British governors exploited internal colonial divisions to recruit loyalist fighters

Evidence

North Carolina patriots blamed their brash royal governor, Joseph Martin, for much of the trouble. After taking refuge on a British warship on the Cape Fear River near Wilmington in 1775, Martin began playing on long-standing political and economic tensions between backcountry farmers and the patriot-leaning coastal establishment to recruit fighters from the frontier to join the loyalist side. He then persuaded the ministry in London that, with his loyalist band and a few thousand British troops, he could restore royal rule in North Carolina and use the colony as a springboard to subdue the South. — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 131

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Colonial rulers deflect blame by deploying one colonized group against another.

Broader Connections

• Colonial rulers deflect blame by deploying one colonized group against another. #exemplifies (0.85)