Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Caroline Landry
HI4033: Loyalists in the Atlantic World
October 2, 2018
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Culture, David G. Bell argues, “how, at the very founding of Canada’s Loyalist province, some
exiled Loyalists clung to power by branding other Loyalist exiles with the high Loyalist crime of
disloyalty,” (9). Bell writes an interesting account of the Exodus granted to those who remained
loyal to the crown. He shows the diversity of the Loyalists throughout by providing real Loyalist
accounts of their life. With the separation of the Saint John Region from Nova Scotia came a
division between the Loyalists settled there. The division between the Upper and Lower Coves in
Saint John was evident from the beginning, when bitterness was expressed towards “higher
class” loyalists, who received favoritism with the land grants and power. This division is what
In chapter one, Bell sets the reader up in the historical period of the American revolution
and contributes to his thesis by giving hints throughout the chapter of what and who a Loyalist
was. What exactly did it mean to a person barring that title in the thirteen colonies? Bell answers
this by giving different accounts of real people, who suffered because they barred this title. “Ten
of the thirteen sent active Loyalists to the gallows,” (16). These people were treated harshly.
They were, “threatened, mobbed, beaten and dispossessed,” (17). They may have had the same
beliefs, but Bell shows in his very first chapter, how numerous and different the Loyalists were.
There were farmers, lawyers, Anglican ministers, British and German soldiers serving for the
Bell, also shows in the first chapter, the heartbreak the Loyalist’s felt when the crown
made peace with the thirteen colonies, allowing them independence. They were tired and sullen
around mid-1782, and some considered making peace with their old rivals, but they were not
welcomed back with open arms. There was no peace for the Loyalists. They could not return and
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those that did were, “beaten, robbed and expelled,” (26). They had no choice but to leave, as in
Bell finishes up this chapter with a description of the Exodus, that was put together with
the help of Guy Carleton and his staff working with the crown. The motivation to compensate
the Loyalists was the failure of the peace treaty to protect the Loyalists from the rebel. Some
Loyalists, especially the wealthy or well-connected, made Britain their refuge. There were other
options, but most refugees, at the mouth of the Hudson, found their refuge in Nova Scotia. There
were, “thirty thousand loyal migrants to Nova Scotia alone,” (29). They were not allowed to
bring much, as “the British would not allow the exiles to ship much in the way of household
goods at public expense,” (34). The entire evacuation of New York took over a year and most
Bell builds on the Exodus by giving the Loyalist’s disappointment at seeing Nova Scotia
in the next Chapter. Bell provides an account from Sarah Scofield’s journal, “it is I think the
roughest land I ever saw,” (49). He throws us into the difficulties that John Parr and his officers
faced at receiving and settling the Refugees and Provincials. There were many delays in land-
granting, and Parr was hesitant to act without the approval from London. This created much
tension between the refugees and government, as not all towns could offer enough shelter, and
some stayed in tents. “Fleet after fleet of exiles was precipitated on shore without so much as a
shelter to go under, with no one ready to point out their promised lands,” (58). Again, it would
seem to the Loyalists that their government was failing them. They expected that their lands
would be surveyed prior to their arrival, but that did not happen.
On top of all that, there was a volcanic eruption in Iceland, which made “the winter of
1783-84 in the Maritime region the second coldest of the modern era,” (59). Sickness and death
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was common. Most faced physical and emotional hardship. But despite all of this, a newspaper
was developed called Saint John Gazette, which shows that they already had a sense of their own
identity. Bell gives us a sneak peek of what is to come, when he mentions the Upper Cove in this
chapter, and how favoritism was shown to them in granting land. Already, there was a separation
between the Upper and Lower coves. Geographically and socially they were separate, which
Chapter three sets the stage for the political battle that supports Bell’s thesis. London
formed the Saint John region in to its own separate colony, on the account that it was too far
away from Halifax to be governed properly. There were many grievances from the Saint John
region. First, they were about single men receiving blankets with holes in it, and their superiors
responded by giving them no blankets. Their trust in the government was fragile, as they felt
betrayed by them in the peace agreement and favoritism was constantly shown to the aristocratic.
These people were unhappy, and they did not trust that Governor Parr was properly
hearing their grievances. They wanted someone to speak on their behalf, and their hero showed
up on the stage – Elias Hardy. He went to Halifax and told Governor Parr of Saint John’s
dissatisfaction. Edward Winslow, an Upper Cover, dreamt of partition early on and suggested
that Ward Chipman place himself in London to get the cause going back when they were in New
York. Hardy did not work for partition; his faction was just looking for personal security. But
when separation was granted, Edward Winslow’s circle, the practitioners, became the rulers of
the new colony. Hardy’s the “main losers”, “who were marginalized from power once again,”
(98). Again, the separation between the two groups of Loyalists comes down to class.
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Chapter four shows more displeasure from the Loyalists, as their new governor, Thomas
Carleton, combines the twin settlements in to Saint John. This was the Lower Covers and the
Upper Covers, who did not associate with each other. The Royal Gazette and Saint John Gazette
is a good symbol of this divide between the two. The Royal Gazette vowed, “to publish only
what would promote good Order and Morals and to reject anything intended to serve “Party”
purposes or “Disrespect to the Government,” (109). One can easily read between the lines and
see that the Royal Gazette was looking down on the Saint John Gazette, which was run by the
Lower Covers. They were basically saying my paper is better than your paper!
When an election was called, it further divided them. There the nicknames Upper and
Lower Covers came from this election. The Mallard House riot is a good example of that. It was
a tavern, where the Upper Covers were drinking. The Lower Covers went to siege it, as they
wanted to teach them a lesson. Soldiers were used against them, and the dispute was resolved.
However, not without creating more unhappiness amongst the Lower Covers. When the election
was called in, the Lower Covers had won by quite a bit, “an average of 625 votes to 508”, (116).
This is when the charge of disloyalty came in. The Upper Covers did not believe the Lower
Covers had followed all the rules for their votes. They called in Sheriff Oliver to look at the
votes and he added a disallowance to nearly two hundred votes. The Upper Covers were back in
charge again!
Obviously, the Lower Covers were upset. There was an article published in the Saint
John Gazette to reflect this, and at the same time a petition was drew up, but the government
responded by disallowing petitions. They also shut down the Saint John Gazette. In direct
defiance of the new act, some Lower Covers drew up a petition with talk of a return to the states.
The Upper Covers felt there was a “deliberate confrontation with authority,” (130), as they
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brought it to the Governor five days after the law was passed. The governing elite finally got
Bell’s last chapter sums up his thesis with “perfect tranquility”. He takes all the facts that
he presented throughout the novel to support his thesis and builds upon them. Making his
argument clearer overall. He shows there was a divide even on the ships, when they were put in
to sections based on their former colonial home. There were prejudices and hates from the
opposition, as the Upper Covers were mainly aristocrats from Massachusetts. The Lower Covers
were the democratic, mainly farmers, from New York and newly freed blacks. Bell sums it up
well when he says, “political divisions at Loyalist Saint john were colored by class, sectional and
geographic distinctions, and these cleavages were mutually reinforcing,” (152). This gave birth
to the “Loyalty Cry” that shows up elsewhere in Canadian History ever since this event.
Overall, I think the book supported its argument well. All the events worked off each
other to create a “revolution” in the colony of New Brunswick. The Lower Covers were like the
rebels to the governing, Upper Covers. They felt the Upper Covers were not being fair to them,
and had reason to believe this, as their government before had let them down with the
favoritisms of land and allocation of governing jobs. They rebelled in a subtler way than their
Southern neighbors, but they did stand up for themselves. This caused the Loyalists to consider
the Lower Covers, “enemies of loyalty,” (148). Lucky for them, this rebellion ended quite