One of the earliest chroniclers of the affair wrote that Arnold thought British’s overtures “were founded in ALL SINCERITY and GOOD FAITH.” He sought an “honourable peace” that appealed to most Americans, “heartily tired of the war.”

Despite the indispensable support King Louis XVI provided the rebels, Arnold also abhorred the new alliance with Catholic France. Arnold’s displeasure stemmed from deeply ingrained anti-Catholic prejudices he learned throughout his New England upbringing. For many American diplomats and officials to ally with the absolutist monarchy was “to give up their fidelity” to cause and country. It spelled the doom of the revolutionary movement. Anti-Catholicism was deeply entrenched throughout much of the Protestant and British world. Suspicion and prejudice simmered among rank-and-file Continentals, who denounced fighting beneath the French flag.

Once Arnold fled his post at West Point and escaped to the safety of British-held New York, a flurry of discoveries, accusations, and debates about the rules of war resulted in the execution of his principal accomplice, Major John Andre. Revolutionaries wasted no time denouncing Arnold either, in the press, in the streets, and in poetry. They cast his obliquely defined behavior as treason. And yet, throughout the war many Americans provided aid, supplies, and information to both sides. This behavior, and the regularity with which noncombatants shifted allegiances, helped convince Arnold that his efforts would be well-received. Even in the regions that bore the brunt of war, there was exhaustion, not zealotry. Across greater New York, civilians maintained family, business, and other relations despite varied politics. For the rebels, this situation may have even necessitated vilifying Arnold, since his actions came near the end of perhaps the Revolution’s most uncertain year. The punishing winter of 1779-80 had proved lethal. Continental discontent exploded into outright mutiny at Morristown. Rebels surrendered Charleston, South Carolina before a disastrous performance at Camden. A widespread currency crisis and hyperinflation sapped faith in provisional governments. In New York, riots engulfed Fishkill when the Army attempted to draft soldiers. Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys, in New York's far northeastern reaches, later Vermont, threatened secession. Despite frequent and virulent condemnation, rebel attempts to rally morale behind Arnold’s treason failed to galvanize new recruits.

Arnold faired little better as a resident of occupied New York. British soldiers, many of whom blamed Arnold for the execution of John Andre, did not warm to their new comrade. He narrowly avoided an attempted kidnapping by revolutionaries while in the city. Arnold nonetheless used his time in New York to continue his effort to end the war as quickly as possible. He proposed an invasion of Philadelphia he thought would subdue the rebels. He led raids in Virginia and near his home of New London, Connecticut. Even following the surrender at Yorktown, Arnold continued to advocate for reconciliation. After the end of the war, he settled in England where cold shoulders landed him in poverty.