Patriot

Patriots (also known as Revolutionaries, Continentals, Rebels, or Whigs) were colonists in the Thirteen Colonies who opposed the Kingdom of Great Britain's control over the colonies during the American Revolution. Patriot politicians led colonial opposition to British policies regarding the American colonies, eventually adopting the United States Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. After the American Revolutionary War broke out in 1776, Patriots fought a victorious conflict against the British and their allies, which saw the colonies gain their independence as the United States in 1783. The beliefs of the Patriots were inspired by English and American republicanism, which rejected monarchy and aristocracy while promoting individual liberty and natural rights and legal rights. Prominent Patriot political theorists such as Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Thomas Paine spearheaded the American Enlightenment, which was in turn inspired by European thinkers such as Francis Bacon, John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Though slavery existed in all of the Thirteen Colonies prior to the American Revolution, the issue divided Patriots, with some supporting its abolition while others espoused proslavery thought. The Patriots included members of every social and ethnic group in the colonies, though support for the Patriot cause was strongest in the New England Colonies and weakest in the Southern Colonies. The American Revolution divided the colonial population into three groups: Patriots, who supported the end of British rule, Loyalists, who supported Britain's continued control over the colonies, and those who remained neutral. African Americans who supported the Patriots were known as Black Patriots, with their counterparts on the British side being referred to as Black Loyalists. Terminology