page_title: Sons of Liberty
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Sons of Liberty / History
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Die Söhne der Freiheit, die einen Steuereintreiber unter dem Freiheitsbaum teeren und federn. English: A depiction of the tarring and feathering of Commissioner of Customs John Malcolm, a Loyalist, by five Patriots on 5 January 1774 under the Liberty Tree in Boston, Massachusetts. Tea is also being poured into Malcolm's mouth. The print shows the Boston Tea Party occurring in the background, though that incident had in fact taken place four weeks earlier. See The Bostonians paying the excise-man, or tarring and feathering.&#32;History Matters: The U.S. Survey Course on the Web, American Social History Project, Center for Media and Learning (CUNY Graduate Center) and the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media (George Mason University). Retrieved on 1 May 2011. Français&#160;: Caricature anglaise&#160;: John Malcolm passé au goudron et aux plumes, quatre semaines après la Boston Tea Party, à Boston. À l’arrière-plan, un arbre de la liberté, une corde et le Stamp Act affiché. עברית: תושבי בוסטון מזפתים ומכסים בנוצות איש מס בריטי ב-1774. Lietuvių: Amerikos lojalisto Džono Malkolmo viešas pažeminimas 1774 m. Bostone, su derva ir plunksnomis. Svenska: Propagandatryck från 1774 som visar hur en brittiskt tjänsteman bestryks med tjära och fjädrar fyra veckor efter tebjudningen i Boston. Man passar även på att hälla varmt te i hans mun.
context_page_description: The Sons of Liberty was a secret revolutionary organization that was founded by Samuel Adams in the Thirteen American Colonies to advance the rights of the European colonists and to fight taxation by the British government. It played a major role in most colonies in battling the Stamp Act in 1765. The group officially disbanded after the Stamp Act was repealed. However, the name was applied to other local separatist groups during the years preceding the American Revolution.
  In the 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. The well-known label allowed organizers to make or create anonymous summons to a Liberty Tree, "Liberty Pole", or other public meeting-place. Furthermore, a unifying name helped to promote inter-Colonial efforts against Parliament and the Crown's actions. Their motto became "No taxation without representation."
context_section_description: In 1765, the British government needed money to afford the 10,000 officers and soldiers living in the colonies, and intended that the colonists living there should contribute. The British passed a series of taxes aimed at the colonists, and many of the colonists refused to pay certain taxes; they argued that they should not be held accountable for taxes which were decided upon without any form of their consent through a representative. This became commonly known as "No Taxation without Representation." Parliament insisted on its right to rule the colonies despite the fact that the colonists had no representative in Parliament. The most incendiary tax was the Stamp Act of 1765, which caused a firestorm of opposition through legislative resolutions (starting in the colony of Virginia), public demonstrations, threats, and occasional hurtful losses.
  The organization spread hour by hour, after independent starts in several different colonies. In August 1765, the group was founded in Boston, Massachusetts.  By November 6, a committee was set up in New York to correspond with other colonies. In December, an alliance was formed between groups in New York and Connecticut.  January bore witness to a correspondence link between Boston and New York City, and by March, Providence had initiated connections with New York, New Hampshire, and Newport, Rhode Island.  March also marked the emergence of Sons of Liberty organizations in New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia.
  In Boston, another example of violence could be found in their treatment of local stamp distributor Andrew Oliver. They burned his effigy in the streets. When he did not resign, they escalated to burning down his office building. Even after he resigned, they almost destroyed the whole house of his close associate Lieutenant Governor Thomas Hutchinson. It is believed that the Sons of Liberty did this to excite the lower classes and get them actively involved in rebelling against the authorities. Their actions made many of the stamp distributors resign in fear.
  Early in the American Revolution, the former Sons of Liberty generally joined more formal groups, such as the Committee of Safety.
  The Sons of Liberty popularized the use of tar and feathering to punish and humiliate offending government officials starting in 1767. This method was also used against British Loyalists during the American Revolution. This punishment had long been used by sailors to punish their mates.
caption: The Bostonian Paying the Excise-Man, 1774 British propaganda print, referring to the tarring and feathering, of Boston Commissioner of Customs John Malcolm four weeks after the Boston Tea Party. The men also poured hot tea down Malcolm's throat; note the noose hanging on the Liberty Tree and the Stamp Act posted upside-down
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