Patriot (American Revolution) Patriots (also known as Rebels,
Revolutionaries, Congress-Men or American Whigs) were the
colonists of the British Thirteen United Colonies who violently
rebelled against British control during the American Revolution
and in July 1776 declared the United States of America an
independent nation. Their rebellion was based on the political
philosophy of republicanism, as expressed by pamphleteers, such
as Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Paine. As a
group, Patriots represented a wide array of social, economic,
ethnic and racial backgrounds. They included lawyers like John
Adams and Alexander Hamilton; planters like Thomas Jefferson and
George Mason; merchants like Alexander McDougall and ordinary
farmers like Daniel Shays and Joseph Plumb Martin. The critics
of British rule called themselves Whigs after 1768, identifying
with members of the British Whig party (including the Radical
Whigs and Patriot Whigs), who favored similar colonial policies.
The Oxford English Di