American Revolution

During the American Revolution, those in the colonies who favored and fought for American independence came to be called “Patriots.” Originally applied to them as a term of disparagement, the American revolutionaries embraced it, and “Patriot” now has a specific, precise, and important meaning in American history.

The English word “patriot” derives originally from the Greek “patrios” (father) and came to English via the French word “patriote,” which meant something like “fellow countryman,” having come into existence to emphasize the common identity of French people during their civil wars of religion. By the mid-17th century, however, the English word “patriot” had an entirely negative connotation, meaning someone who was rebellious against the monarchy for no good cause.

Merriam-Webster offers this useful and succinct history of the word’s next stage of evolution:

“The years leading up to the American Revolutionary War further propagated the notion of ‘patriot’ as a name for a seditious rebel against the monarchy. 18th-century American writers, however, heartily embraced the word to define the colonists who took action against British control. As tensions continued to escalate, a new meaning of ‘patriot’ came to the forefront: ‘a person who advocates or promotes the independence of his native soil or people from the country or union of countries of which it is a colony.’

In the end, the patriots won the war and, centuries after America’s Declaration of Independence, ‘patriot’ has held its place of honor in the English language as the meritorious name for the brave men and women of the armed forces who defend the rights and freedoms of their country. Stripped of all past disparagement, the word has returned to its original meaning: ‘one who loves his or her country.’”

Because of the evolution of the word’s meaning and the more generic connotation it now has, nowadays there is a reluctance on the part of some historians to use the word “Patriot” when referring to the American revolutionaries, with many lately preferring to use “rebel” instead. The counterargument is that “Patriot” in the context of the American Revolution is well-known to mean something other than merely “one who is patriotic,” and the revolutionaries themselves did not refer themselves as “rebels.” For those reasons (and because there is no better option, “Whig” being equally problematic) on this page and in my writing (unless context requires otherwise) I have elected to continue to use “Patriot” rather than “rebel.” Further, it seems fair that those who took part in the struggle deserve to be remembered by terms they used to describe themselves, not terms applied to them by their enemies. For the same reason, I generally use “Loyalist” rather than “Tory.”

There is also disagreement over whether “Patriot” and “Loyalist” should be capitalized. Either way is acceptable and correct, but I have chosen to capitalize the words in part because doing so makes it clear the words aren’t being used in some generic sense, and partly because the style guide of the Journal of the American Revolution requires them to be capitalized.

The image is Archibald Willard’s 1876 painting “The Spirit of 76.”