

Loyalists (also referred to asTories,[1][2]Royalists, orKing's Men) were colonists in theThirteen Colonies ofBritish America who remained loyal to theBritish crown. The term was initially coined in 1774 when political tensions rose before the outbreak of theAmerican Revolution.[3] Those supporting the revolution self-identified asPatriots or Whigs, and considered the Loyalists "persons inimical to the liberties of America."[4]
Prominent Loyalists repeatedly assured theBritish government that many thousands of them would spring to arms and fight for the Crown. The British government acted in expectation of that, especially during theSouthern campaigns of 1780 and 1781. However, Britain was able to protect the people only in areas where they had military control; thus, the number of military Loyalists was significantly lower than what had been expected. Loyalists were often under suspicion of those in theBritish military, who did not know whom they could fully trust in such a conflicted situation.[5]
Patriots watched suspected Loyalists very closely and would not tolerate organized Loyalist opposition. Many outspoken or militarily active Loyalists were forced to flee, especially to their stronghold ofNew York City.William Franklin, the colonial governor ofNew Jersey and son of Patriot leaderBenjamin Franklin, became the leader of the Loyalists after his release from a Patriot prison in 1778. He worked to build Loyalist military units to fight in the war.Woodrow Wilson wrote:
"there had been no less than twenty-five thousand loyalists enlisted in the British service during the five years of the fighting. At one time (1779) they had actually outnumbered the whole of the continental muster under the personal command of Washington."[6]
When their cause was defeated, about 15 percent of the Loyalists (65,000–70,000 people) fled to other parts of theBritish Empire; especially to theKingdom of Great Britain or toBritish North America and became known asUnited Empire Loyalists.[7] Most were compensated with Canadian land or British cash distributed through formal claims procedures. The southern Loyalists moved mostly toEast orWest Florida or toBritish Caribbean possessions. Loyalists who left the US received over £3 million, or about 37% of their losses, from the British government. Loyalists who stayed in the US were generally able to retain their property and become American citizens.[8] Many Loyalists eventually returned to the US after the war and after discriminatory laws had been repealed.[9] Historians have estimated that between 15% and 20% (300,000 to 400,000) of the 2,000,000 whites in the colonies in 1775 were Loyalists.[10]

TheAmerican War of Independence was a global conflict, but also a civil war.[11][12] Families were often divided during the conflict, most famouslyFounding FatherBenjamin Franklin and his sonWilliam Franklin, the last royal governor of New Jersey. Many felt themselves to be both American and British, still owing loyalty to the mother country. Maryland lawyerDaniel Dulany the Younger opposedtaxation without representation but would not break his oath to the king or take up arms against him. He wrote: "There may be a time when redress may not be obtained. Till then, I shall recommend a legal, orderly, and prudent resentment".[13] Most Americans hoped for a peaceful reconciliation but were forced to choose sides by thePatriots who took control nearly everywhere in theThirteen Colonies in 1775–76.[14]
In 1948, Yale historianLeonard Woods Larabee identified eight characteristics of the Loyalists that made them essentially conservative and loyal to the king and to Britain:[15]
Other motives of the Loyalists included:
Historian Robert Calhoon wrote in 2000, concerning the proportion of Loyalists to Patriots in the Thirteen Colonies:
Historians' best estimates put the proportion of adult white male loyalists somewhere between 15 and 20 percent. Approximately half the colonists of European ancestry tried to avoid involvement in the struggle—some of them deliberate pacifists, others recent immigrants, and many more simple apolitical folk. The patriots received active support from perhaps 40 to 45 percent of the white populace, and at most no more than a bare majority.[27]

Before Calhoon's work, estimates of the Loyalist share of the population were somewhat higher, at about one-third, but these estimates are now rejected as too high by most scholars.[28] In 1968, historian Paul H. Smith estimated there were about 400,000 Loyalists, or 16% of the white population of 2.25 million in 1780.[29][30]
HistorianRobert Middlekauff summarizes scholarly research on the nature of Loyalist support as follows:
The largest number of loyalists were found in themiddle colonies: manytenant farmers of New York supported the king, for example, as did many of theDutch in the colony and inNew Jersey. TheGermans inPennsylvania tried to stay out of the Revolution, just as manyQuakers did, and when that failed, clung to the familiar connection rather than embrace the new. Highland Scots in theCarolinas, a fair number ofAnglican clergy and their parishioners inConnecticut and New York, a fewPresbyterians in thesouthern colonies, and a large number of theIroquois stayed loyal to the king.[31]

After the Britishmilitary capture of New York City and Long Island it became the British military and political base of operations in North America from 1776 to 1783, prompting revolutionaries to flee and resulting in a large concentration of Loyalists, many of whom were refugees from other states.[32]
According to Calhoon,[32] Loyalists tended to be older and wealthier, but there were also many Loyalists of humble means. Many activeChurch of England members became Loyalists. Some recent arrivals from Britain, especially those from Scotland, had a high Loyalist proportion. Loyalists in the southern colonies were suppressed by the local Patriots, who controlled local and state government. Many people—including formerRegulators in North Carolina—refused to join the rebellion, as they had earlier protested against corruption by local authorities who later became Revolutionary leaders. The oppression by the local Whigs during the Regulation led to many of the residents of backcountry North Carolina sitting out the Revolution or siding with the Loyalists.[32]
In areas under Patriot control, Loyalists were subject toconfiscation of property, and outspoken supporters of the king were threatened with public humiliation such astarring and feathering or physical attack. It is not known how many Loyalist civilians were harassed by the Patriots, but the treatment was a warning to other Loyalists not to take up arms. In September 1775,William Drayton and Loyalist leader ColonelThomas Fletchall signed a treaty of neutrality in the interior community ofNinety Six, South Carolina.[33] For actively aiding the British army when it occupied Philadelphia, two residents of the city were tried for treason, convicted, and executed by returning Patriot forces.[34]

As a result of the looming crisis in 1775, RoyalGovernor of VirginiaLord Dunmoreissued a proclamation that promised freedom to indentured servants and slaves who were able to bear arms and join his LoyalistEthiopian Regiment. Many of the slaves in the South joined the Loyalists with the intention of gaining freedom and escaping the South.African-Americans were often the first to come forward to volunteer, and a total of 12,000 African Americans served with the British from 1775 to 1783. This forced the Patriots to also offer freedom to those who would serve in theContinental Army, with thousands ofBlack Patriots serving.[35]
While men were out fighting for the Crown, women served at home protecting their land and property.[36] At the end of the war, many Loyalist men left America for the shelter of England, leaving their wives and daughters to protect their land.[36] The main punishment for Loyalist families was the expropriation of property, but married women were protected under "feme covert", which meant that they had no political identity and their legal rights were absorbed by their husbands.[36] This created an awkward dilemma for the confiscation committees: confiscating the land of such a woman would punish her for her husband's actions.[36] In many cases, the women did not get a choice on if they were labeled a Loyalist or a Patriot; the label was dependent on their husband's political association. However, some women showed their loyalty to the Crown by continually purchasing British goods, writing it down, and showing resistance to the Patriots.[37] Grace Growden Galloway[38] recorded the experience in her diary. Her writings show the difficulties that her family faced during the revolution. Galloway's property was seized by the Patriots, and she spent the rest of her life fighting to regain it.[36] It was returned to her heirs in 1783, after she and her husband had died.[36]
The Patriots allowed women to become involved in politics on a larger scale than the Loyalists. Some women involved in political activity include Catharine Macaulay and Mercy Otis Warren, who were both writers. Both women maintained a 20-year friendship, although they wrote about different sides of the war; Macaulay wrote from a Loyalist British perspective, whereas Warren wrote about her support for the American Revolution. Macaulay's work includeHistory of England and Warren wroteHistory of the Rise,Progress, andTermination of the American Revolution. Although both women's works were unpopular during this time, they pushed them to learn from social critique.[39]

Patriot agents were active inQuebec (which was then frequently called "Canada", the name of theearlier French province) in the months leading to the outbreak of active hostilities.John Brown, an agent of theBoston Committee of Correspondence,[40] worked with Canadian merchant Thomas Walker and other Patriot sympathisers during the winter of 1774–75 to convince inhabitants to support the actions of theFirst Continental Congress. However, many of Quebec's inhabitants remained neutral, resisting service to either the British or the Americans.[citation needed]
Although some Canadians took up arms in support of the revolution, the majority remained loyal to the king.French Canadians had been satisfied by the British government'sQuebec Act of 1774, which offered religious and linguistic toleration; in general, they did not sympathize with a revolution that they saw as being led by Protestants from New England, who were their commercial rivals and hereditary enemies. Most of the English-speaking settlers had arrived following the Britishconquest of Canada in 1759–60 and were unlikely to support separation from Britain. The older British colonies, Newfoundland andNova Scotia (including what is now New Brunswick), also remained loyal and contributed military forces in support of the Crown.[citation needed]
In late 1775, the Continental Armysent a force into Quebec, led by GeneralRichard Montgomery and ColonelBenedict Arnold, to convince the residents of Quebec to join the revolution. Although only a minority of Canadians openly expressed loyalty to King George, about 1,500 militia fought for the king in thesiege of Fort St. Jean. In the region south ofMontreal, which was occupied by the Continentals, some inhabitants supported the revolution and raised two regiments to join the Patriot forces.[41]
In Nova Scotia, there were manyYankee settlers originally from New England, and they generally supported the principles of the revolution. The allegiance toward the revolution waned as American privateersraided Nova Scotia communities throughout the war. The Nova Scotia government used the law to convict people for sedition and treason for supporting the Patriot cause. There was also the influence of an influx of recent immigration from the British Isles, and they remained neutral during the war; the influx was greatest in Halifax.[42] Britain, in any case, built up powerful forces at the naval base of Halifax after the failure ofJonathan Eddy tocapture Fort Cumberland in 1776.[43][44]
The Loyalists rarely attempted any political organization. They were often passive unless regular British army units were in the area. The British, however, assumed a highly activist Loyalist community was ready to mobilize and planned much of their strategy around raising Loyalist regiments. The British provincial line, consisting of Americans enlisted on a regular army status, enrolled 19,000 Loyalists (50 units and 312 companies). The maximum strength of the Loyalist provincial line was 9,700 in December 1780.[45][46] In all, about 19,000 at one time or another were soldiers or militia in British forces.[47]
In the opening months of theRevolutionary War, the Patriotslaid siege toBoston, where most of the British forces were stationed. Elsewhere, there were few British troops, and the Patriots seized control of all levels of government, as well as supplies of arms and gunpowder. Vocal Loyalists recruited people to their side, often with the encouragement and assistance of royal governors. In the South Carolina backcountry, Loyalist recruitment outstripped that of Patriots. Abrief siege atNinety Six, South Carolina in the fall of 1775 was followed by a rapid rise in Patriot recruiting. In what became known as theSnow Campaign, partisan militia arrested or drove out most of the backcountry Loyalist leadership. North Carolina backcountryScots and formerRegulators joined forces in early 1776, but they were broken as a force at theBattle of Moore's Creek Bridge. Loyalists from South Carolina fought for the British in theBattle of Camden. The British forces at theBattle of Monck's Corner and theBattle of Lenud's Ferry consisted entirely of Loyalists except their commanding officerBanastre Tarleton.[48] Both white and black Loyalists fought for the British at theBattle of Kemp's Landing in Virginia.[49]
By July 4, 1776, the Patriots had gained control of virtually all territory in the Thirteen Colonies and had expelled all royal officials. No one who openly proclaimed their loyalty to the Crown was allowed to remain, so Loyalists fled or kept quiet. Some of those who remained later gave aid to invading British armies or joined uniformed Loyalist regiments.[50] The British were forced out of Boston by March 17, 1776. They regrouped at Halifax and attackedNew York in August, defeatingGeorge Washington's army atLong Island and capturingNew York City and its vicinity, and they occupied the mouth of theHudson River until 1783. British forces seized control of other cities, includingPhiladelphia (1777),Savannah, Georgia (1778–83), andCharleston, South Carolina (1780–82). But 90% of the colonial population lived outside the cities, with the effective result that Congress represented 80 to 90 percent of the population. The British removed their governors from colonies where the Patriots were in control, but Loyalist civilian government was re-established in coastalGeorgia[51] from 1779 to 1782, despite the presence of Patriot forces in the northern part of Georgia. Essentially, the British were only able to maintain power in areas where they had a strong military presence.
Black Loyalists helped rout the Virginia militia at theBattle of Kemp's Landing and fought in theBattle of Great Bridge on theElizabeth River, wearing the motto "Liberty to Slaves", but this time they were defeated. The remnants of their regiment were then involved in the evacuation ofNorfolk, after which they served in theChesapeake area. Eventually, the camp that they had set up there suffered an outbreak of smallpox and other diseases. This took a heavy toll, putting many of them out of action for some time. The survivors joined other Loyalist units and continued to serve throughout the war.
In Canada, although the Continentals captured Montreal in November 1775, they wereturned back a month later atQuebec City by a combination of the British military under GovernorGuy Carleton, the difficult terrain and weather, and an indifferent local response. The Continental forces would be driven from Quebec in 1776, after the breakup of ice on theSt. Lawrence River and the arrival of British transports in May and June. There would be no further serious attempt to challenge British control of present-day Canada until theWar of 1812. In 1777, 1,500 Loyalist militia took part in theSaratoga campaign in New York, and surrendered with GeneralBurgoyne after theBattles of Saratoga in October. For the rest of the war, Quebec acted as a base for raiding expeditions, conducted primarily by Loyalists and Indians, against frontier communities.

Estimates for how many Loyalists emigrated after the war differ. HistorianMaya Jasanoff calculates that 60,000 in total went to British North America, including about 50,000 whites. Philip Ranlet estimates 20,000 adult white Loyalists went to Canada,[52] while Wallace Brown cites about 80,000 Loyalists in total permanently left the United States.[53]
According to Jasanoff, about 36,000 Loyalists went to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, while about 6,600 went to Quebec and 2,000 toPrince Edward Island. About 5,090 white Loyalists went to Florida, bringing along their slaves who numbered about 8,285 (421 whites and 2,561 blacks returned to the US from Florida).[54] When Florida was returned to Spain, however, very few Loyalists remained there.[53] Approximately 6,000 whites went to Jamaica and other Caribbean islands, notably the Bahamas Islands, and about 13,000 went to Britain (including 5,000 free blacks).
A precise figure cannot be known because the records were incomplete and inaccurate, and small numbers continued to leave after 1783. The 50,000 or so white departures represented about 10% of the Loyalists (at 20–25% of the white population).[55] Loyalists (especially soldiers and former officials) could choose evacuation. Loyalists whose roots were not yet deeply embedded in the United States were more likely to leave; older people who had familial bonds and had acquired friends, property, and a degree of social respectability were more likely to remain in the US.[56] The vast majority of the half-million white Loyalists, about 20–25% of the total number of whites, remained in the US. Starting in the mid-1780s, a small percentage of those who had left returned to the United States. The exiles amounted to about 2% of the total US population of 3 million at the end of the war in 1783.
After 1783, some former Loyalists, especially Germans from Pennsylvania, emigrated to Canada to take advantage of the British government's offer of free land. Many departed the fledgling United States because they faced continuing hostility. In another migration-motivated mainly by economic rather than political reasons-[57] more than 20,000 and perhaps as many as 30,000 "Late Loyalists" arrived in Ontario in the 1790s attracted byLieutenant-Governor Simcoe's policy of land and low taxes, one-fifth those in the US and swearing an oath[when?] of allegiance to the king.
The 36,000 or so who went to Nova Scotia were not well received by the 17,000 Nova Scotians, who were mostly descendants of New Englanders settled there before the Revolution.[58] "They [the Loyalists]", Colonel Thomas Dundas wrote in 1786, "have experienced every possible injury from the old inhabitants of Nova Scotia, who are even more disaffected towards the British Government than any of the new States ever were. This makes me doubt their remaining long dependent."[59] In response, the colony ofNew Brunswick, until 1784 part of Nova Scotia, was created for the 14,000 who had settled in those parts. Of the 46,000 who went to Canada, 10,000 went to Quebec, especially what is now modern-dayOntario, the rest to Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.
Realizing the importance of some type of consideration, on November 9, 1789, Governor of QuebecLord Dorchester declared that it was his wish to "put the mark of Honour upon the Families who had adhered to the Unity of the Empire." As a result of Dorchester's statement, the printed militia rolls carried the notation:
Those Loyalists who have adhered to the Unity of the Empire, and joined the Royal Standard before theTreaty of Separation in the year 1783, and all their Children and their Descendants by either sex, are to be distinguished by the following Capitals, affixed to their names: U.E. Alluding to their great principle The Unity of the Empire.[60]
Thepost-nominals "U.E." are rarely seen today, but the influence of the Loyalists on the evolution of Canada remains. Their ties to Britain and/or their antipathy to the United States provided the strength needed to keep Canada independent and distinct in North America. The Loyalists' basic distrust ofrepublicanism and "mob rule" influencedCanada's gradual path to independence. The new British North American provinces ofUpper Canada (the forerunner of Ontario) andNew Brunswick were founded as places of refuge for the United Empire Loyalists.[61]
In an interesting historical twist,Peter Matthews, a son of Loyalists, participated in theUpper Canada Rebellion, which sought relief from oligarchic British colonial government and pursued American-style republicanism. He was arrested, tried, and executed inToronto, and later became heralded as a patriot to the movement which led to Canadian self-governance.
The wealthiest and most prominent Loyalist exiles went to Great Britain to rebuild their careers; many received pensions. Many Southern Loyalists, taking along their slaves, went to theWest Indies, particularly to theAbaco Islands in theBahamas. Certain Loyalists who fled the United States brought their slaves with them to Canada (mostly to areas that later became Ontario and New Brunswick), whereslavery was legal. An imperial law in 1790 assured prospective immigrants to Canada that their slaves would remain their property.[62] However, a law enacted by eminent British lieutenant general and founder of modernTorontoJohn Graves Simcoe in 1793 entitled theAct Against Slavery tried to suppress slavery in Upper Canada by halting the sale of slaves to the United States, and by freeing slaves upon their escape from the latter into Canada. Simcoe desired to demonstrate the merits ofloyalism andabolitionism in Upper Canada in contrast to the nascent republicanism and prominence ofslavery in the United States, and, according to historian Stanley R. Mealing:
...he had not only the most articulate faith in its imperial destiny but also the most sympathetic appreciation of the interests and aspirations of its inhabitants.[63][64]
However, the actual law was a compromise. According to historian Afua Cooper, Simcoe's law required children in slavery to be freed when they reached age 25 and:
forbade the importation of slaves but, to Simcoe's disappointment, did not grant freedom to adult slaves. Having not been freed by the act, many Canadian slaves fled across the border into the Old Northwest Territory, where slavery had been abolished.[65]
Thousands ofIroquois and otherNative Americans were expelled from New York and other states and resettled in Canada. The descendants of one such group of Iroquois, led byJoseph Brant (Thayendenegea), settled atSix Nations of the Grand River, the largestFirst Nationsreserve in Canada. (The remainder, under the leadership ofCornplanter (John Abeel) and members of his family, stayed in New York.) A group of African-American Loyalists settled in Nova Scotia but emigrated again toSierra Leone after facing discrimination there.
Many of the Loyalists were forced to abandon substantial properties to American restoration or compensation for these lost properties, which was a major issue during the negotiation of theJay Treaty in 1794. Two successive boards were formed, and under a new convention signed in 1802 by the United States and Great Britain for the mutual payment of claims, the US paid the sum of £600,000, while only £1,420,000 of nearly £5 million in claims considered by commissioners in Britain were judged to be good.[66]
For the Black Loyalists, the British honored the pledge of freedom in New York City through the efforts of GeneralGuy Carleton, who recorded the names of African Americans who had supported the British in a document called theBook of Negroes, which granted freedom to slaves who had escaped and assisted the British. About 4,000 Black Loyalists went to the British colonies ofNova Scotia andNew Brunswick, where they were promised land grants. They founded communities across the two provinces, many of which still exist today. Over 2,500 settled inBirchtown, Nova Scotia, instantly making it the largestfree black community in North America. However, the long period of waiting time to be officially given land grants that were given to them and the prejudices of white Loyalists in nearbyShelburne who regularly harassed the settlement in events such as theShelburne riots in 1784, made life very difficult for the community.[67] In 1791 theSierra Leone Company offered to transport dissatisfied black Loyalists to the nascent colony ofSierra Leone in West Africa, with the promise of better land and more equality. About 1,200 left Nova Scotia for Sierra Leone, where they named the capitalFreetown.[67] After 1787 they became Sierra Leone's ruling eliteduring the colonial era[68] and their descendants, theSierra Leone Creoles, are the cultural elites of the nation.[68][69] About 400 to 1,000 free blacks who joined the British side in the Revolution went to London and joined the free black community of about 10,000 there.[70][71]
The great majority of Loyalists never left the United States; they stayed on and were allowed to be citizens of the new country, retaining for a time the earlier designation of "Tories". Some became nationally prominent leaders, includingSamuel Seabury, who was the first Bishop of the Episcopal Church, andTench Coxe. There was a small but significant trickle of returnees who found life in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick too difficult. Perhaps 10% of the refugees to New Brunswick returned to the States as did an unknown number from Nova Scotia.[72] Some Massachusetts Tories settled in theMaine District. Nevertheless, the vast majority never returned. Captain Benjamin Hallowell, who, as Mandamus Councilor in Massachusetts, served as the direct representative of the Crown, was considered by the insurgents as one of the most hated men in the Colony, but as a token of compensation, when he returned from England in 1796, his son was allowed to regain the family house.[73]
In many states, moderate Whigs, who had not been in favor of separation from Britain but preferred a negotiated settlement that would have maintained ties to the Mother Country, aligned with Tories to block radicals. Among these wasAlexander Hamilton in 1782–85, to wrest control of New York State from the faction of theGeorge Clinton. Most states had rescinded anti-Tory laws by 1787, although the accusation of being a Tory was heard for another generation. Several hundred who had left for Florida returned to Georgia in 1783–84.
South Carolina, which had seen a bitter, bloody internal civil war in 1780–82, adopted a policy of reconciliation that proved more moderate than any other state. About 4,500 white Loyalists left when the war ended, but the majority remained. The state government successfully and quickly reincorporated the vast majority. During the war, pardons were offered to Loyalists who switched sides and joined the Patriot forces. Others were required to pay a 10% fine of the value of the property. The legislature named 232 Loyalists liable for the confiscation of their property, but most appealed and were forgiven.[74]
In Connecticut, much to the disgust of the radical Whigs, the moderate Whigs were advertising in New York newspapers in 1782–83 that Tories who would make no trouble would be welcome because their skills and money would help the state's economy. The moderates prevailed; all anti-Tory laws were repealed in early 1783 except for the law relating to confiscated Tory estates: "... the problem of the loyalists after 1783 was resolved in their favor after the War of Independence ended." In 1787, the last of any discriminatory laws was rescinded.[75]
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The departure of so many royal officials, rich merchants, and landed gentry destroyed the hierarchical networks that had dominated most of the colonies.[citation needed]! A major result was that a Patriot/Whig elite supplanted royal officials and affluent Tories.[76] In New York, the departure of key members of the De Lancey, De Peyster, Walton, and Cruger families undercut the interlocking families that largely owned and controlled the Hudson Valley. Likewise, in Pennsylvania, the departure of powerful families—Penn, Allen, Chew, Shippen—destroyed the cohesion of the old upper class there. Massachusetts passed an act banishing 46 Boston merchants in 1778, including members of some of Boston's wealthiest families. The departure of families such as the Ervings, Winslows, Clarks, and Lloyds, hitherto leaders of networks of family and clients, opened opportunities for other leadership to emerge. The bases of the men who replaced them were much different. One rich Patriot in Boston noted in 1779 that "fellows who would have cleaned my shoes five years ago, have amassed fortunes and are riding in chariots." New men became rich merchants, but they shared a spirit of republican equality that replaced the former elitism.[77]
The Patriots' reliance on Catholic France for military, financial, and diplomatic aid led to a sharp drop in anti-Catholic rhetoric. For the Patriots, the king replaced the pope as the demon they fought. Anti-Catholicism remained strong among Loyalists; support for the monarch, head of theChurch of England, meant hostility to Catholicism. By the 1780s, Catholics were extended legal toleration in all of the New England states that previously had been so hostile. "In the midst of war and crisis, New Englanders gave up not only their allegiance to Britain but one of their most dearly held prejudices."[78]
Curiously, Tories suffered even at the hands of British officers who, for the most part, dismissed them as ignorant provincials. The British especially distrusted Loyalist militia regiments, claiming that they were slow to follow orders and often went off on their own to seek revenge against those who had destroyed their property.
John Brown Boston Committee of Correspondence.
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