In a letter to James Lloyd in 1815, John Adams famously estimated that the population was 1/3 Loyalist, 1/3 Patriot, and 1/3 indifferent. While this estimate is generally considered to be too high (more recent estimates put it at ~15-20% of the population), Loyalists obviously represented a significant proportion of the Colonial population. Loyalists were a fairly diverse group with differing motivations (as any group that represented 20% of a population would be). Key motivating factors for loyalists included:

• Those who had well established political / economic power already (colonial governors or tax officials, wealthy Northern merchants who relied on British trade), as they would have little to gain, and a lot to lose, from any major shakeup to the existing power structure

• Those with strong ties to the Church of England, especially Anglican ministers and clergy

• Former slaves: There was a concerted effort by British forces to convince slaves to flee their revolutionary masters and join the British. Dunmore's Proclamation in 1775 and The Philipsburg Proclamation in 1779 were both representative of this policy. Following the British defeat, many freed slaves remained in the North (especially New York) or fled to Canada or Sierra Leone

Interestingly while the Southern planter class would seem to fall into the first category (those with pre-existing power and a lot to lose from a revolution), they tended to be more pro-rebellion than might be expected. Many Southern planters had economic motivations for rebellion. During the pre-war period, Southern planters often sought to emulate their British aristocratic counterparts (Washington and Jefferson's correspondence is full of letters inquiring about the current British fashions, and full of orders for various luxury goods). This taste for luxury, combined with the inconsistency of plantation economics frequently resulted in deep debts to British creditors. Many Southern planters shrewdly (and ironically) believed that they could, through revolution, end an economic system that they viewed as exploitative to them. (This is not to say that there were not planter Loyalists, George William Fairfax, one of Washington's closest friends from before the Revolution returned to England in 1773 and remained there for the rest of his life, just as one example).

Most of these statements are generalities as Loyalists were (again) an incredibly diverse group. Each had their own motivations for staying loyal to the crown.

The North wanted independence because the English had just fought and defeated the French and they were trying to pay for their war by taxing the Americans. The South was a hard sell for independence because they were profiting by selling raw materials from their farms and plantations to England. The North was mostly factories and businesses rather than large production farms. They actually benefited from access to the raw materials the South produced because they could turn them into finished products and sell them back to the South. The reason Thomas Jefferson was selected to write the Declaration of Independence, explaining our grievances to the king, is because he was a southerner who was eloquent and had some influence in the south.

After the Boston Tea Party England enacted the Intolerable Act to punish New Englanders. It was a series of laws intended to be oppressive. The North used these laws to their advantage in negotiating with the South. They said if the king can do this to us they can do it to you, too. This was a convincing argument to the South.

There is a very interesting and entertaining TV series on AMC and Netflix called Turn. It doesn't go into anything I mentioned here explicitly. It's more of a drama/intrigue show about the Culper spy ring led by George Washington. Most, but not all, of the characters are real, historical figures. It is a fictionalized version of real, historical events. The main character is a farmer who is the son of the local, well-respected magistrate. The father supports the English, who occupy their small Long Island town, and the son, who isn't political at first, gets sucked into working for George Washington's spy ring. The whole town seems divided in their loyalties. The show's second season has just been released to Netflix.