The Sons of Liberty was a group of men fighting for their independence. They were fighting before the continental congress or the beginning of the Revolutionary War. They were called out as being disobedient. They were believed to be political radicals at the time; doing what they felt was right for their town and their colonies. The Sons of Liberty were everyday men that expanded from New England all the way down the thirteen colonies. However, the high activity political gang started to appear with aggressiveness in Boston, Massachusetts. This paper will demonstrate the origins of the Sons of Liberty in Boston, their manifest, leading actions, and development within their first year.
Taxes had been rising for the colonies for years prior 1765. It was not appreciated but the colonists tolerated it. Those tax acts included the Townshend Act. That is, until the spring of 1765 when British Parliament passed the Stamp Act. The Stamp Act required a tax to be put on all paper goods. This included all ship papers, legal documents, licenses, and newspapers. It was considered a small tax in cost but the reaction of the colonist was nothing but offended. All the things that the colonist used to develop and have their daily lives separate from British government was now being taxed. Although the act was not passed until November of 1765, the colonists already felt victimized by the Stamp Act and the discrimination from Great Britain. These emotions and reactions quickly followed as motivation to do something again the act. The same can be said for how the Sons of Liberty was started.
Boston was the largest harbors during the colonial era. Products going to and from Britain were rotating out of Boston daily. When word reached Boston of the...
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The Stamp Act was passed in 1765, and placed a tax on any papered goods that were going into the colonies from Britain. This included newspapers, pamphlets, and playing cards, just to name a few (Stamp Act).The colonists had been so accustomed to their freedom from the crown at this point, that they were enraged. The relationship between the Mother country and the colonies did not get much better with the instatement of the Townshend Acts of 1767. These acts passed taxes on every day goods that the colonists needed, such as lead, tea, glass and paint(Townshend Acts).
Mob violence was a persuasive feature of the Revolutionary War in every port city, particularly Boston. These mobs, which were often described as motley crews, were central to protests and ultimately played a dominant role in significant events leading up to the American Revolution. Throughout the years, leading up to the American Revolution, many Americans were growing tired of British rule and thus begun to want to break free from Britain and earn their own independence. Some of these Americans, out of anger, madness, and in defense of their rights, began terrorizing towns, sometimes even to the point of paralysis highlighting grievances and concerns that the common man couldn’t say with mere words. These groups would then be absorbed into a greater organization called the Sons of Liberty. With the use of violence and political strategy , these radicals defending their rights, struck terror into anyone opposing them but also carried out communal objectives ultimately pushing for change which was a central theme for the American Revolution. It will be proved that these men through their actions not only were the driving force behind resistance but also proved to be the men who steered America toward revolution.
So the government decided to place taxes in. The Stamp Act was taxes, the Stamp Act it states, “Right and Power to lay Taxes and Impositions upon the inhabitants of this Colony.” It was hard for the merchant to trade because they had to pay taxes to people. In Zinn it said that merchants helped start a protest against the stamp act, “A political group in Boston called the Loyal Nine-merchants, distillers, shipowners, and master craftsmen who opposed the Stamp Act-organized a procession in August 1765 to protest it.” This shows that they didn’t like being tax. In “We are equally Free,” in said “Two years earlier, some merchants had organized boycotts against certain products imported from Great Britain (a strategy known as nonimportation) to resist British taxation measures aimed at the rebellious Americans.” As shown by this tried to protest
The Sons of Liberty did many illegal things before and during the revolution. One of the illegal duties they did was that they smuggled illegal resources. While the British had a tax on tea and the price was high, the Sons of Liberty smuggled in cheaper tea from Africa. With the new, illegal tea they sold it for cheaper and without a tax. Another illegal thing they did was use too much
Henretta, James A and David* Brody. America: A concise History . Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2010. Document.
The British government had to find a way to pay their war debt off, so they turned to the colonies of America. They began to tax the colonies very steeply, because the British government felt as the colonies must play their part in helping pay off the debt. The colonies opposed this idea, believing that because they did not start the war, and did not participate in all of the war that scaled the globe, they should not have to pay steep taxes to pay off the debt. This is where the idea of “No taxation without representation.” ,said by Reverend Jonathan Mayhew, began, because the colonist had no representation in parliament in order to oppose these tax acts. One act the British government passed was the Stamp Act which was passed in 1765, the stamp act used stamps on pieces of paper that came with products in order to show that the colonist had paid their taxes, this act came very sudden and shocked the colonist and they felt very negatively about this act because they felt if infringed on their liberties. The act birthed the Sons of Liberty, widely associated with Samuel Adams, this group began using violence and threats in order to scare tax collectors throughout the colonies. Popular methods of scare tactics include tarring and feathering tax collectors and hanging effigies of tax collectors in trees, as depicted by the Boston Gazette, a popular newspaper at the time, on the August
These organizations were the key developers of political unity and efficient communication among colonies that drastically effected the outcome of the Revolutionary War. Shortly after, parliament passed the Stamp Act of 1765 which required all colonists to purchase preselected, watermarked paper for all newspapers and legal documents. Due to the fact that it placed an internal tax on the colonies, The Stamp Act of 1765 provoked significant opposition. As violence broke out throughout the colonies, groups such as the Loyal Nine and the Sons of Liberty took control of the resistance and mobilized towards parliament in order to repeal this unlawful act. The end of the Stamp Act crisis was used to severely damage the British economy and force repeal. Very shortly after, tension rises as the Quartering Act in New York of 1766 was passed as parliament threatened to remove the colony's power of self-government if it did not comply with British orders. In 1767, parliament passed the Townshend duties, a series of taxes on imported goods, cleverly designed to raise revenue for the British treasury. Hearing of this political corruption, colonists took to an uprising during which British Army soldiers killed five male civilians and injured six others. After this “Boston Massacre”, colonists became aware of the British governments plan to deny them the right of
The war had been enormously expensive, and the British government’s attempts to impose taxes on colonists to help cover these expenses resulted in chaos. English leaders, were not satisfied with the financial and military help they had received from the colonists during the war. In a desperate attempt to gain control over the colonies as well as the additional revenue to pay off the war debt, Britain began to force taxes on the colonies. Which resulted in The Stamp Act, passed by parliament and signed by the king in March 1765. The Stamp Act created an excise tax on legal documents, custom papers, newspapers, almanacs, college diplomas, playing cards, and even dice. Obviously the colonist resented the Stamp Act and the assumption that parliament could tax them whenever and however they could without their direct representation in parliament. Most colonials believed that taxation without their consent was a violation of their constitutional rights as Englishmen. Which is where the slogan “No Taxation without Representation” comes
The most fundamental reason for the American Revolution was the colonist’s outrage over taxation which led to a tax revolt launched by people who were tired of the burden of paying unfair taxes. The king placed taxes known as Townsend Acts, on the colonist’s tea, paper, paint, lead, glass, and many other items that were used daily and the colonists were against this taxing. The purpose of the Townsend Acts was to help pay the cost of government in America. Lawyer James Otis and other colonist rebels referred to King George as a tyrant. As stated by James Otis in The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved (1763), . . . “The very act of taxing exercised over those who are not represented appears to me to be depriving them of one of their most essential rights as freemen, and if continued seems to be in effect and entire
The Sons of Liberty were a colonial protest group created by a man named Samuel Adams, in Boston, Massachusetts. The group had a motto “No taxation without Representation”. They operated in secrecy and usually under the cover of darkness. The only existed to create a spark of rebellion in the many
“The Sons of Liberty were initially formed in reaction to the Stamp Act, and during its height of activity during 1765- 1776 the group became an embodiment of the revolutionary movement and fed the development of a national identity”(McKee). While many of their resistance weren’t as extreme as the Boston Tea Party, they utilized intimidation, mob violence, and propaganda to attack their targets which were often representatives of the Crown. “In addition to beatings and the use of tar and feathers, the Sons of Liberty were known to intimidate agents of the ministry by leading an angry and excited mob to their doorstep. It was not uncommon for the Sons of Liberty to ‘surround the houses of the royal Customs Commissioners at night, beating drums, blowing horns and uttering bloodcurdling Indian war whoops”(Wood). Of course, history will remember them most for their Boston Tea
Before America had any Founding Fathers, the country needed Sons of Liberty to stand up to the British government. These men protested and helped repeal the Parliament's Stamp Act of 1765, which imposed an internal tax on the colonies. Even though the Stamp Act was repealed, the fighting over "taxation without representation" wouldn't go away, resulting in events like the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party. The reason so many of the events took place in Boston, Massachusetts was because that was where the ‘base’ of the Sons of Liberty was at. It was where they made all important decisions an where the Committee of Correspondence was located. Some of the most famous men in the Sons of Liberty, were the men who made up the Committee of
Furthermore The sons of liberty would recruit thugs. Many people may believe the sons of liberty and the people who rebelled were just regular citizens, but the membership was made up of male from all walks of colonial
The Sons of liberty were one of the major contributors of America’s independence. A small group of young nine men comprised mainly of merchants and artisans on the evening of December 16 1765, met at Chase & Speakman’s distillery to compose a letter to Andrew Oliver demanding that he show up the next day under the liberty tree and publicly resign from office. Andrew Oliver was the Massachusetts stamp officer. The letter promised him that as long as he adhered to the requirements written, they would treat him well and with utmost politeness. This marked the beginning of revolution for America. The men who often called themselves the ‘Sons of liberty’ mobilized many people against the British rule. It is because of their commitment
The Sons of Liberty protested against British taxes and laws before the American Revolution. According to Ducksters.com “The name (Sons of Liberty)comes from a speech made in the British Parliament by Irishman Isaac Barre. He referred to the American colonists as