Tory

A Tory holds a political philosophy (Toryism) based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism. In politics, the Tory political faction originated with the Cavalier faction during the English Civil War (sometimes more scrupulously known as the "Wars of the Three Kingdoms"). This political philosophy is prominent in the politics of the United Kingdom, and also appears in parts of the Commonwealth, particularly in Canada. It also had exponents in parts of the former British Empire, such as the Loyalists of British America who opposed American secession during the American War of Independence. The Tory ethos has been summed up with the phrase 'God, King and Country'. Tories generally advocate monarchism, are usually of a High Church Anglican religious heritage, and are opposed to the liberalism of the Whig faction. Under the Corn Laws (1815–1846) a majority of Tories supported protectionist agrarianism with tariffs being imposed at the time for sustainability, self-sufficiency and enhanced wages in rural employment.

Loyalist (American Revolution)

Loyalists were American colonists who remained loyal to the British Crown during the American Revolutionary War. At the time they were often called Tories, Royalists, or King's Men; Patriots called them "persons inimical to the liberties of America." They were opposed by the Patriots, those who supported the revolution. When their cause was defeated, about 15% of the Loyalists or 65,000–70,000 fled to other parts of the British Empire, to Britain or elsewhere in British North America. The southern colonists moved mostly to Florida, which had remained loyal to the Crown, and to British Caribbean possessions, while northern colonists largely migrated to Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, where they were called United Empire Loyalists. Most were compensated with Canadian land or British cash distributed through formal claims procedures.

Historians have estimated that between 15 and 20 percent of the 2.5 million whites in the colonies were Loyalists, or about 500,000 men, women and children. Numerous black Americans were also Loyalists. In Nova Scotia, the community of Birchtown was one of three communities settled by black Loyalists.

Tories (British political party)

The Tories were members of two political parties which existed, sequentially, in the Kingdom of England, the Kingdom of Great Britain and later the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from the 17th to the early 19th centuries.

The first Tories emerged in 1678 in England, when they opposed the Whig-supported Exclusion Bill which set out to disinherit the heir presumptive James, Duke of York (who eventually became James II of England and VII of Scotland). This party ceased to exist as an organised political entity in the early 1760s, although it was used as a term of self-description by some political writers. A few decades later, a new Tory party would rise to establish a hold on government between 1783 and 1830, with William Pitt the Younger followed by Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool.

The Earl of Liverpool was succeeded by fellow Tory Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, whose term included the Catholic Emancipation, which occurred mostly due to the election of Daniel O'Connell as a Catholic MP from Ireland. When the Whigs subsequently regained control, the Representation of the People Act 1832 removed the rotten boroughs, many of which were controlled by Tories. In the following general election, the Tory ranks were reduced to 180 MPs. Under the leadership of Robert Peel, the Tamworth Manifesto was issued, which began to transform the Tories into the Conservative Party. However, Peel lost many of his supporters by repealing the Corn Laws, causing the party to break apart. One faction, led by the Earl of Derby and Benjamin Disraeli, survived to become the modern Conservative Party, whose members are commonly still referred to as Tories.