# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Who were the Sons of Liberty? Facts & Summary of 1765 Sons of Liberty

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Announcement by the Sons of Liberty Photo by: Scewing Creative Commons It was 1765 when everything started. It was another year of suffering for the Colonists suffering under the wrath and dominance of the British army. One day, a very controversial rule known as the Stamp Act of 1765 was established on all the colonies

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Learn about the Sons of Liberty of the American Revolution including how they got their name, important members, protests, the Stamp Act, the Boston Tea Party, and interesting facts.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Sons of Liberty

In Boston in early summer of 1765 a group of shopkeepers and artisans who called themselves The Loyal Nine, began preparing for agitation against the Stamp Act. As that group grew, it came to be known as the Sons of Liberty. And grow it did! These were not the leading men of Boston, but rather workers and tradesmen. It was unseemly that they would be so agitated by a parliamentary act. Though their ranks did not include Samuel and John Adams, the fact may have been a result of a mutually beneficial agreement. The Adams' and other radical members of the legislature were daily in the public eye; they could not afford to be too closely associated with violence, neither could the secretive Sons of Liberty afford much public exposure. However, amongst the members were two men who could generate much public sentiment about the Act. Benjamin Edes, a printer, and John Gill of the Boston Gazette produced a steady stream of news and opinion. Within a very short time a group of some two thousand men had been organized under Ebenezer McIntosh, a South Boston shoemaker.

The first widely known acts of the Sons took place on August 14, 1765, when an effigy of Andrew Oliver (who was to be commissioned Distributor of Stamps for Massachusetts) was found hanging in a tree on Newbury street, along with a large boot with a devil climbing out of it. The boot was a play on the name of the Earl of Bute and the whole display was intended to establish an evil connection between Oliver and the Stamp Act. The sheriffs were told to remove the display but protested in fear of their lives, for a large crowd had formed at the scene. Before the evening a mob burned Oliver's property on Kilby street, then moved on to his house. There they beheaded the effigy and stoned the house as its occupants looked out in horror. They then moved to nearby Fort Hill were they built a large fire and burned what was left of the effigy. Most of the crowd dissipated at that point, however McIntosh and crew, then under cover of darkness, ransacked Oliver's abandoned home until midnight. On that evening it became very clear who ruled Boston. The British Militia, the Sheriffs and Justices, kept a low profile. No one dared respond to such violent force.

By the end of that year the Sons of Liberty existed in every colony. Their most popular objective was to force Stamp Distributors throughout the colonies to resign. The groups also applied pressure to any Merchants who did not comply with the non-importation associations. Wherever these groups existed they were either directed in secret by leading men in the community or actually lead by them. However, there were opportunists everywhere, too, who would use the name Sons of Liberty to carry out acts of revenge and other violence not related to the cause. For example, in South Carolina a group of sailors, calling themselves The Sons of Liberty, formed a mob to coerce money from people on the streets*. Such behavior could certainly undermine the cause, so the Sons spent a great deal of time policing themselves and pretenders. This was the origin on names such as "True Sons," and "True-born Sons" of Liberty.

The success of these movements in undermining the Stamp Act cannot be attributed to violence alone. Their most effective work was performed in newsprint. A great many of the Sons were printers and publishers themselves and even those who were not, were sympathetic to the cause. It was they who would pay the most in duties, after all. Nearly every newspaper in the colonies carried daily reports of the activities of the Sons. Accounts of the most dramatic escapades spread throughout the colonies. In one most remarkable incident, an account of the Virginia Stamp Act Resolutions was printed far and wide. It is not certain how many of the editors who reprinted it were aware of the status of the resolutions, but seven were printed, while only five actually passed (the fifth was in fact rescinded the day after adoption.) The ultimate effect of such propaganda was to embolden both citizens and Legislatures in every colony. When the Stamp Act became effective on the 1st of November, 1765, nearly all of these papers went right on publishing without the required Stamp.

In the early months of 1766 there was such chaos that many of the royal governors had gone into hiding. The Sheriffs and Militia that they might have counted on to keep the peace were mostly members of the Sons of Liberty. Governors were afraid to unlock the weapons stores. Few royal troops were available and they were vastly outnumbered in any case. The Sons of Liberty had displaced the royal government in nearly every colony. The Stamp Act Congress had concluded its business, but there was little hope that its petition to Gr. Britain would be heard. Correspondence between the various groups began, toward the mutual support and defense of the cause. It was expected that eventually British troops would land and attempt to reassert control. So it was that the first efforts to unite the colonies were not undertaken by their respective legislatures, but by these independent radical groups. The various Sons throughout the colonies began to correspond and develop a larger organization.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A short article on the Sons of Liberty, a group of American patriots who protested and resisited British imperialism, especially the Stamp Act

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Sons of Liberty was a group established to undermine British rule in colonial America and was influential in organizing The Boston Tea Party.

# data[].attributes.headline
Sons of Liberty- National Constitution Center

# data[].attributes.subject
Sons of Liberty- National Constitution Center

# data[].attributes.headline
Sons of Liberty- History of Massachusetts

# data[].attributes.subject
Sons of Liberty- History of Massachusetts

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Sons of Liberty was a group of political dissidents that formed in the North American British colonies during the early days of the American Revolution in Boston, Mass.

The following are some facts about the Sons of Liberty:

The Sons of Liberty formed to protest the passage of the Stamp Act of 1765. The Stamp Act was a tax that required printed materials in the colony, such as newspapers and legal documents, to be published on paper produced in London and embossed with the revenue stamp.

The colonists resented the Stamp Act and felt that being taxed without their consent was a violation of their rights as British citizens.

The Loyal Nine:

When the Sons of Liberty first formed in the summer of 1765, the group was originally known as the Loyal Nine, which consisted of nine Boston shopkeepers and artisans:

John Avery Jr, distiller
Henry Bass, merchant and cousin to Samuel Adams
Thomas Chase, distiller
Thomas Crafts, painter
Stephen Cleverly, brazier
Benjamin Edes, printer of the Boston Gazette
Joseph Field, ship captain
John Smith, brazier
George Trott, jeweler

The ninth member was either Henry Welles, a mariner, or Joseph Field, master of a vessel.

How the Sons of Liberty Got Their Name:

The term "the Sons of Liberty" actually came from a debate over the Stamp Act in Parliament in February of 1765, during which Irishman Isaac Barre made a speech defending the colonists and criticizing the British government's actions against them, according to the book The Eve of the Revolution:

"[Were] they nourished by your indulgence? They grew by your neglect of them. As soon as you began to care about them, that care was exercised in sending persons to rule over them, in one department and another... sent to spy out their liberty, to misrepresent their actions and to prey upon them; men whose behaviour on many occasions has caused the blood of these sons of liberty to recoil within them..."

When the group officially expanded and adopted the name "The Sons of Liberty" is not known since the secretive group left virtually no paper trail.

Sons of Liberty & the Stamp Act Riot:

What is known about the group is that in August of 1765, the Loyal Nine acquired the help of Ebenezer McIntosh, a local cordwainer and leader of the South End Pope's Day Company (Pope's Day was the Boston colonial version of Guy Fawkes Day) to pull off its first protest, according to the book A True Republican: The Life of Paul Revere:

"On the morning of August 14, 1765, Bostonians witnessed a ritual of protest similar to the mocking, world-turned-upside-down festivities of the Pope's Day processions. The Loyal Nine prepared effigies of Andrew Oliver, the stamp master, and Lord Bute, the king's favorite, who, though out of office since the end of 1763, was considered the instigator of the unpopular revenue measures. McIntosh's men, mostly artisans from the lower ranks of the craft hierarchy, laborers and mariners, hung the effigies from a large elm tree at Essex and Orange Streets in the South End, a tree soon to become famous as Liberty Tree. A label on the breast of Oliver's effigy praised liberty and denounced 'Vengence on the Subvertors of it,' and another label warned: 'He that takes this down is an enemy to his country.' At sunset, forty or fifty artisans and tradesman took down the effigies and carried them in a procession to Andrew Oliver's dock, where the mob leveled a building they believed would be the stamp office, and then to Fort Hill, where they burned the figures. In his journal, John Boyle stressed that the procession was 'followed by a great concourse of people, some of the highest reputation, and in the greatest order.' At this point, the less genteel members of the mob, led my McIntosh and angered by Thomas Hutchinson's attempts to disperse them, proceeded to wreak havoc on Andrew Oliver's house, pulling down fences, breaking windows, looking glasses, and furniture, stripping his trees of fruit, and drinking his wine."

The following night, August 15, the mob formed a blockade in front of Governor Thomas Hutchinson's mansion, demanding that he denounce the Stamp Act in his official letters to London.

Hutchinson, a loyalist who had written the book The History of the Province of Massachusetts-Bay in which he condemned a revolt by Boston citizens in 1689 against the rule of governor Sir Edmund Andros, refused. A few weeks later, on August 26, the mob returned.

After attacking the homes of William Story, deputy register of the Vice-Admiralty Court, and Benjamin Hallowell, comptroller of customs, they then attacked Hutchinson's house.

Hutchinson and his family were able to escape the home just minutes before the mob arrived. Upon breaking into the mansion, the mob destroyed Hutchinson's furniture, wrecked the garden, tore out the windows, walls, wainscoting, tiles and even tore down the cupola on the roof.

In addition, they stole the contents of his wine cellar, £900 in sterling, every valuable object in his home and destroyed his collection of books and papers from his research for his history book.

For a number of years after the Stamp Act riot, the Sons of Liberty organized annual celebrations to mark the event, which consisted of parades and gatherings at the Liberty Tree on Boston Common or large dinners, known as "Liberty dinners," under a tent at the Liberty Tree Tavern in Dorchester.

By the end of 1765, Sons of Liberty groups had sprouted up in every state in the colony.

Women also joined the cause by forming local chapters of the Daughters of Liberty, which organized spinning groups to spin cloth and supported a boycott against British imports.

Members of the Sons of Liberty:

Due to the secret nature of the Sons of Liberty, the group never kept any official rosters of its members. Yet, in 1869 a handwritten list titled "An Alphabetical List of the Sons of Liberty Who Dined at the Liberty Tree, Dorchester Aug. 14, 1769" was donated to the Massachusetts Historical Society.

This list of over 300 names was compiled by an attendee of the event, William Palfrey, and was donated by his grandson on the 100th anniversary of the event. The names on the list are as follows:

E.
Erving, John, Hon.
Erving, George, Esq.
Edes, Benjamin
Edwards, John
Eliot, Deacon
Eliot, Joseph, Jr.
Edes, Thomas
Emmes, Samuel
Edwards, Alex.

F.
Freeman, Jon., Capt.
Fleet, Thomas
Fleet, John
Foster, Deacon
Foster, Timothy
Foster, Bossenger
Foster, William
Fitch, Timothy
Flagg, Josiah
Fowle, William
Farmer, Paul

Harris, Stephen
Harris, Stephen, Jr.
Hinckley, Ebenezer
Hoskins, William
Hill, Dr.
Hewes, Robert
Honeywell, Richard
Horry, Thomas

K.
Kent, Benj., Esq.
Knox, Thomas
Knox, Thomas
Kennedy, William
Kneeland, Barth.

L.
Langdon, John
Lucas, John
Lovell, James
Lasinby, Joseph
Langdon, John, Jr.
Langdon, Timothy
Leach, John
Laggett, Thomas
Loring, John
Loring, Caleb
Leverett, John, Capt.
Leverett, Thomas
Lowell, John

N.
Noyes, Nathaniel

O.
Otis, James, The Hon. jr.
Otis, Samuel Allyne
Otis, Joseph

Q.
Quincy, Samuel, Esq.
Quincy, Josiah

R.
Ruddock, John, Esq.
Revere, Paul
Rand, Isaac, Dr.
Ray, Caleb
Richardson, James
Reid, Mr., Secretary to Gov.
Franklin, Jerseys.
Read, William, Esq.
Ruggles, Samuel
Robinson, Lemuel
Ratcliffe, Mr., Carolina.
Roberts, Peter

V.
Vose, Joseph
Vernon, Fortescue

Y.
Young, Thomas, Dr.

Paul Revere, one of the most famous members of the Sons of Liberty, was reportedly admitted to the group because he had many qualities that they found desirable in their members, according to the book A True Republican: The Life of Paul Revere:

"Esther Forbes wrote that the leaders of the Revolution in Boston admitted Paul Revere into their society 'because they wished the sympathy of the large artisan class with whom he was immensely popular, and he represented an important point of view.' His position as a respected master artisan whose ties of business and friendship connected him to Boston's artisans, mariners, merchants and Freemasons surely made Paul Revere a desirable member of the patriot cause...Revere's Masonic experience taught him both to know when to defer to those of superior authority and achievement and when and how to exercise leadership. Revere had also learned to appreciate the opportunity of enlightening his mind through reading, discussion, and fellowship with like-minded men. Revere's standing in the community, his personality, and his Masonic experience would all make him a worthy member of the patriot circle."

Public Reaction to the Sons of Liberty:

Newspapers across the colonies praised the Sons of Liberty, calling them "the only guardians and protectors of of the rights and liberties of America" and encouraged them to continue their activities.

Yet, the general public were not as enamored with the group, according to the book The Founding of a Nation:

"The glowing picture of the Sons of Liberty presented by the newspapers was not accepted by many alarmed Americans who looked upon them as nothing but dangerous, and all too often drunken, mobs. Naturally they kept such opinions to themselves or wrote of them in private letters to friends whom they could trust. There is no doubt that the leaders often found the mobs hard to control. In New York, even children paraded at night carrying effigies and candles. Mobs sometimes appeared on the streets in daytime, as upon the occasion when a British naval lieutenant said that John Holt of the New York Gazette ought to be sent to England and hanged 'for the licentiousness of his papers.' For three days mobs paraded the streets, threatening to murder the lieutenant, and order was not restored until General Gage provided the commanders of the naval vessel with extra arms."

After nearly a year of protests, the Sons of Liberty were finally victorious in March of 1766 when Parliament decided to repeal the Stamp Act.

The group organized celebrations across the city to mark the occasion, which included bonfires, fireworks, celebratory cannon fire, ringing church bells and decorating ships and houses with flags and streamers.

Since the group's primary objective was to protest the Stamp Act, it disbanded after the act was repealed.

Yet, the group was revived two years later when the passage of the Townshend Act threatened the colonist's rights once again, according to the book Revolts, Protests, Demonstrations, and Rebellions in America:

"In 1768, the Townshend Revenue Act was passed, placing special taxes on common goods such as lead, paint, glass, paper and tea. The Townshend Act garnered an even quicker response from colonists than the Stamp Act. The newly revived Sons of Liberty embarked on a two-year campaign against the Townshend Acts, playing a vital role in spreading rebellion throughout the colonies. In Boston, the Sons of Liberty invited hundreds of citizens to dine with them each August 14 to commemorate the first Stamp Act uprising. In Charlestown, the Sons of Liberty held their meetings in public, so that all could attend and listen. This helped spread the word of resistance to ordinary folks, including the illiterate who could not read pamphlets, newspapers or petitions....The Sons of Liberty helped to establish and enforce a boycott on British goods, causing trade to dry up. It was not long before the British merchants stepped in on behalf of the colonies and the Townshend Acts were repealed in 1770, except for the tax on tea. This would lead to one of the most infamous chapters of American history, the Boston Tea Party."

Sons of Liberty & the Boston Tea Party:

This controversy over the tea tax was made worse by the passage of the Tea Act of 1773, which allowed for tea sold by British companies to be shipped directly to the colonies and sold at a discount. As the tax on tea was still in place, this act was a subtle way to persuade colonists to comply with the tax.

The act served two purposes, it helped prop up the struggling East India Company, whose sales had taken a huge hit when the colonists started to boycott imported tea after the passage of the Townshend Act, and it goaded colonists into complying with the tax.

The colonists were not pleased. They saw through the British government's plan and the Sons of Liberty groups across the colonies responded by chasing away the tea ships in New York and Philadelphia or abandoning the cargo on the docks in Charlestown.

In Boston, the group threatened captains with tarring and feathering until the whole issue came to a head in December of 1773, when colonists refused to let three cargo ships carrying British tea, the Dartmouth, the Eleanor and the Beaver, dock in Boston harbor and unload its cargo.

A series of meetings were held, first at Faneuil Hall, then at the Old South Meetinghouse when the number of attendees grew too big for Faneuil Hall to accommodate.

During the meetings, a series of proposals and counter-proposals were explored but ultimately, on December 16th, Hutchinson refused to send the ships back to England and ordered the colonists to stop blocking the ships from landing.

According to various sources, the Sons of Liberty had anticipated this response and activated their secret plan to rush to the harbor where they rowed out to the ships and threw 90,000 pounds of tea into the harbor. This protest became the group's most famous act of rebellion.

The identity of all the participants in the Boston Tea Party is not completely known but it has been confirmed that at least four of the Loyal Nine: Thomas Chase, Thomas Crafts, Benjamin Edes and Stephen Cleverly, as well as several Sons of Liberty: including Paul Revere and Thomas Young, participated.

The Sons of Liberty continued to be active until the Revolutionary War ended in 1783 and the group finally disbanded.

Sources:
"Sons of Liberty." Massachusetts Historical Society, www.masshist.org/objects/cabinet/august2001/august2001.html
Carp, Benjamin L."Terms of Estrangement: Who Were the Sons of Liberty?" Colonial Williamsburg Official History & Citizenship Site, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, www.history.org/Foundation/journal/winter12/liberty.cfm
"Sons of Liberty." Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum, www.bostonteapartyship.com/sons-of-liberty
The Oxford Handbook of the History of Nationalism. Edited by John Breuilly. Oxford University Press, 2013.
Jensen, Merrill. The Founding of a Nation: A History of the American Revolution, 1763-1776. Hackett Publishing Company, 1968.
Revolts, Protests, Demonstrations, and Rebellions in American History. Edited by Steven Laurence Danver. Vol. I, ABC-CLIO, 2011.
Becker, Carl. The Eve of the Revolution. Yale University Press, 1918.
Triber, Jayne E. A True Republican: The Life of Paul Revere. University of Massachusetts Press, 1998.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Sons of Liberty: Who Were They and What Did They Do? - History of Massachusetts Blog

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Sons of Liberty was a group of political dissidents that formed in the North American British colonies during the early days of the American Revolution in Boston, Mass. The following are some facts about the Sons of Liberty: The Sons of Liberty formed to protest the passage of the...