Sons of Liberty

The Sons of Liberty was a label adopted by Patriots in the British North American colonies before the American Revolution. They took their name from a debate on the Stamp Act in Parliament in 1765. Charles Townshend, speaking in support of the act, spoke contemptuously of the American colonists as being "children planted by our care, nourished up by our indulgence...and protected by our arms." Then Isaac Barre, a Member of Parliament and supporter of the American colonists, responded by describing the Americans as "these Sons of Liberty" and warned that they would resist the new tax.

North American colonists from Savannah to Halifax did indeed protest against the Stamp Act in 1765, through legislative resolutions (starting in Virginia), public demonstrations (starting in Massachusetts), threats, and occasional violence. The success of this popular movement—the Stamp Act became unenforceable and was repealed in 1766—emboldened colonial Whigs to resist other new taxes with similar measures in the following years.

In the popular imagination (as in the novel Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes), the Sons of Liberty was a formal underground organization with recognized members and leaders. More likely, the name was an umbrella term for any men resisting new Crown taxes and laws. Newspaper articles, handbills, and diaries referred to "True Born Sons of Liberty," "Sons of Freedom," and "Daughters of Liberty." The label let organizers issue anonymous summons to a Liberty Tree, "Liberty Pole", or other public meeting-places, let Patriot groups in one town communicate with those elsewhere, and let any man or boy imagine himself a Son of Liberty.

A group calling itself the Sons of Liberty existed in almost every colony. Members included middle and upper class citizens, as well as mechanics and laborers. Anyone could join if they were trustworthy and had the skills the group needed. Famous members included Paul Revere, John Adams and his cousin, Samuel Adams, who was a leader of the New England sons.

The Sons are widely known for their violent and destructive acts. Actions included burning effigies of local tax officials in the town squares, burning the crown officials' property while the owner was held to watch. Uncontrolled violence and vandalism was more common among the newest and youngest members, who could be difficult for leaders to control.

British authorities and their supporters considered the Sons of Liberty as seditious rebels, and referred to them as "Sons of Violence" and "Sons of Iniquity." Latter-day historians have called them terrorist, a word that was coined during the French Revolution and gained new meanings in recent decades. Patriot mobs attacked the apparatus and symbols of British authority and power such as gentlemen's homes, Customs officers, East India Company tea, and, as the war approached, vocal supporters of the Crown.

Societies

The name was also used during the American Civil War. Early in 1864, the Copperhead organization, the Knights of the Golden Circle, was reorganized as the Order of the Sons of Liberty.

The Improved Order of Red Men, a patriotic fraternal secret society, claims to actually be the Sons of Liberty, having adopted the Native American motif after the Boston Tea Party.

Flags

In 1767 the Sons of Liberty adopted a flag with nine vertical stripes (five red and four white). It is supposed that nine represented the number of colonies that were to attend the Stamp Act Congress.

A flag called the American Merchant Stripes, having thirteen horizontal red and white stripes, used by American merchant ships during the war, was also associated with the Sons of Liberty.

Fiction in movies

Johnny Tremain (Walt Disney, 1957)

External links

1765 establishments | American Revolution | National liberation movements | Secret societies

Söhne der Freiheit | Sons of Liberty | בני החירות | Synowie Wolności

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Societies

Flags

Fiction in movies

See also

External links