In last week's column, I wrote about the Sons of Liberty, a brave group of patriots who were responsible for leading the 13 original colonies toward the path of independence from England. However, because of space constraints there was one portion of that story I did not cover or even mention. So this week I am doing a rundown of one of the first icons of this country's struggle for independence: the Liberty Tree.
The original elm tree was planted in Boston in 1646 at the corner of Washington and Essex streets, in front of a grocery store. The area was a thriving marketplace in south Boston, and boasted a number of elm trees, causing it to be nicknamed the Neighborhood of Elms.
However, because of this tree's unique location in the center of a market, just one block off the Boston Common, it was singled out as a natural meeting place for the Sons of Liberty as they began to form and plan their protests. There were always crowds around, and groups of men sitting and speaking together in that location would not arouse suspicion with patrolling British soldiers.
Historic accounts indicate as they began to meet more frequently and grow in numbers, each member of the Sons of Liberty hung a lantern in the tree as a sign of solidarity. When the Stamp Act, one of the most hated of a group of taxes called the Townshend Acts, was passed, supporters of the tax were hung in effigy on the Liberty Tree.
We have dubbed Sept. 11 "Patriot Day" following the attacks on the United States by terrorists on Sept. 11, 2001. It is ironic that those early patriots, on Sept. 11, 1765, hung a copper plaque on the huge spreading elm in the center of Boston, and in huge gold letters, proclaimed it the Tree of Liberty.
The fact that the Sons of Liberty were openly meeting and challenging British rule enraged King George. Boston and the colony of Massachusetts were the first to feel the brunt of Britain's outrage. Laws were passed forbidding both freedom of assembly and trial by jury in Boston and the surrounding areas. The British ridiculed the Sons of Liberty, at one point tarring and feathering one of the patriots and marching him around the Liberty tree.
In 1775, the British lay siege to the city of Boston. In August of that year, British loyalists cut the tree down. It had stood for 129 years. The Pemberton Manuscripts, written by Samuel Pemberton in 1769 and referring to the efforts of the Sons of Liberty to provide for the homeless of colonial America, state "the first fruits of Liberty were born on this spot."
For centuries, the stump itself was revered as an icon of the Revolution, referred to by Bostonians and the Liberty Stump. Today, a tablet is embedded in the wall of a building located at 630 Washington St. in Boston, the former location of the tree. The tablet is inscribed "Sons of Liberty, 1766."
A bronze artwork is also embedded in the sidewalk on Boylston Street depicting the Liberty Tree.
There is so much more to American History than many of us realize, and it is worth our time and effort to do a little research and see just how hard it was the win the freedoms we now so often take for granted. Liberty does not exist in a vacuum; it must be defended constantly from those who would chip away at our freedoms one piece at a time. In the words of Benjamin Franklin, "They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
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