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Sons of Liberty
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- UShistory.org - The Sons of Liberty
- Alpha History - The Sons of Liberty
- Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum - Sons of Liberty
- The Civil Affairs Association - Sons of Liberty: Case Study for Information Advantage in Resistance Movements
- American Battlefield Trust - Who Were the Sons of Liberty?
- Sons of Liberty - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)
- Sons of Liberty - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)
Sons of Liberty , organization formed in the American colonies in the summer of 1765 to oppose the Stamp Act . The Sons of Liberty took their name from a speech given in the British Parliament by Isaac Barré (February 1765), in which he referred to the colonials who had opposed unjust British measures as the “sons of liberty.”
The origins of the Sons of Liberty are unclear, but some of the organization’s roots can be traced to the Loyal Nine, a secretive Boston political organization whose members included Benjamin Edes and Samuel Adams . The Boston chapter of the Sons of Liberty often met under cover of darkness beneath the “Liberty Tree,” a stately elm tree in Hanover Square. The Sons of Liberty rallied support for colonial resistance through the use of petitions, assemblies, and propaganda , and they sometimes resorted to violence against British officials. Instrumental in preventing the enforcement of the Stamp Act, they remained an active pre-Revolutionary force against the crown .
Sons of Liberty
August 1765–c. 1774
The Sons of Liberty was a radical organization in Colonial America created to carry out public demonstrations against British policies that forced Americans to pay taxes without representation in Parliament. Many men associated with the group are considered Founding Fathers of the United States.
Samuel Adams was associated with the Loyal Nine and the Sons of Liberty. The illustration includes a portrait of Adams ( MFA Boston ), Benjamin Franklin’s “Join or Die” political cartoon, and the flag used by the Sons of Liberty.
Who were the Sons of Liberty?
Sons of liberty summary.
The Sons of Liberty — also known as the Liberty Boys — was a radical group of American colonists in Colonial America that often met in secret in order to plan public protests against the policies of the British government. The first group was formed in Boston in 1765 and quickly spread throughout the colonies. The groups were responsible for organizing riots, vandalism of homes, and harassing government officials — including tarring and feathering. The most prominent groups were in Boston and New York, where they clashed with British authorities from 1765 to the opening of the American Revolutionary War. The Sons of Liberty were involved in the Stamp Act Riots, but their most famous acts were the Gaspee Affair and the Boston Tea Party . Over time, the group reduced violence and took a more political route to protest by forming Committees of Correspondence . Many men associated with the Sons of Liberty, including Samuel Adams, John Adams, Samuel Chase , Christopher Gadsden, John Hancock, Patrick Henry, and Benjamin Rush, are Founding Fathers who played key roles in the establishment of the independent United States of America.
Sons of Liberty Facts
- The Sons of Liberty also went by the name “Liberty Boys.”
- The name “Sons of Liberty” came from a speech made in Parliament by Isaac Barré in 1765 in protest of the Stamp Act. During his speech, Barré referred to the royal governors in the colonies as “…men whose behavior on many occasions had caused the blood of those sons of liberty to recoil within them.”
- The organization started in 1765 to carry out protests against the Stamp Act during the Stamp Act Crisis.
- The members were mainly merchants, artisans, and laborers who believed the British government was violating their rights as Englishmen, as defined in the English Bill of Rights .
- Early demonstrations were often violent, which led to criticism throughout the colonies. However, the groups turned to less volatile forms of protest against British colonial policy.
- The Sons of Liberty spread their beliefs about British colonial policies through Committees of Correspondence, pamphlets, and newspapers.
- The most famous acts of resistance carried out by the Sons of Liberty were the Stamp Act Riots, the Gaspee Affair, and the Boston Tea Party.
- The Sons of Liberty were also involved in the Battle of Golden Hill in New York City in 1770 , which preceded the Boston Massacre.
- By the time of the American Revolution, each colony had its own Sons of Liberty groups in towns and cities.
- The Sons of Liberty ended around 1774 when the 13 Original Colonies started to form their own provincial governments.
Sons of Liberty History and Overview
Origin of the organization.
The origin of the Sons of Liberty is unclear, but the organization likely started in Boston and was followed closely by a second group operating in New York City. The groups formed after news reached America that the Stamp Act was passed by Parliament. The Boston group is believed to have grown out of smaller groups who merged together, starting with the “Loyal Nine.”
The members of the Loyal Nine were:
- John Avery, a distiller
- Henry Bass, a jeweler
- Thomas Chase, a distiller
- Stephen Cleverly, a brazier
- Thomas Crafts Jr., a painter
- Benjamin Edes, owner and printer of the Boston Gazette newspaper
- Joseph Field, a ship captain
- John Smith, a brazier
- George Trott, a jeweler
Founding Father Samuel Adams is often referred to as a member of the Loyal Nine and the “founder” of the Sons of Liberty. While Adams no doubt was connected to the group through his cousin Henry Bass, he was not a core member of the Loyal Nine.
While the Loyal Nine and their associates, which included Adams, were responsible for planning demonstrations, they worked out deals with Boston gangs to carry them out. The prominent ones were the South End Gang, led by Ebenezer Mackintosh, and the North End Gang, led by Henry Swift. Members of the Loyal Nine and the South End Gang were involved in the First Boston Stamp Act Riot, which took place on August 14, 1765. Over time, the Boston leaders of the Sons of Liberty included prominent figures of the American Revolution, including:
- Samuel Adams
- Paul Revere
- John Hancock
- Joseph Warren
- James Otis, Jr.
In New York, the leaders included Hercules Mulligan, Alexander McDougall , Marinus Willett, John Lamb, and Isaac Sears. It is believed Mulligan, an Irish immigrant, and prominent merchant, was responsible for starting the New York Sons of Liberty and invited the others to join him.
Origin of the Name “Sons of Liberty”
Following the passage of the Sugar Act and Currency Act , British Prime Minister George Grenville started working on the Stamp Act. The bill was drafted by Thomas Whately, and both Whately and Grenville discussed it with some of the agents for the colonies, including Benjamin Franklin , Jarod Ingersoll of Connecticut, and William Knox of Georgia. Despite objections to the act, the agents were unable to present an alternative, so Grenville moved ahead and introduced it to the House of Commons on February 6, 1765 .
During that session, Isaac Barré gave a speech, criticizing the Stamp Act and referring to the Royal Governors in the colonies as “men whose behavior on many occasions had caused the blood of those sons of liberty to recoil within them.” Despite Barré’s protest, the bill passed both Houses of Parliament. It received Royal Assent on March 22 and was scheduled to take effect on November 1, 1765.
By August, after the First Boston Stamp Act Riot, Samuel Adams wrote an article that appeared in Benjamin Edes’ Boston Gazette. Adams used the name and said:
“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…”
Members from Different Social Classes
Membership was made up of men from all walks of life, but was largely controlled by the upper class — merchants, politicians, and clergy. However, they created connections with the working class and lower classes — often people who were willing to cause trouble. Over time, some members identified themselves by wearing medallions around their necks. The medallions were stamped with a figure grasping a pole on one side, with the words Sons of Liberty, and a Liberty Tree on the other.
Meeting Places, Liberty Trees, and Liberty Poles
The Sons of Liberty often met indoors, where meetings could be conducted in secret. In Boston, the members were known to meet at Edes print shop or a room at the Green Dragon Tavern. In New York, they were known to meet at Fraunces Tavern.
As their reputation grew, so did their boldness. The Sons of Liberty in Boston eventually held their meetings in public, under the “Tree of Liberty” that stood at the corner of Washington Street and Essex Street. At the time, the tree was referred to as the Tree of Liberty but is more commonly referred to as simply the “Liberty Tree” today. The Boston Liberty Tree was an old elm tree, estimated to be at least 120 years old.
After the Stamp Act was repealed, Liberty Poles were erected to celebrate the end of the Stamp Act Crisis. Over time, the Liberty Poles became targets of British soldiers and Loyalists, especially in New York City, where an ongoing dispute over the Liberty Pole led to the Battle of Golden Hill in January 1770.
The Sons of Liberty and the Stamp Act
After the French and Indian War , Parliament looked for ways to reduce the debt incurred by the war and to have the American colonies pay for part of the ongoing defense of the frontier from the French and their Native American Indian allies that lived throughout the Ohio Country. This led Parliament to develop and implement legislation that levied taxes on the colonies. The first act that eliminated Salutary Neglect and enforced the collection of taxes was the Sugar Act . It was quickly followed by the Stamp Act in 1765, which led to the rallying cry of “no taxation without representation.”
The first Sons of Liberty groups were organized to protest the Stamp Act and the name was derived from Barré’s speech when he referred to the royal governors in the colonies as “men whose behavior on many occasions had caused the blood of those sons of liberty to recoil within them.”
The Sons of Liberty started to form, first in the Province of Massachusetts Bay and then in the Province of New York, as groups of like-minded people, who were opposed to what they felt were oppressive British policies, started to band together. The organization of the groups was informal and their meetings were held in secret. They were usually controlled by business owners, lawyers, teachers, and other men who had a good education, and those men used propaganda to stir up the less-educated members of their communities.
The groups organized boycotts against the Stamp Act and coordinated their actions. In 1765, from August through December, they carried out the harassment of tax collectors and government officials who were supposed to enforce the act. The harassment often turned physical and violent, as they were known to tar and feather people they disagreed with and vandalize property.
As the Stamp Act Crisis intensified in 1765, more groups appeared and were usually based around large cities and ports, such as Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Charleston. They included prominent men such as:
- Israel Putnam and Benedict Arnold in Connecticut.
- Benjamin Rush , Charles Thomson, and William Bradford in Pennsylvania.
- Christopher Gadsden in South Carolina.
- Patrick Henry in Virginia.
Despite the violence, the groups were also instrumental in passing resolutions in protest of the Stamp Act. The most famous of those resolves was Patrick Henry’s Virginia Resolves .
The groups were also involved in setting up a meeting to discuss a unified colonial response to the Stamp Act. Nine of the American colonies responded by sending delegates to participate in the Stamp Act Congress , which was held in New York City in October 1765.
Ultimately, the unrest in America, along with protests from British merchants, forced Parliament to repeal the Stamp Act in March 1766. Parliament hoped the repeal would put an end to the groups and their meddling in government affairs, but it was wrong. Instead, the movement grew in both numbers and political strength, as members were elected to colonial legislatures. Their public demonstrations started to move more towards theatrics, such as the burning of officials in effigy, and the groups communicated with each other through Committees of Correspondence.
The Sons of Liberty and Organized Violence
The Sons of Liberty expressed their displeasure with the Stamp Act and, later, the Tea Act by distributing correspondence within the colonies and through numerous publications. The groups also sponsored public demonstrations, which sometimes turned violent. The radical nature of these demonstrations was instrumental in polarizing relations between Britain and the colonies, and the Sons of Liberty stood firm on the idea that the people should govern themselves. Despite their intentions, the group was largely seen as a violent, lawless mob. Some of the prominent events involving the Sons of Liberty were:
First Boston Stamp Act Riot
On August 14, 1765, a violent demonstration took place in Boston. Andrew Oliver, the Stamp Agent for the district, was burned in effigy and his office was attacked. Oliver was forced to resign from his position by reading a letter in front of a mob.
Second Boston Stamp Act Riot
On August 26, another riot took place in Boston. This time the angry mob attacked the homes of William Story, deputy register of the Vice-Admiralty Court, and Benjamin Hallowell, comptroller of customs. Then the mob moved on to the home of Lieutenant Governor Thomas Hutchinson , where they ransacked the house, did considerable damage, and stole money. Hutchinson and his family were able to escape from the house before the mob attacked.
New York Stamp Act Riot
On October 31, New York merchants met and agreed to stop buying and selling British goods until the Stamp Act was repealed. The day the Stamp Act went into effect, a riot took place in New York. It is referred to as the “General Terror of November 1–4.” Cadwallader Colden, the acting Governor of New York, took refuge in Fort George, which was attacked by an angry mob. Colden was forced to turn the stamped paper over to city officials.
The Liberty Affair
After the Stamp Act was repealed, Parliament still levied taxes on the colonies. Over the course of a year, the Townshend Acts were passed that established new taxes and regulations in the colonies. Anger over the Townshend Acts led to various acts of resistance. In Boston, John Hancock refused to allow customs officials to inspect one of his ships. The incident, known as the Liberty Affair, led to a riot and personal attacks on customs officials. Britain responded by sending troops to occupy Boston.
The Battle of the Liberty Poles
After the Stamp Act was repealed , the people of New York held a celebration on June 4, 1766 — King George III’s birthday — to celebrate. The people were joined by British officials and military officers for the celebration. The Sons of Liberty erected a pole, which had a flag on top with the words, “The King, Pitt, and Liberty.” The pole became known as New York City’s Liberty Pole, and the location upset the soldiers who lived in nearby barracks. Over the next four years, the pole would be cut down — or blown up — several times by the soldiers. Each time, the Sons of Liberty would put up a new one. The continuous back and forth over the Liberty Pole raised tensions between the soldiers and people, which contributed to the violent fighting that took place in January 1770.
The Battle of Golden Hill
The Battle of Golden Hill was a street fight between the New York Sons of Liberty and British troops stationed in the city. In December 1769, the New York Assembly agreed to a scheme devised by Cadwallader Colden which the Sons of Liberty believed was intended to raise money to help support British troops. The Sons of Liberty protested publicly, and Alexander McDougall published a pamphlet that criticized raising money for the troops. British troops cut down the Liberty Pole and posted their own handbill around the city. On January 19, the Sons of Liberty grabbed two soldiers and tried to have them arrested, which led to fighting that spilled over into the next day.
The Gaspee Affair
The Gaspee Affair was a dispute between British officials and colonial officials over how to handle the Gaspee Incident. The incident took place from June 9–10, 1772, and included Rhode Islanders — primarily members of the Providence Sons of Liberty — attacking the British schooner HMS Gaspee , shooting a British naval officer, and destroying the ship by setting it on fire. In the aftermath, British officials investigating the incident wanted to arrest the men responsible and take them to Britain to stand trial. Americans were outraged and believed the right to a fair trial would be violated. Great Britain’s response to the Gaspee Affair led Virginia to call for the colonies to establish a permanent network of Committees of Correspondence.
The Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was a political protest that took place on the night of December 16, 1773, at Griffin’s Wharf in Boston, Massachusetts. A mob of colonists, which had been organized by the Sons of Liberty, boarded three ships that were carrying tea owned by the British East India Company . They smashed open more than 300 chests of tea and then dumped the tea into Boston Harbor. Parliament responded to the incident by passing the Intolerable Acts , which were a direct cause of the American Revolutionary War.
The Sons of Liberty and Organized Political Resistance
In 1772, the first permanent Committee of Correspondence was organized in Boston by Samuel Adams . Many of the members of the Boston Committee were also members of the Sons of Liberty. The purpose of the committee was to write and send circular letters to the towns in Massachusetts and to the other colonies. In Virginia, Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry led the push to set up a committee for their colony. Other colonies did the same, and members of the Sons of Liberty were usually involved.
When the Massachusetts Assembly was dissolved as part of the Massachusetts Government Act in 1774, the members of the assembly eventually set up the Massachusetts Provincial Congress. This served as the government of the colony after the war broke out on April 19, 1775.
Small committees, known as Committees of Safety, were set up to manage and plan the defenses of the towns in the event war broke out. The Boston committee played a key role on the night of April 18, when Governor Thomas Gage sent troops to Concord to seize weapons and ammunition that were being stored there by American militia forces.
End of the Sons of Liberty
After the Coercive Acts — or the Intolerable Acts — were passed in 1774, most of the colonies joined together to work in unison to deal with British policy. Building on the concept of the Stamp Act Congress, twelve of the thirteen colonies met in Philadelphia in September 1774 in the First Continental Congress . From then on, the popularity of the Sons of Liberty diminished, as its members became involved in more legitimate means, namely provincial governments like the Massachusetts Provincial Congress and local committees.
Sons of Liberty Significance
The Sons of Liberty is important to the history of the United States because it was an effective — although often violent — group that successfully coordinated efforts to resist the policies of the British government. Many members of the Sons of Liberty went on to serve on Committees of Correspondence, participate in the Provincial Congresses, and the Continental Congress, and became Founding Fathers.
Sons of Liberty APUSH
Use the following links and videos to study the Sons of Liberty, Colonial America, and the American Revolution for the AP US History Exam. Also, be sure to look at our Guide to the AP US History Exam .
Sons of Liberty APUSH Definition
The Sons of Liberty was an organization formed by American colonists in the early years of the American Revolution. The group used acts of civil disobedience and violence to protest British Taxation Without Representation and to push for independence. The group was active from 1765 until the beginning of the American Revolutionary War. Many men associated with the group were involved in the establishment of the United States as an independent nation.
American History Central Resources and Related Topics
- Colonial America Guide
- Sugar Act — History and Overview
- Sugar Act — Facts and Statistics
- Stamp Act — History and Overview
- Stamp Act — Facts and Statistics
- Townshend Acts
- Gaspee Affair
- Boston Tea Party — History and Overview
- Boston Tea Party — Facts and Statistics
- Intolerable Acts
The Sons of Liberty Video — The Daily Bellringer
This video from the Daily Bellringer provides an overview of the Sons of Liberty.
- Written by Randal Rust
American Revolution
The sons of liberty.
In folklore, the Sons of Liberty were organised, coordinated colonial groups that took radical action against unpopular British policies from 1765 onwards. The reality is that ‘Sons of Liberty’ was an umbrella term that described a range of individuals and groups who opposed British policy and actions. This included groups like the Boston Loyal Nine and the various Committees of Correspondence and Safety. Whatever their membership and focus, the Sons of Liberty became seed groups for revolutionary thought and action.
Organised colonial resistance
Between 1765 and 1775, there were hundreds of colonial groups engaged in protesting or resisting British policy. Because their grievances varied from place to place, they tended to be local, based in a particular city, town or county.
The membership of these groups could range from just a handful of people to a few hundred. They could form in several ways: from informal gatherings in taverns, churches or community events, as offshoots of town meetings or assemblies, from discussions between likeminded political and business interests.
The origin of the name ‘Sons of Liberty’ is well documented. It comes from a speech delivered by Isaac Barré , an Irish-born British member of parliament who was sympathetic to colonial protests against British taxation. In February 1765, during parliamentary debates on the future Stamp Act , Barré famously rose and said of the American colonists:
“They grew by your [Parliament’s] 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… to misrepresent their actions and to prey upon them; men whose behavior on many occasions has caused the blood of those Sons of Liberty to recoil within them.”
Boston groups
Different groups could be found across the colonies but Boston was the wellspring for active Sons of Liberty chapters. The Massachusetts capital contained several bands of dissidents who carried the name at one time or another.
Some of the first militant groups in Boston was dominated by the affluent classes. The Boston Caucus Club had actually been established almost 50 years before the Stamp Act. Dominated by businessmen, the Boston Caucus became a significant political force, often agitating against British policy or decisions of the royal governor. Its membership included Samuel Adams and Paul Revere .
Another group that formed after the passage of the Stamp Act was the Loyal Nine. This group was comprised of rowdier working-class elements led by a local cobbler, Ebenezer Mackintosh. They were actively encouraged and likely sponsored by affluent businessmen like John Hancock – men happy to see riotous action against British officials but unwilling to be directly associated with it.
From this seed groups emerged dozens of similar gangs, cooked up in Boston taverns during the summer of 1765. Some of their members joined with genuine political grievances while some were just spoiling for a fight with unpopular British officials or soldiers.
Involvement in violence
These groups that emerged in 1765 were responsible for everything from inciting boycotts, posting handbills and writing broadsides, through to intimidation of officials and Loyalists, mobbish behaviour and acts of destruction and violence.
In the summer of 1765, members of the Loyal Nine, along with other Sons of Liberty groups, began meeting around a large elm tree on Boston Common. On August 14th, the group produced an effigy of Andrew Oliver, the local official commissioned to implement the Stamp Act, and hanged it from the branches. A smaller group then attacked his house and offices, prompting a worried Oliver to resign his commission.
Two weeks later, a mob reassembled and set upon Oliver’s brother-in-law Thomas Hutchinson , the Massachusetts lieutenant-governor. Hutchinson had, in fact, opposed the Sugar Act and Stamp Act but as a Loyalist conservative, he had committed to uphold them. The gang invaded Hutchinson’s home, looting anything of value and destroying much else. Hutchinson and his family narrowly escaped and were later compensated by the local assembly.
The threats, intimidation and violence carried out by these groups worked. Within a few weeks, every individual appointed as an agent to distribute tax stamps in the colonies had resigned, making the Stamp Act impossible to implement.
Task-specific groups
Satisfied for now, the mob violence in Boston dissipated and working-class protestors returned to their jobs. Various Sons of Liberty groups continued to meet but they evolved into more organised, task-specific committees. They still aimed to reverse British policy but to do so through more conventional means.
The passing of the Townshend duties in 1767 led to the formation of various non-importation associations. These Sons of Liberty groups worked to convince their fellow colonists to boycott imported goods containing a British tax. They were also not averse to using intimidation against customs officials, importers who dealt in taxed goods or local merchants who sold them.
Other form of group that emerged in 1772 were Committees of Correspondence. The intention of these groups was to organise and promote opposition, chiefly by circulating criticism of British policy and encouraging others to join protests against it. Samuel Adams was a key figure in the Massachusetts Committees of Correspondence, while Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry were influential in Virginia.
When armed conflict became imminent in early 1775, a new form of committee emerged called Committees of Safety. These groups were less concerned about protest and more with mobilising the colonies for a future war. Among their activities were organising militias, gathering or seizing essential supplies, and reporting on British military activities, such as troop movements.
Groups outside Boston
Sons of Liberty groups were not confined to the Massachusetts capital. A sizeable group formed in New York in early 1765. Like the Boston chapter, they met secretly but focused on organisation and propaganda more than mob action. The New York group played an important role in organising and hosting the Stamp Act Congress.
Boston-style riots erupted in New York shortly before the stamp tax was due to go into effect. On the evening of October 31st, a mob of several hundred conducted a symbol funeral for ‘Liberty’. In the days that followed, they burned effigies of George Grenville and local Loyalists.
In Charleston, local politician Christopher Gadsden returned from the Stamp Act Congress dissatisfied and established a Sons of Liberty group there. South Carolina’s Sons of Liberty were particularly active in the autumn of 1765, hanging effigies of local stamp agents and intimidating merchants. In New Jersey, Sons of Liberty members set alight an effigy of the Loyalist speaker.
Sons of Liberty groups also existed in Virginia and Maryland but chiefly among the political classes rather than as popular movements.
Symbols and slogans
Individuals in the Sons of Liberty, such as Paul Revere, were also responsible for producing and distributing anti-British propaganda. In doing so, they used several symbols, slogans and tropes.
The large elm on Boston Common, mentioned above as a rallying point for assemblies, became an important symbol for the Sons of Liberty. During the frenetic activity of 1765, the group often erected a liberty pole, while some revolutionary propaganda also features a red Phrygian bonnet or ‘liberty cap’. Both symbols have their origin in the liberation of slaves in ancient Rome.
Various Sons of Liberty groups also adopted flags. In 1767, the Boston chapter unfurled a banner dubbed the ‘Rebellious Stripes’. It contained nine red and white stripes, one for each of the colonies that attended the Stamp Act Congress in October 1765. A similar flag containing 13 stripes, one for every colony, was also used.
Often depicted in colonial propaganda on both sides is the practice of tarring and feathering. This brutal act of violence, usually carried out by mobs, involves brushing or dousing the victim in hot pine tar and coating them with feathers. While not deadly, it was agonising, potentially disfiguring and publicly humiliating for the victim.
Historians believe between 60 and 80 individuals were tarred and feathered during the revolutionary period. The first recorded incident was in Virginia in 1766 against William Smith, who had informed customs officials about acts of smuggling. Perhaps the worst case was against John Malcom, a Boston Loyalist and customs officer, who was tarred and feathered twice in the space of three months in 1773-74.
“The name ‘Sons of Liberty’ was widely used after the report of Barre’s speech against the Stamp Act spread through the colonies. At first, there was no formal organisation and the name was used by various groups, whether the purpose was the passage of resolutions or the tearing down of a house. By the end of 1765, however, the Sons of Liberty were well organised action groups in several colonies, led by men who were willing to use force to achieve their ends when defeated in the realm of legal political action.” Merrill Jensen, historian
1. Sons of Liberty was a name given to a variety of colonial groups and individuals that opposed British policy, particularly the Stamp Act and Townshend acts.
2. The first of these groups formed in Boston and New York in early 1765. In Boston, they formed around groups such as the Loyal Nine, comprised chiefly of working-class men.
3. Boston’s Sons of Liberty were very active through 1765 and engaged in protest, intimidation of officials and a degree of violence against Loyalist targets.
4. Later, Sons of Liberty groups became more task-focused, concentrating on responses like propaganda, non-importation, boycotts and correspondence committees.
5. Sons of Liberty groups employed a range of symbols, slogans and tropes to carry their message, such as various flags and liberty devices.
Citation information Title: ‘The Sons of Liberty’ Authors: Jennifer Llewellyn , Steve Thompson Publisher: Alpha History URL: https://alphahistory.com/americanrevolution/sons-of-liberty Date published: July 16, 2019 Date updated: November 22, 2023 Date accessed: August 29, 2024 Copyright: The content on this page is © Alpha History. It may not be republished without our express permission. For more information on usage, please refer to our Terms of Use .
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Who Were the Sons of Liberty?
By: Patrick J. Kiger
Updated: August 3, 2023 | Original: August 19, 2019
The Sons of Liberty were a grassroots group of instigators and provocateurs in colonial America who used an extreme form of civil disobedience—threats, and in some cases actual violence—to intimidate loyalists and outrage the British government. The goal of the radicals was to push moderate colonial leaders into a confrontation with the British Crown.
The Sons marked one of their early victories in December 1765. The Stamp Act —the first tax imposed directly on American colonists by the British government—had only been in effect for a month, when a group of Boston merchants and craftsmen sent a letter to Andrew Oliver , the newly-appointed official collector of stamps. The group informed Oliver that he was to show up the next day at noon at the Liberty Tree in the city’s South End to publicly resign.
“Provided that you comply with the above, you shall be treated with the greatest Politeness and Humanity,” the letter explained. The message left to Oliver’s imagination what terrible fate might befall him if he didn’t comply.
Oliver didn’t need much persuading. He appeared as demanded, walking through the streets of Boston in a driving rainstorm and quit his job, to the cheers of a crowd of 2,000 people.
It was an exhibition of the fearsome clout of the Sons of Liberty. The Sons likely formed from a secretive group of nine Boston-based patriots who called themselves the Loyal Nine. The first Sons chapters sprung up in Boston and New York City, but other cells soon appeared in other colonies as well.
The group may have taken its name from a speech given in Parliament by Isaac Barre , an Irish member sympathetic to the colonists, who warned that the British government’s behavior “has caused the blood of these sons of liberty to recoil within them.”
Their most famous act of disobedience was destroying 92,000 pounds of British tea in Boston Harbor in December 1773. The Boston Tea Party, as the act would become known, was one of the key events that pushed the colonies and the British government toward war.
Prominent Leaders Included Samuel Adams, John Hancock
The Sons’ most prominent leader was Samuel Adams , the son of a wealthy brewer who was more interested in radical rabble-rousing than commerce. Adams wrote his masters thesis at Harvard on the lawfulness of resisting British rule. While George Washington eventually led the war effort against the British, “the truth is that there might not have been a fight to begin with had it not been for the work of Sam Adams,” writes historian Les Standiford .
Another key member was John Hancock , who later was immortalized by his flamboyant signature on the Declaration of Independence . James Otis , Paul Revere , Benedict Arnold , and Dr. Benjamin Rush , among others, were also involved in the group.
Adams and Hancock in particular were so loathed and feared by the British that when General Thomas Gage offered amnesty to Bostonians who stopped their resistance in 1775, he made a point of excluding the two men, “whose offences are of too flagitious a nature” not to be punished severely.
It’s not hard to understand why Gage took a hard line against them. After forming in the summer of 1765, the Boston Sons chapter marched through the streets and burned stamp officer Oliver’s effigy, and then broke into and looted his house. When Massachusetts Lt. Gov. and Chief Justice Thomas Hutchinson , a loyalist, declined to renounce the Stamp Act, they similarly looted and destroyed his house as well.
The Sons didn’t stop there. After Parliament passed the Townshend Acts in 1767, which imposed import duties on goods such as china and glass, Adams organized a boycott to keep British goods out of Massachusetts altogether. According to Adams biographer Dennis Fradin , the Sons enforced the boycott by sending boys to smash the windows and smear excrement on the walls of local shops that didn’t comply. If that didn’t work, the proprietor faced the risk of being kidnapped and tarred and feathered, a painful, humiliating torture that could leave lasting scars.
“Violence was not necessarily accepted as a regular feature of politics, but there was an understanding that it might be part of politics as a last resort,” explains Benjamin L. Carp a historian at Brooklyn College and author of the 2010 book Defiance of the Patriots: The Boston Tea Party and the Making of America .
During this time, the Sons’ core views evolved, Carp says. They rejected the British notion that they had fought the French and Indian War on behalf of the colonists, and that as a result, the Americans were obligated to pay for continued upkeep of British soldiers in North America. But beyond that, they also rejected the authority of the British Parliament to make laws for Americans. Most of all, they argued the British government could not compel Americans to pay taxes.
Their overarching goals similarly shifted over time. “At the outset, most Sons of Liberty only wanted something limited—for Parliament to repeal the Stamp Act,” Carp explains. “But over time, more and more Sons of Liberty became convinced that independence was the answer.”
The Boston Tea Party
Parliament’s passage in December 1773 of the Tea Act , which propped up the financially struggling British East India Company by giving it a virtual monopoly on selling tea to the colonies, pushed the Sons to become even more brazen. The law threatened the livelihood of the American merchants who had been importing tea from Dutch traders. The Sons couldn’t let that stand.
“I don’t think the Bostonians set out to destroy property. I think they felt it was a last resort,” Carp says. “Their first preference would have been to send the tea back. But when the merchants (consignees) were unwilling, the ship captains were unwilling—it would have ruined them—and the governor was unwilling to bend the rules for them, they felt they had no choice.”
“If they’d allowed the tea to land, they knew that customers wouldn’t be able to resist it—so they would have paid the tax on it AND let a monopoly company, the East India Company, muscle into the local market,” Carp says.
The Bostonians also knew that if they let the tea be unloaded, they’d lose standing in the eyes of other Sons of Liberty groups in New York, Philadelphia and other places, he notes.
The Sons’ defiance of the British not only helped spur the Revolutionary War , it also fostered an American tradition of grassroots activism that various activist groups have applied over the centuries to push for change.
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World History Edu
- U.S. History
Sons of Liberty: History, Members, Facts & Accomplishments
by World History Edu · July 24, 2021
About a decade before “The shot that was heard round the world” (the first military engagements of the American Revolution at the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775), a movement known as the Sons of Liberty had been set up to protect the rights of colonists against the British government’s oppressive tax regime, particularly the Stamp Act of 1765.
With membership stretching across the 13 diminutive American colonies, the Sons of Liberty was a real clandestine political organization that proved to be a thorn in the flesh of the British Parliament and Crown.
In the article below World History Edu explores the history, activities and accomplishments of the Sons of Liberty, a pre-American Revolutionary War underground organization.
Who were the Sons of Liberty?
It was an active and vibrant political organization made up of American colonists from all walks of life who protested what they saw as infringement of the rights and freedom of American colonies by the British government.
The Sons of Liberty did not have proper organized structure. However, they made up for that with a lot of clandestine political moves to thwart the Stamp Act of 1765 . Members of the group called on everyone in the 13 American Colonies to rise up and defend their rights, which they believed were being trampled upon by the British Parliament and Crown.
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British taxation policies in the American colonies
In a bid to recoup some amount of the money that was spent defending the colonies from the French during the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763) , the British government resorted to imposing taxes on the American colonists. One particular tax that caused a huge uproar was the Stamp Act of 1765, which taxed things such as pamphlets, almanacs, dice, legal papers, newspapers and among others.
The Stamp Act of 1765 was the most loathed tax of the series of taxes imposed on the American colonies by the British Parliament.
Meaning of the Sons of Liberty
The name Sons of Liberty was derived from a February 1765 given by British Member of Parliament Isaac Barré. In Barré’s speech he described the American colonists that protested against the British government’s taxes-without-representation policy as the “sons of liberty”. Over time the name came to be used for people who resisted British Crown taxation and coercive laws that prevented some colonies from handling their affairs.
Great Britain’s economic woes of the mid-1760s
Following the end of the Seven Years’ War in 1763, Great Britain struggled to balance its books as it had spent a fortune defending its American colonies from the French and her Native American allies. London also had a bit of headache as it pondered how it was going to maintain the over 10,000 soldiers stationed in the colonies. As a result, the British Parliament decided that American colonists bear some of the cost for maintaining those troops. To accomplish this, Great Britain imposed a series of direct taxes on the commercial activities in the 13 diminutive colonies.
One of the first slightly incendiary taxes was the Sugar Act of 1764 which aside from raising revenue for the British government military expenses was designed to reduce sugar and molasses smuggling.
As if tensions weren’t already high enough, the British government followed the Sugar Act with the Stamp Act of 1765. The Stamp Act, a direct tax on all printed materials and stamped paper, infuriated the colonies. This resulted in many of the colonies refusing to comply with those taxes, arguing that their consent was not sought before the decision to roll out the Stamp Act.
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Origins of the Sons of Liberty
The 13 horizontal red and white stripes of the Sons of Liberty was also used by American merchant ships during the American Revolutionary war
It is unclear when and where exactly the Sons of Liberty came to being. However, a good number of historians have claimed that the core of the group goes all the way back to the Loyal Nine in Boston, Massachusetts.
With slogans like “No Taxation without Representation”, the Loyal Nine were a group of middle-class American patriots who became vocal in the political arena in the mid-1760s.
The Loyal Nine was a clandestine Boston political organization that had the likes of Boston shoemaker Ebenezer Mackintosh (1737-1816), beer brewer and businessman Thomas Chase, Boston Gazette printer Benjamin Edes, and jeweler Henry Bass (cousin of Samuel Adams). The wealthy members of the Loyal Nine used Mackintosh to get the crowds riled up in order to protest against the Stamp Act.
Samuel Adams is usually acclaimed as the founder of the Sons of Liberty
It’s been stated that this precursor organization to the Sons of Liberty began meeting at a place near the Boston Gazette office.
The nine original members of the Loyal Nine were Thomas Chase, Steven Cleverly, Henry Bass, Thomas Crafts, Joseph Filed, John Avery, John Smith, Benjamin Edes, and George Trott.
On some occasions, American Patriots like John Adams (later 2nd President of the United States), Benjamin Church, Samuel Adams , James Otis, Paul Revere , Joseph Warren, Thomas Young, and John Hancock participated in their meetings.
The Liberty Tree – the rallying point of the Sons of Liberty
Liberty Tree – The Colonists Under Liberty Tree, Cassell’s Illustrated History of England, 1865.
The Loyal Nine and later the Sons of Liberty had their first protest in August 1765 under a large elm tree in Hanover Square. The tree came to be known as the Liberty Tree. In addition to hosting many protests, the Liberty Tree was a place where speeches (mainly inspired by colonial tea merchants) were made to get more Bostonians to join the cause of defending the rights of American colonists. It was also place where the protesters against the Stamp Act hanged effigies of Stamp officials and other British government officials.
Operations and activities
Led by Samuel Adams, the Sons of Liberty were at the forefront in opposing the Stamp Act of 1765. They deployed both violent and nonviolent tactics, the latter coming after legislative resolutions and public demonstrations fell on deaf ears.
The Boston chapter of the Sons of Liberty was established around the summer of 1765. And soon, the group’s tentacles had spread to other colonies. The leaders of the of Sons of Liberty worked extremely hard to coordinate their activities, hoping to provide a more united front against Britain’s unsavory tax policies. For example, the chapters in New York and Connecticut began coordinating their activities in the winter of 1765.
The Sons of Liberty was therefore formed in the summer of 1765 to protest against the Stamp Act of 1765. In less than half a year into its formation, the Sons of Liberty had spread to virtually all the 13 American colonies. | Image: Proof sheet of one-penny stamps submitted for approval to Commissioners of Stamps by engraver, May 10, 1765
Tarring and feathering
Being one of the most-hard hit areas in terms of the Stamp Act, Boston’s Sons of Liberty were perhaps the most active. Often times Bostonians resorted to tar and feathering of British government officials and tax collectors. In the streets of Boston, it was not uncommon for the Sons of Liberty to burn the effigies of stamp distributors after they had tarred and feathered them. Aside from the obvious humiliation, many of those violent acts were done to intimidate the stamp officials into resigning.
The Sons of Liberty did not limit tar and feathering to government officials; they also targeted loyalists to the British Crown. This included established businessmen and traders who benefited the most from maintaining the status quo.
The Liberty Tree hosted many of the protests organized by the Sons of Liberty | Image: The Sons of Liberty tarring and feathering John Malcolm under the Liberty Tree
The raid on Lieutenant Governor Thomas Hutchinson’s house
Another very defining moment in the history of the Sons of Liberty came when they burned down the residence of Lieutenant Governor Thomas Hutchinson. The raid, which occurred on August 26, 1756, was used by some radical leaders of the Sons of Liberty leader to get the lower classes Bostonians to back them.
Boston Tea Party of 1773
Boston Tea Party took place on December 16, 1773 | Source: W.D. Cooper. Boston Tea Party in The History of North America. London: E. Newberry, 1789. Engraving. Plate opposite p. 58. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress
Compared to the protests against the Stamp Act in 1765, the Tea Act of May 10, 1773 was met with an even greater response from the Sons of Liberty. By 1773, the organization had gotten a lot more effective; they were therefore able to mobilize themselves properly and oppose the Tea Act. The colonists again trumpeted their motto: “no taxation without representation”.
Under the leadership of Paul Revere, a group of about 100 to 120 men disguised themselves as American Indians (mainly Mohawk Indians) and went aboard three vessels which carried tea. The men , who came from all walks of life, then dumped all the tea into the Boston Harbor. In all, about 342 chests of tea (that belonged to the British East India Company) were purposely destroyed. To put into perspective, the cargo that was destroyed on that day weighed about 92,000 pounds. The value of the tea in today’s money is around $1.6 million.
Did you know : It was not until half a century later that the 1773 destruction of tea at the Boston harbor became known as the Boston Tea Party?
The British government’s response to the Destruction of Tea in 1773
The news of Bostonians destroying tea sent shock waves throughout Britain. Therefore, the British government tasked the Royal Governor of Massachusetts Thomas Hutchinson to quickly crack the whip on the protesters. Governor Hutchinson’s successor, General Thomas Gage, was given broad powers after the colonial charter of Massachusetts got rewritten. Britain also responded by introducing the Intolerable Acts in 1774 to punish Boston for the tea destroyed. The British authorities also closed the Boston port.
With every passing day, the Massachusetts colony became overwhelmed by intensified stringent policies (i.e. the Coercive Acts) introduced by London. More British troops (under the command of General Thomas Gage) were dispatched to Boston to prevent the situation from escalating. All of those measures were aimed at not only teaching Bostonians a lesson but also restoring the British Crown’s authority in Boston.
Governor Thomas Hutchinson was the British official tasked to rein in on the agitations of Bostonians following the Boston Tea Party on December 16, 1773 | Portrait by Edward Truman, 1741
How did the Sons of Liberty and other colonists respond to the Intolerable Acts?
In response to Britain’s increased grip on the North American colonies, the Sons of Liberties and other political active groups called supported the establishment of a continental congress. The First Continental Congress met in the autumn of 1774 and threw their weight behind the decision to boycott British goods. Britain obviously did not take too kindly to those moves by the American colonies.
Colonists outside Boston united in solidarity with Boston, with many leading Sons of Liberty members calling for the boycott of not just British goods but businesses. The rebellious actions of the Sons of Liberty on that faithful day, December 16, 1773, escalated into the American Revolutionary War two years later.
Sons of Liberty: Fast Facts
Leading members of the Sons of Liberty | Image: (L-R): 1st row: Samuel Adams, Benedict Arnold, John Hancock, Patrick Henry, James Otis, Jr. 2nd row: Paul Revere, James Swan, Alexander McDougall, Benjamin Rush, Charles Thomson
Notable members : Samuel Adams, Benjamin Church, Isaac Sears, Hercules Mulligan, Benedict Arnold, Samuel Chase, Patrick Henry, Charles Thomson, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Edes, John Hancock, James Otis, Paul Revere, Joseph Warren,
Founded in : 1765
Dissolved : 1776
Inspired by : the Stamp Act of 1765
Presence : Massachusetts Bay, Virginia, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island
Catchphrase : “No taxation without representation”
Ideals : Liberalism, Republicanism
Greatest Accomplishments: Prevented the implementation of the Stamp Act of 1765 ; Played active role in the political arena in the years leading to American Revolutionary War
Tags: Boston-Massachusetts Samuel Adams Stamp Act 1765 The Sons of Liberty Thomas Hutchinson
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Sons of Liberty. Date: 1765 - c. 1783. Key People: Isaac Sears. Sons of Liberty, organization formed in the American colonies in the summer of 1765 to oppose the Stamp Act. The Sons of Liberty took their name from a speech given in the British Parliament by Isaac Barré (February 1765), in which he referred to the colonials who had opposed ...
Sons of Liberty Summary. The Sons of Liberty — also known as the Liberty Boys — was a radical group of American colonists in Colonial America that often met in secret in order to plan public protests against the policies of the British government. The first group was formed in Boston in 1765 and quickly spread throughout the colonies.
A 1765 handbill, announcing an upcoming "Sons of Liberty" public event.. The Sons of Liberty was a loosely organized, clandestine, sometimes violent, political organization active in the Thirteen American Colonies founded to advance the rights of the colonists and to fight taxation by the British government. It played a major role in most colonies in battling the Stamp Act in 1765 [1] and ...
In folklore, the Sons of Liberty were organised, coordinated colonial groups that took radical action against unpopular British policies from 1765 onwards. The reality is that 'Sons of Liberty' was an umbrella term that described a range of individuals and groups who opposed British policy and actions. This included groups like the Boston ...
The Sons of Liberty were a grassroots group of instigators and provocateurs in colonial America who used an extreme form of civil disobedience—threats, and in some cases actual violence—to ...
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.
Sons of Liberty: Rebels or Revolutionaries? Background: During the 1750's and 1760's, South Carolina and the other American colonies became involved in the military and economic rivalry between the French and the English. This rivalry led to a series of wars. The war changed the relationship of the colonies with the mother
The Boston chapter of the Sons of Liberty was established around the summer of 1765. And soon, the group's tentacles had spread to other colonies. The leaders of the of Sons of Liberty worked extremely hard to coordinate their activities, hoping to provide a more united front against Britain's unsavory tax policies.
John Hancock (January 23, 1737 - October 8, 1793) Most famous for his bold signature on the Declaration of Independence, John Hancock was a statesman, Second President of the Continental Congress, and Authoritative voice of the Revolution.A merchant whose business was greatly affected by the Intolerable Acts, Hancock joined forces with the Sons of Liberty to actively oppose British influence ...
Sons of Liberty DBQ: Sources and Essay Organizer Note: It is important to allow students to form their own opinions as long as primary sources support their argument. Shmoop.com offers a step-by-step method of creating an argumentative essay, teachers are suggested to use this site to avert the stress of writing.
SONS OF LIBERTY. Disregarding American protests that the colonists could not be taxed because they were not represented in Parliament, in March 1765 the British government enacted a stamp tax to take effect in the American colonies on November 1, 1765. Speaking against the proposed Stamp Act in the House of Commons, Isaac Barré had described the Americans as "Sons of Liberty" who would stead ...
The purpose of this assignment is to have students analyze primary sources to formulate a hypothesis/point of view about the Sons of Liberty; the final product will be an essay where students will use selected documents within the DBQ as evidence to support their stance. Standards | Vocabulary | Context | Questions - Doc #1, #2, #3, #4
This was a time-honored liberty of representative legislatures of the colonial governments. The passage of the Stamp Act meant that starting on November 1, 1765, the colonists would contribute £60,000 per year—17 percent of the total cost—to the upkeep of the ten thousand British soldiers in North America (Figure 5.2.2).
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 ...
A 1765 handbill, announcing an upcoming "Sons of Liberty" public event.. In popular thought, the Sons of Liberty was a formal underground organization with recognized members and leaders. More likely, the name was an underground term for any men resisting new Crown taxes and laws. [3] The well-known label allowed organizers to make or create anonymous summons to a Liberty Tree, "Liberty Pole ...
The Sons of Liberty was a secret underground society created due to the social and political fallout of the French and Indian War. The war, which took place throughout the world, was just one part of a larger conflict called the Seven Years War, a war that many historians consider to be "The First World War.". The French and Indian War ...
A constant battle was waged in New York City over Liberty Poles. The Sons of the Liberty would put them up and British soldiers would tear them down. As a result, the Liberty Pole became a symbol of the colonists' freedom. The British sometimes referred to them as the "Sons of Violence" in hopes of giving them a bad reputation.
The Sons of Liberty were groups of American colonists who disagreed with British rule of the 13 North American colonies . Among the members were many well-known patriots, such as Samuel Adams , John Hancock , and Paul Revere . Their activities helped lead the colonies into the American Revolution .
The Sons of Liberty formed in the summer of 1765 to oppose the Stamp Act. The British Parliament passed the Stamp Act to raise money by making the colonists pay a tax on all business and legal papers, newspapers, pamphlets, and playing cards. The first Sons of Liberty groups started in Boston, but soon others appeared throughout the colonies.
Essay On Sons Of Liberty. The Sons of Liberty are shrouded in secrecy and mystery, but they played a vital part in the pursuit of American Independence. The Sons of Liberty were established in Boston and New York through the guidance of Samuel Adams. The Sons of Liberty would meet under the cover of darkness to avoid detection from the British ...
358 Words2 Pages. The Sons of Liberty was a secret organization that began its rage in 1765. This vicious group committed cruel and brutal acts. They were set against the idea of the stamp act. Many believed that the sons of liberty were heroes, but truly they were an organization of fanatics.The name " Sons of Liberty" was taken from Isaac ...
527 Words. 3 Pages. Open Document. The Sons of Liberty was an organization that was created in the Thirteen American Colonies.The secret group was formed to protect the rights of the colonists and to fight taxation by the British government.By the end of the year the Sons of Liberty existed to every colony.The Sons of Liberty formed out of a ...
The Stamp Act of 1765 was passed to ease the debt on Britain due to the Sevens' Year War. The tax was a tax on all newspapers and documents. The tax did not sit well with the colonies. There was opposition to the tax right from the start. The Sons of Liberty were defiant and started their protests right away.