The Sons of Liberty, a well-organized Patriot paramilitary political organization shrouded in secrecy, was established to undermine British rule in colonial America and was influential in organizing and carrying out the Boston Tea Party. The origins and founding of the Sons of Liberty is unclear, but history records the earliest known references to the organization to 1765 in the thriving colonial port cities of Boston and New York. More than likely, the Boston and New York chapters of the Sons of Liberty were deliberately established at the same time and worked as an underground network in conjunction with each other. It is believed the Sons of Liberty was formed out of earlier smaller scale like-minded Patriot organizations such as the “Boston Caucus Club” and “Loyal Nine.” Membership was made up of males from all walks of colonial society but was notorious in recruiting tavern mongers, wharf rats, and other seedy characters looking to cause trouble. Under the cover of darkness, the Boston chapter of the organization held their meetings under the “Liberty Tree,” and the New York chapter under the “Liberty Pole.” The “Liberty Tree” was located in Hanover Square, “the most public part” of Boston and was a 120-year-old “stately elm” with branches that “seem’d to touch the skies” according to the Boston Gazette. Taverns, with owners sympathetic to the Patriot cause, were also the favorite meeting places of the Sons of Liberty. The Green Dragon Tavern in Boston was the tavern of choice for meetings of the Sons of Liberty. Despite very little documentary evidence as to the origins of the organization, Boston Patriot Samuel Adams is often credited as being the founder and leader of the Sons of Liberty. The Sons of Liberty was most likely organized in the summer of 1765 as a means to protest the passing of the Stamp Act of 1765. Their motto was, “No taxation without representation.” “The Sons of Liberty on the 14th of August 1765, a Day which ought to be for ever remembered in America, animated with a zeal for their country then upon the brink of destruction, and resolved, at once to save her…” ~ From a 1765 Boston Gazette article written by Samuel Adams referring to the anti-Stamp Act activists for the first time in print as “Sons of Liberty”
The name Sons of Liberty was derived from a 1765 debate in Parliament over the Stamp Act. During the debate, Stamp Act supporter Charles Townshend made a disapproving statement of the American colonists. Irishman and Member of Parliament, Isaac Barré, stood up and defended the American colonists. He was reprimanded for positively speaking in favor of them calling the colonists “these Sons of Liberty.” Being an Irishman, Barré shared many of the same views as the American colonists and was an advocate for their cause. Additionally, Barré had served in North America as a Colonel in the British Army during the French and Indian War. The debate took stock in the colonies, and the name was admirably used by the Patriot organization.
Incited by the Sons of Liberty, thousands gathered and a sign was placed on the effigy of Andrew Oliver declaring, “He that takes this down is an enemy to his country.” The riotous, angry, and alcohol fueled crowd paraded the effigy through the streets of Boston inciting supporters of the Patriot cause throughout the city.
The first major action of the Sons of Liberty was carried out in Boston on August 14, 1765, in response to the Stamp Act. Samuel Adams and the Sons of Liberty gathered under the “Liberty Tree” where effigies of Andrew Oliver, a public official in charge of enforcing the Stamp Act in Massachusetts, and related offenders of the people’s liberties hung. Incited by the Sons of Liberty, thousands gathered and a sign was placed on the effigy of Andrew Oliver declaring, “He that takes this down is an enemy to his country.” The riotous, angry, and alcohol-fueled crowd paraded the effigy through the streets of Boston inciting supporters of the Patriot cause throughout the city. Soon mob rule was the order of the day, and the effigy was stomped-on, beheaded, and ultimately burned in a fit of anger. The crowd, with the Sons of Liberty leading the way, marched on the home of Andrew Oliver. The fence around Oliver’s home was torn down, windows were smashed, furnishings destroyed, and the home looted – most notably Oliver’s personal wine cellar. The ironic truth of the matter was Andrew Oliver privately was not a proponent of the Stamp Act. Rather, he was an obvious and easy target for the Sons of Liberty to take out their anger over the Stamp Act and accuse him of duplicity. As a result, on August 17, Oliver publicy resigned his commission and on December 17, the Sons of Liberty made him publicly swear an oath he would never again serve as a stamp master. It is unknown if Samuel Adams played a role in the organization and leading of the events of August 14, 1765, but by the days immediately following, he was known as a prominent leader of the organization.
The Sons of Liberty next took their anger over the Stamp Act to the brother-in-law of Andrew Oliver, Thomas Hutchinson, the Lieutenant Governor and Chief Justice of Massachusetts. By the time of the Stamp Act, Hutchinson was not very popular with many people of Boston. He was a known Loyalist, and a year earlier he published a history of Massachusetts condemning the 1689 revolt by Boston citizens against the rule of then unpopular governor Sir Edmund Andros. On the evening of August 15, 1765, the Sons of Liberty and others blockaded the Boston brick mansion of Hutchinson and demanded he denounce the Stamp Act in his official letters to London. In typical Loyalist fashion, Hutchinson refused. In response, on the night of August 26, a mob organized by the Sons of Liberty attacked Hutchinson’s mansion. The front door was knocked down with felling axes, the interior of the mansion was thoroughly looted and destroyed including all of the finely crafted woodwork and wainscoting, and the extensive garden was uprooted. In a struggle pitting anti-Hutchinson against pro-Hutchinson supporters, which turned into a violent brawl through the night, the mansion’s cupola was taken down and destroyed. In addition to scores of irreplaceable and costly damages, all of Hutchinson’s fine silver and £900 sterling in cash were looted and carried off by the Sons of Liberty. At the time, it was estimated £2,200 worth of damage was caused by the Patriots on the night of August 26. Hutchinson later received more than £3,000 for reimbursement for the damages from Massachusetts and relocated himself and his family to Castle William in Boston Harbor.
As tensions in the American colonies intensified on the eve of the Revolution, chapters of the Sons of Liberty were formed all over the Thirteen Colonies, notably throughout New England, Virginia, and the Carolinas – a far cry from the two original chapters formed in Boston and New York City in the summer of 1765. The Sons of Liberty adopted in 1767 a five red and four white vertical striped flag as their organization’s formal standard.
The seminal act and lasting legacy of the Sons of Liberty to the history of the American Revolution was the December 16, 1773 orchestrating of the Boston Tea Party…
The Sons of Liberty were influential in orchestrating effective resistance movements against British rule in colonial America on the eve of the Revolution, primarily against what they perceived as unfair taxation and financial limitations imposed upon them. Through the use of mob rule, tactics of fear, force, intimidation, and violence such as tar and feathering, and the stockpiling of arms, shot, and gun powder, the Sons of Liberty effectively undermined British rule, paving the way to America’s independence. The Sons of Liberty as an organization disbanded at the close of the American Revolution and as a political entity was replaced early in the Revolution by the more formal and qualified Committees of Safety. The seminal act and lasting legacy of the Sons of Liberty to the history of the American Revolution was the December 16, 1773 orchestrating of the Boston Tea Party which ultimately led to the outbreak of the Revolutionary War with the “shot heard round the world” on April 19, 1775. The Boston Tea Party, carried out by the Sons of Liberty and led by Samuel Adams, was a catalyst for the start of war and a principal reason why the Revolutionary War began in Massachusetts. The Boston Massacre marked the moment when political tensions between British soldiers and American colonists turned deadly. Patriots argued the event was the massacre of civilians perpetrated by the British Army, while loyalists argued that it was an unfortunate accident, the result of self-defense of the British soldiers from a threatening and dangerous mob. Regardless of what actually happened, the event fanned the flames of political discord and ignited a series of events that would eventually lead to American independence. John Adams believed that “on that night, the foundation of American independence was laid.” Following the end of the French and Indian War, Great Britain began to levy taxes on her colonies to defray the cost of the expensive war. However, colonies who had been in charge of taxing themselves began to openly resist Great Britain. Decades of self-rule and benign neglect had many colonists feeling their liberty was being stripped away by their mother country. Boston was the home to some of the most radical opponents and largest protests. In an attempt to use an excessive amount of force to crack down on these upstart colonials, Great Britain passed the Townshend Acts in 1767 and dispatched the British Army to restore order in Boston. On October 1, 1768, the British fleet arrived, and hundreds of British soldiers marched into the hostile city. Rather than restore order, this maneuver proved to only worsen relations between the British and Americans. The presence of British regular troops in the streets of Boston enraged colonists, who now felt they were being occupied by a foreign army. British soldiers faced numerous insults and taunting as they patrolled the streets. The verbal abuse soon became physical as fights between civilians and British soldiers became common in the streets of Boston. Angry mobs would frequently protest British soldiers or American loyalists who supported the British policies. In February of 1770, Christopher Seider, an 11-year-old boy, was killed while protesting with a group in front of the home of a loyalist. Thousands of Bostonians turned out for the boy’s funeral and the tension and distrust between the civilians and the British grew larger. It was just eleven days after Seider’s death, on March 5, 1770, when Private Hugh White of the 29th Regiment of Foot took up a sentry post outside of the Customs House on King Street. The Customs House had taken on symbolic meaning as the center of British taxation. As a young wigmaker’s apprentice, Edward Garrick, passed the sentry, he yelled at a British officer that he had not paid his bill for a wig. The sentry, White, reprimanded the young man. The two engaged in a heated conversation when Private White swung his musket at Garrick, hitting him on the side of the head. Word traveled through the streets about the altercation and a large mob began to descend on the lone British sentry at the Custom House. As the mob of people began to grow larger and larger, the sentry called for reinforcements. Seven British soldiers of the 29th Regiment of Foot, under the command of Captain Thomas Preston, marched to the sentry’s defense with fixed bayonets. As the nine British soldiers stood guard near the steps to the Custom House, passions enflamed and dozens of more people joined the crowd surrounding the soldiers. Bells began ringing in the city and more people came out of their homes and into the streets. The crowd was estimated to have grown to as many as 300 or 400 people. They were yelling at the soldiers, shouting profanities and insults at the soldiers. Others threw rocks, paddles, and snowballs at the besieged men. One of those protestors near the soldiers was a former slave named Crispus Attucks. The crowd continued to hurl verbal abuse and challenged the soldiers repeatedly to fire their weapons. Preston’s men loaded their muskets in front of the crowd. The crowd became angrier and angrier. At one point a club or stick was thrown at the soldiers and struck one of the British soldiers. The soldier fell to the ground. He stood back up and yelled, “Damn you, fire!” and fired his musket into the crowd. The musket ball struck Attucks who fell dead to the ground. A few seconds later, the other British soldiers fired into the crowd. Eleven people were hit, five men were killed and six were wounded. After the smoke cleared, Preston ordered his men to cease fire and called out dozens of soldiers to defend the Custom House. Most of the crowd of civilians left the area immediately around the soldiers as others ran to help the wounded. American blood had been spilled at the hands of British soldiers for the first time. Royal governor Thomas Hutchison arrived on the scene and calmed the anxious and angry colonists and promised justice for what had just occurred. The next day Preston and the eight soldiers involved were arrested and sent to trial for murder. Following the event, patriot Paul Revere made an engraving based on an illustration by Henry Pelham of the event and labeled it with the provocative title: “The Bloody Massacre.” The image depicted a line of British soldiers firing in unison on an unarmed crowd in front of the State House. This incendiary image outraged many colonists as the event soon became known as a massacre. Broadsides depicting black coffins for the men killed in the incident appeared in newspapers. The funerals for these victims became large public events where patriots displayed their anger at the occupying soldiers. As public sentiment against the British soldiers grew, Massachusetts placed the soldiers on trial for murder. It became very difficult to find someone who would be willing to publicly defend the British soldiers. Then patriot John Adams agreed to defend them. Despite the public backlash to his defense of the British soldiers, Adams believed it was important to show the British that a fair trial could be held in the colony of Massachusetts, despite the inflamed passions. After a heated trial, Adams was ultimately victorious in showing the British soldiers were not at fault and had acted in self-defense. Six soldiers were found not guilty and two were found guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter. The Boston Massacre was one of the most important events leading up to the Revolutionary War. The tragic event was commemorated annually in Boston with orations that further fueled negative views of the British soldiers living amongst them. With the large amounts of distrust between the colonists and British soldiers, Massachusetts citizens would need to look to their own defense against possible aggression by the British Army. The two would finally clash five years after the event at Lexington and Concord outside Boston. Almost 50 years after the fact, John Adams described the importance of these events: “How slightly however, historians, may have passed over this event, the blood of the Martyrs, right, or wrong, proved to be the seeds of the Congregation. Not the Battle of Lexington or Bunkers Hill; not the surrender of Burgoyne, or Cornwallis, were more important events in American history than the battle of King Street, on the 5th of March 1770.” Want to learn more?
Further Reading |
Which colonial leader argued that the boston massacre was a fight for american liberty?
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