.” | 
