Our First Civil War: Patriots and Loyalists in the American Revolution

Long before the first battle of the American Revolution, the conflict between Loyalists and Patriots swept through all facets of American society, with colonists, Native Americans, and the enslaved all forced to choose a side. Would this constitute America’s first civil war, beginning before the Revolution had even been won? Pulitzer Prize finalist H.W. Brands examines this question and looks at the deep-seated divisions that made up the war before the war—between Loyalists and Patriots, families, friends, and neighbors. Recorded on March 16, 2022