CLEP U.S. History I 030: Loyalists, Native Nations, Enslaved People, and Women

Native diplomacy followed local calculations rather than a single “Native side.” Most Haudenosaunee nations supported Britain because British officials appeared more likely than land-hungry colonists to restrain western settlement. Many Oneidas and Tuscaroras, however, aided the United States, splitting the confederacy and sometimes communities and families. Cherokee towns disagreed over strategy as settlers invaded southern homelands. Some fought with Britain, while others sought separate accommodations. In the Ohio Valley and Southeast, Britain supplied Native allies but could not command their purposes. Patriot campaigns such as Sullivan’s 1779 expedition destroyed Haudenosaunee towns and food stores. The 1783 peace then transferred British territorial claims without Native consent, not Native sovereignty itself, and intensified warfare over U.S. settlement.

Enslaved people also acted strategically. Lord Dunmore’s November 1775 proclamation applied to enslaved people held by rebels who could reach British lines and serve the crown. It did not emancipate people owned by Loyalists or abolish slavery in Virginia. The broader 1779 Philipsburg Proclamation invited people escaping rebel owners in areas reached by British forces, even without military enlistment. Thousands pursued freedom behind British lines, yet evacuation, disease, reenslavement, and broken promises made outcomes uncertain. Black patriots served too, especially where northern manpower needs opened enlistment. Massachusetts service and Rhode Island’s 1778 regiment did not erase racial inequality, while southern patriot governments generally feared arming enslaved men. Northern gradual-emancipation laws emerged unevenly. Plantation slavery survived and expanded after the war.

Women’s work likewise varied by legal status, race, class, and location. Farm and shop managers sustained household production during men’s absence. Camp followers cooked, laundered, nursed, and carried supplies. Women organized boycotts, made homespun, gathered intelligence, and a small number entered ranks disguised as men. Loyalist women protected property or joined refugee migrations. Enslaved women used wartime movement to seek family freedom while also facing capture and sexual violence. These activities expanded responsibility without granting equal civil or political rights. The later ideal of “republican motherhood” justified more education for some white women by making childrearing a civic duty, but it still routed citizenship through motherhood rather than votes or office.

The strongest comparison therefore begins with a group’s objective: land, order, family security, freedom, or local autonomy: and then asks what choices the geography and military situation made possible. Labels such as Loyalist, patriot, Native ally, or camp follower describe coalitions, not uniform motives. Wartime opportunity and postwar outcome must also be separated: service could create influence without guaranteeing citizenship, freedom, land, or safety.

See the history take shape

History Chronicles traces the people and chronology behind this lesson. Listen for the evidence that sharpens the written account, then try the questions below.

Video: 21/28 The Role Of Native Americans, Enslaved People & Women In The American Revolution, History Chronicles.