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The Sons of Liberty ( Sons of Liberty in English) was the name of an organization of American patriots that arose in the British colonies in North America. The group was formed to protect the rights of the colonists and to demonstrate against the abuses of the British government. They are especially known for their participation in the Tea Party, which occurred in Boston in 1773. There they opposed the Stamp Act, a campaign of repression by the British government.
Origin and history
In the mid-18th century, in what is now the United States, secret organizations began to emerge to defend their rights. Some of these were the Boston Caucus Club and the Loyal Nine . Later, these groups were unified under the name of the Sons of Liberty. This name comes from a speech given by Colonel Isaac Barré in the British Parliament, in which he referred to the colonists in this way.
Los Hijos de la Libertad was a clandestine organization, whose popularity allowed its leaders to coordinate different events to protest and defend their rights. In addition, it became a symbol to promote cooperation between the colonies, to fight against the actions of Parliament and the Crown. For this reason, its motto became ” no taxation without representation “, which in Spanish means “no to taxes without representation”.
In 1766, the Sons of Liberty signed their constitution, showing that they had no intention of starting a revolution. While the group’s action fanned the flames of the revolution, the Sons of Liberty were only demanding that the British government treat the colonists fairly.
Members of the group Sons of Liberty
Today much of the history of the Sons of Liberty remains clouded by the very secrecy into which it was born; however, some of the more notable members of the group are believed to have been:
- Benjamin Edes, editor of the Boston Gazette magazine.
- Henry Bass, merchant.
- John Avery Jr, distiller.
- Thomas Chase, distiller.
- Thomas Crafts, painter.
- Stephen Cleverly, goldsmith.
- John Smith, brass craftsman.
- Joseph Field, sea captain.
- George Trott, jeweler.
- Henry Welles, sailor.
- Joseph Field, sea captain.
- Paul Revere, goldsmith.
Most of the organization’s leaders were middle-class: artisans, lawyers, merchants, and politicians. In addition to the aforementioned members, Samuel Adams and his cousin John Adams, who would later be the second President of the United States, were also essential. None of them was a member of the group but it is believed that they collaborated indirectly.
To defend the cause, the Sons of Liberty were clear that they had to obtain the support of the lower classes. Several of its members worked in printers, so through articles they conveyed their ideas and details about their meetings and demonstrations.
The Sons of Liberty also met to determine which candidates to support. The British authorities used this practice to smear the organization, calling them “Sons of Violence” or “Sons of Injustice”.
In addition, the group also had an internal communication network between the different colonies, which allowed them to take more effective measures in their fight. An example of this union was the protest of the Townshend Act published in 1768, when the colonists organized a boycott of the products of Great Britain.
The Seal Law
The Stamp Act, also known as the Stamp Act , was an Act of the British Parliament. It was sanctioned in 1765 and confirmed the application of a direct and specific tax for the thirteen British colonies in America. The legislation required that most material printed in the colonies be published on stamped paper that was produced in London, and had a revenue stamp.
Printed materials were legal documents, magazines, newspapers, and many other types of printing that were used throughout the colonies. Like previous taxes, the stamp duty had to be paid in British currency, not colonial paper money. The purpose of the tax was to help pay for troops sent to North America after the British victory in the Seven Years’ War, as well as control the growing freedom of the press in the colonies. The British government considered that the colonies were the main beneficiaries of this military presence, so they had to pay at least a part of the expenses.
Stamp Act protests
This act triggered an increasingly strong opposition in all the colonies. The public responded with protests and occasional acts of vandalism. What at first had been verbal opposition to the law quickly turned into violence. In Boston, on the morning of August 14, 1765, some rioters believed to be members of the Sons of Liberty attacked the home of local British stamp dealer Andrew Oliver.
Protesters placed Oliver’s image on the “Liberty Tree” and later that day dragged Oliver’s effigy through the streets, further destroying the new building he had built to use as a post office. When Oliver refused to resign, protesters beheaded his effigy in front of his house before smashing all the windows, destroying the garage and stealing the wine from the cellar.
Having clearly received the message, Oliver resigned the next day. However, Oliver’s resignation was not the end of the revolt. On August 26, another group of protesters looted and virtually destroyed the stately home of Lieutenant Governor Thomas Hutchinson, Oliver’s brother-in-law, who also lived in Boston.
Protests continued throughout the colonies and forced more British civil servants to resign. In colonial seaports, incoming ships loaded with British stamps and paper were forced to return to London.
Opposition to the Stamp Act was not limited to the colonies. Many British merchants and manufacturers, whose exports to the colonies were threatened by the economic problems caused by the tax, also lobbied the British Parliament.
By March 1765, the Sons of Liberty already had established factions in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. In November of that same year a committee was formed in New York to organize the secret correspondence between the different groups of Sons of Liberty.
Repeal of the Stamp Law
Between October 7 and 25, 1765, elected delegates from nine colonies convened the Stamp Act Congress in New York. Their purpose was to devise a unified protest against this law. To do this, the delegates drafted a “Bill of Rights and Grievances” where they stated their belief that only locally elected colonial governments, rather than the British Crown, had the legal authority to tax the colonists.
Over the next few months, boycotts of British imports by colonial merchants encouraged merchants from Great Britain to petition Parliament to repeal the Stamp Act. Women took an entrepreneurial role during the boycotts as they began to spin cloth to replace British textile products. Because of their work, they were called the Daughters of Liberty.
Finally, in March 1766, after an impassioned appeal by Benjamin Franklin to the British House, Parliament voted to repeal the Stamp Act, nearly a year after it was enacted.
The legacy of the children of freedom
In May 1766, after learning of the repeal of the Stamp Act, members of the Sons of Liberty gathered under the branches of the same “Liberty Tree” on which Andrew Oliver’s effigy had been hung to celebrate his victory.
Years later, after the end of the American Revolution in 1783, Isaac Sears, Marinus Willet, and John Lamb revived the Sons of Liberty at a March 1784 rally in New York. There the group called for the expulsion of the remaining British royalists in the state.
In an election held in December 1784, members of the new Sons of Liberty won enough votes in the New York legislature to pass a set of laws designed to punish those who swore allegiance to the British.
These laws required the confiscation of all realist property; however, they were in violation of the Treaty of Paris that ended the American Revolution. Referring to said treaty, Alexander Hamilton successfully defended the royalists, favoring peace and cooperation between the United States and Great Britain.
Bibliography
- De la Guardia Herrero, C. History of the United States. (2013). kindle edition.
- Jenkins, P. A Brief History of the United States. (2009). Spain. Alliance.
