But with the Declaration of Independence a new order of
things was inaugurated. That measure revolutionized the
political situation. With the severance of the Imperial
tie, loyalism became tantamount to treason to the state;
and Loyalists laid themselves open to all the penalties
of treason. The Declaration of Independence was followed
by the test laws. These laws compelled every one to abjure
allegiance to the British crown, and swear allegiance to
the state in which he resided. A record was kept of those
who took the oath, and to them were given certificates
without which no traveller was safe from arrest. Those
who failed to take the oath became liable to imprisonment,
confiscation of property, banishment, and even death.

Even among the Whigs there was a good deal of opposition
to the test laws. Peter Van Schaak, a moderate Whig of
New York state, so strongly disapproved of the test laws
that he seceded from the revolutionary party. 'Had you,'
he wrote, 'at the beginning of the war, permitted every
one differing in sentiment from you, to take the other
side, or at least to have removed out of the State, with
their property ... it would have been a conduct magnanimous
and just. But, now, after restraining those persons from
removing; punishing them, if, in the attempt, they were
apprehended; selling their estates if they escaped;
compelling them to the duties of subjects under heavy
penalties; deriving aid from them in the prosecution of
the war ... now to compel them to take an oath is an act
of severity.'