Did you know that New Hampshire residents had to sign a loyalty oath during the early days of the Revolutionary War?

In the spring of 1776, all adult white men in New Hampshire were required to sign a document called the Association Test, which was an oath of loyalty, promising that they would, at the risk of their lives and fortunes with arms, oppose the hostile proceedings of the British fleets and armies.

Historians estimate that more than 90% of New Hampshire-ites signed the Association Test, but people in New Hampshire then and now don't always take kindly to someone telling them how to think or what to believe.

In many towns, some men refused to sign for a whole bunch of different reasons.

Many stated that they didn't like the idea of the government regulating what to think.

In some towns, like Brentwood, Quaker men refused to sign out of religious conviction.

My all time favorite, though, is a special note in the Boscawen town history about a Mr.

Flanders who refused to sign.

Not out of any hostility to the cause of liberty, but simply because he was a person who found pleasure in being on the side opposite the majority.

No matter what the question.

A typical New Hampshire native, I'd say.

Those who didn't sign didn't face any serious consequences, at least initially.

But as the war went on, loyalists were forced to leave the state and give up their property.

A 1778 law even promised to execute loyalists who tried to return to New Hampshire.

But as far as we know, no loyalists ever suffered this feat in our state.