Sons of Liberty
Sons of Liberty
SONS OF LIBERTY. When colonists came together in 1765 to protest and nullify the Stamp Act, they called their organization the Sons of Liberty. They took their name from Isaac Barré's speech of 6 February 1765 in the House of Commons opposing that act. Barré had closed his remarks with a reference to the colonists as "the sons of liberty."
In the name of liberty, the Sons were responsible for many acts of mob violence aimed at intimidating those who wished to remain loyal to the king, including the application of hot tar and feathers to the bodies of those whose conception of liberty did not suit their own. A mob inspired by, although not operating under the direction of, the Boston Sons of Liberty on 26 August 1765 burned the records of the local vice admiralty court, ransacked the homes of the comptroller of the currency, and looted the home and library of Governor Thomas Hutchinson. The effectiveness of this sort of intimidation, even when threats were not accompanied by violence, is shown by the fact that all stamp agents in the colonies had resigned before the Stamp Act was supposed to become law (1 November 1765).
SEE ALSO Tar and Feathers.
revised by Harold E. Selesky