Patriot (American Revolution)
From Freepedia
- This article concerns Patriots in the American Revolution. For other uses of the word "patriot", see the disambiguation page.
Patriots (also known as Partisans, Whigs or Rebels) were British North American colonists who rebelled against the Crown during the American Revolution and established the independent states that became the United States of America. Patriots were influenced by John Locke and the American Enlightenment. Historians in recent decades have also emphasized the influence of British "Old Whig" or "country-party" writers on the American Patriots.
As a group, Patriots comprised a wide array of political points-of-view and social positions, from conservative Federalists like Alexander Hamilton, to aristocratic planters like Thomas Jefferson, to lower-class radicals like Daniel Shays. Their opponents among fellow colonists were the Loyalists, who remained loyal to the British Crown.
Many Patriots were active before the American Revolutionary War, such as the Sons of Liberty. The most prominent leaders of the Patriots are revered to this day by Americans as Founding Fathers of the United States.
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List of prominent Patriots
Note: most of the individuals listed below served the Revolution in multiple capacities. The classifications below are in suggestion of those for which they have most been remembered.
Statesmen and office holders
Pamphleteers and activists
- Samuel Adams
- Judge John Lowell
- William Molineux
- Thomas Paine
- Richard Price (active from abroad)
- Paul Revere
Military officers
See also List of important people in the era of the American Revolution.
- Nathanael Greene
- Gilbert Motier de Lafayette
- Friedrich von Steuben
- George Washington
- William Washington -- full name William Augustine Washington was a Lt. Col. during the Revolution and a Brigadier General afterward.
