3.2.3 United Empire Loyalists

Quebec's southern neighbours, the 13 British colonies, declared their independence in 1776 and became the United States. War split North America once more. Over 40,000 people stayed loyal to the Crown. They were escaping oppression during the American Revolution, and they settled in Nova Scotia and in Quebec. History calls them the "Loyalists." Thousands of Loyalist Mohawk Indians came north into Canada under the leadership of Joseph Brant.

The Loyalists were far from one single group. Their roots were British, German, Dutch, Scandinavian, Aboriginal and more. In religion they were just as varied: Anglican, Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, Quaker and Jewish. Roughly 3,000 black Loyalists also travelled north in search of a better life; some were freedmen and some were still slaves. The land they received was poor. That is why, in 1792, a group of black Nova Scotians left for West Africa and founded Freetown, Sierra Leone. Britain made it a new colony for freed slaves.