Liberty!- Trees, Poles, and Sons

 Hello history friends!

First off, I have a couple clarifications to make after the last episode.

1. I pronounced Townshend wrong. I knew in my head that it was really pronounced Town-send, but I struggle when things are spelled differently than they sound. The struggle is real, especially living so close to Versailles and having to disregard the beautiful, flowy French pronunciation. 

2. I answered my own question. I had wondered why it was called the 7 Years war when it lasted for 9 years. It's because the French and Indian War raged for two years on this continent before starting up on that side of the ocean. Now you know! 

Alright, today we're going to talk about all the Liberty Titled things- We'll talk about the Sons of Liberty, Liberty Trees, and Liberty Poles (It will be a fantastic segue to the next episode!!)

If you live here in the US, you have definitely heard the term Sons of Liberty. When I knew I was going to be researching these fellas, I was SO excited to discover that the History Channel made a mini series a bout them. They hired some beautiful men to play the roles of Sam Adams, Paul Revere, and a not quite as handsome guy playing Hancock, but whatever. Even the guy who played John Adams, who at one point in life was referred to by "His Rotundness" by his enemies- was played by a very fine looking fella. But alas, it only took half an episode to realize that this was not the way things really were. I hopped online to research the validity of the stories and found that I was correct. One source even called this show an "alternate reality" because the facts were just not there. I tried to finish watching because cinematically, I was a fan. But I just couldn't continue without confusing my brain. Maybe I'll give it a shot when I'm done with my project.

Anyway, with that "resource" (yes that was in air quotes) not panning out, I had to  do some more digging. One thing that turned up is a modern day Sons of Liberty organization. They have a manifesto, a creed, and all kinds of legit looking stuff. I didn't join, obvi, but still found it fascinating!

Finally, I found the information I was looking for. Who were these guys? What were their individual names? Well- we'll never know ALL of them, because they were a secret society. Eventually, they were in all 13 colonies, but they just started with 9 guys. Once the Stamp Act was passed, they started to form a little more officially. There were several WELL known (to us) patriots in the Sons of Liberty- Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Paul Revere, Benedict Arnold, Patrick Henry, and Hercules Mulligan. (If any of my family had been in the room when I recorded this, you'd have heard them exclaim "HERCULES MULLIGAN" as close to Hamilton style as possible. We are ALL obsessed.We'll discuss that obsession when Mr. Hamilton enters the picture in a few years. Remember we're still in 1765/67. 

There were some lesser known members that I can't wait to learn more about- Benjamin Rush (I'm currently reading a book about him, so we'll probably have an episode about him), Joseph Warren, Alexander McDougall, James Otis, Isaac Sears, and Oliver Walcott. Seriously, I love these guys so much and I've barely scratched the surface. I hope ya'll are cool with lots of little mini-spotlights, because they will be happening. I just need to kind of figure out WHEN to put them because I like to do a full overview, but I also like to stay in chronological order, so I'll have to figure that out. That's a future Me problem.

Anywho- they got their pretty cool name, Sons of Liberty (in case you forgot) because there was an Irish guy named Isaac Barre- he was a fan of the Americans- who gave a speech to parliament. In the speech, he was pretty much warning the Crown that their actions “has caused the blood of these sons of liberty to recoil within them.” Pretty cool, eh?

So the purpose of this clandestine organization was to SHOW England that the Stamp Act (and later acts) were not gonna fly in these colonies. Letters had been written, protests had been presented, representation had been requested- (alliteration had been achieved)- and nothing had been changed. The Mother Country had just turned up her nose and said, "Too bad, so sad!" The blood had for sure recoiled within these guys.

While a good chunk of the colonists agreed with things needing to change, I want to make sure y'all knew that not everyone was ok with the approach the Sons of Liberty took. John Adams (second cousin to Samuel), John Jay,  and Alexander Hamilton (though he's not in the country yet) were all very against mob violence and were very concerned about methods being used.

I will say, some of the things they did make me cringe when I think about on an individual level, though I'm grateful that they were able to stand up for their beliefs. They participated in tar and feathering, looting and burning homes and businesses, and doing things to "effigies" which are like- stuffed dolls made to look like a specific person. I'll tell you about one of these effigies as I introduce you to the Liberty Tree.

We have to rewind a second to the Stamp Act. I know, I know, we've already gone past that, but I wanted to be able to talk about these boys all at once and this is where the episode needed to happen. So, remember how the act was supposed to work? All the papers and stuff had to be literally stamped? Well, a person had to be hired to do that (and do the actual collecting of the tax). *A British someone. In Boston, the guy for the job was named Andrew Oliver.

Well, when Bostonians woke up on Aug 14, 1765, if they looked toward the pretty elm tree that was in a prominent place, they saw what looked like someone hanging. It wasn't a real someone, it was an effigy, but marked with A.O. so everyone would know it was supposed to be Mr. Oliver. There was a boot, too, in reference to the guy who they thought responsible for the Act. Anyway, just hanging this effigy was not enough for the Sons of Liberty. They actually performed what was called "Political theater." They pretended to stamp everyone's stuff, the sherfif attempted to cut down the effigy (he wasn't allowed to, of course), and then they DID cut it down and put it in a coffin. Then they proceeded to have a parade with the coffin, making sure to go down Andrew Oliver's street. They stopped in front of his house, decapitated the effigy, threw rocks through the windows, and burned the effigy. Mr Oliver slipped out of the house before the mobs came down and ransacked the place. Oh yeah, he resigned the next day. The Sons of Liberty attached a sign to the tree that named it officially "The Liberty Tree."

It wasn't just used for acts of violence (real or theater), though. It was also a celebration tree. Like when the Stamp Act was repealed! It was decorated and all that jazz. We will discuss this particular tree again later when we talk about how Thanos must have been inspired by Thomas Jefferson, but that's another day.

You can't just BUILD a tree, right? So in other places, like New York, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire- they built Liberty Poles instead. The idea was the same- a nod to the Liberty Tree.

Now, I have to super rewind for a minute. The educated and enlightened men of the time seemed to have a specific love for Ancient Rome. After the whole Julius Caesar debacle, the guys who participated in the stabbing, held their swords up, topped with a specific kind of red cap, and paraded through town. I guess this cap was given to slaves when they had been freed, so the jist of the idea was that the Romans were now free from Caesar's tyranny. Can you see where they saw that parallel? 

The liberty poles, representing the liberty tree, and I suppose the swords of the Romans, were erected in various colonies. The one in New York was put up as a celebration for the Stamp Act being repealed. But it's use was so much more. For one, if the Sons of Liberty were going to hold a meeting, they'd fly a red flag on top of the pole. Speaking of flags, the S.O.L. had their own flag even! But that's not what we're going for. The pole was also used to post broadsides, which were like the flyers at the local grocery store bulletin board. In New York, at least, these broadsides would go back and forth between the Patriots and the soldiers.. Heck, teh soldiers kept cutting down the poles, but the Americans kept rebuilding. I don't want to go into more detail yet, because it's all going to go down on my next episode!

Now I want to know- were any of YOUR ancestors part of the Sons of Liberty? If so, I'd LOVE to hear their stories. Please tell us about them in the comments!!

*This fact if fixed in the next episode

A list for me because there were too many to fit on the labels: Sons of Liberty, Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, John Adams, John Hancock, Stamp Act, Benedict Arnold, Patrick Henry, Hercules Mulligan, Benjamin Rush, Joseph Warren, Alexander McDougall, James Otis, Isaac Sears, Oliver Walcott, Isaac Barre, Andrew Oliver