The Sons of Liberty

            The Sons and Daughters of Liberty used boycotts, agitation, propaganda, and violence or near-violence to keep the Revolutionary movement alive. They wanted to set an example for the people and give the British a warning saying they weren't going to put up with their taxes and acts. The Sons of Liberty were created at first to protest the Stamp Act. In a way, it gave American colonists a "voice and vital chance to actively participate in the independence movement." One example of their protests was on August 14, 1765. An effigy of Andrew Oliver, a man who was to be a distributor of stamps, was found hanging on a tree. No one would take it down for fear of their lives, and then later the effigy was beheaded, stoned, and burned. The mob also severely vandalized Oliver's property. Another incident happened on January 9, 1766, in which ten boxes of parchment and stamped paper were confiscated, unpacked, and burned by the leaders. In April, 1765, when Royal Governor, Cadwallder Colden, received a box of stamped paper, he locked himself up while an angry mob burned his coach, and then later broke the windows of a house and stole the wine. Not all acts were as violent though. Their most effective work was performed in newsprint. Newspapers would report on the activities of the Sons, and this propaganda emboldened the colonists. After the Stamp Act, printers, lawyers, laborers, and small shopkeepers simply ignored paying the tax and carried on business as usual. The groups' main goal in the Stamp Act was to try and get every stamp distributor to resign. Tarring and feathering of Loyalists, royal tax collectors, and other officials was another common practice of the "Sons." The Sons were also responsible for things like the Boston Tea Party in which they dumped over 300 crates of tea in the ocean against the tea tax.