Therefore the loyalists played a part or role in the British defeat.
During the war the houses and lands left behind by the Loyalists raised the issue of their property rights. Some Patriots demanded confiscation of the property of the so-called traitors. The Loyalists or people, who were to believe to be loyalists were tarred and feathered and sometimes lost their properties, were fined, and sometimes sentenced to jail. .
The rebels won the war and the British lost it. The American victories in the field were important, of course, but no decisive. On the whole the British got the best for the fighting; they were able capture and occupy leading towns. The Loyalists played in the overall strategy and war plans of the British. They were the key players at least by 1779.
About 60,000 loyalists became soldiers and fought for the British. In the end of the war they emigrated mostly to Canada but also to the West Indies and Britain. Their departure affected the character of American society, for an important minority of Loyalists were wealthy and politically powerful merchants, lawyers, and landowners. The number of Loyalists who fled the United States is unknown but estimates range from 80,000 to 100,000 people. In many cities, upwardly mobile Patriot merchants replaced Loyalists at the top of the economic ladder.
The united empire loyalists were American colonists who moved to British colonies in Canada during and after the revolutionary war in America from 1775 to 1783. They remained loyal to the British and left the American colonies to escape persecution by people who supported the war. Many of the loyalists also were drawn to Canada by offers of free land. About 40,000 loyalists moved to Canada. Loyalists settled mainly settled in western parts of the colonies of Nova Scotia and Quebec. .
The Loyalists greatly influenced Canada's cultural and political development. Many of the loyalists brought their English heritage into areas that had been dominated by people with French traditions.
