Adulthood is realizing you should have rooted for the shark on Jaws, the Native Americans in cowboy movies, and the British in Revolutionary War movies.
The British?
I'm actually taking a course on Loyalism and related ideas, and doing research on New York Tories. The sum comment I can make here is that Loyalists have a legitimate position, but they are also a
position and not just the pro-british faction. Even the most loyalist loyalists were still pissed off by the Stamp Acts, for example; some of the most famous loyalists were even leaders of the opposition to the Stamp Acts! Consider Thomas Hutchinson of Massachusetts, or William Franklin (illegitimate son of Benjamin Franklin). In New York, the Court Party took power over its successful handling of opposition to Parliament, even though it would later be denounced as pure loyalists.
It's the maturity of realizing that adults make their own choices and evaluate the datum to their own conclusions. Its not adulthood, but a new generation of enlightenment and, possibly, compassion. The progress of the value of humanity, really.
This is the best defense of the loyalists, really. People who made their own decisions and rejected the fury of the patriots. A lot of loyalists became loyalists purely because of opposition to patriot tactics, or rebellion in general, or even
war in general.
Let’s not go doing the brits too many favours eh?
Darn tootin. And the really funny thing is some loyalists who were resettled elsewhere in the British Empire ended up having grievances with the British or their new homes that might've seemed remarkably familiar. British policy could objectionable even to those who favored them, in various ways.