Sons of Liberty: Rebels or Revolutionaries?

Sons of Liberty: Rebels or

Revolutionaries?

Background: During the 1750’s and 1760’s, South Carolina and the other American colonies

became involved in the military and economic rivalry between the French and the English. This

rivalry led to a series of wars. The war changed the relationship of the colonies with the mother

country, Great Britain. In an effort to pay off the 140 million pound national debt, the British

began to enforce their mercantilist policies Events leading to the American Revolutionary War

were largely the result of the attempt by the British crown and Parliament to impose taxes on the

colonies in order to pay for the French and Indian War. Colonists believed it was the right of

their colonial assemblies to impose taxes, not by the King or Parliament. Extremely angry

colonists protested “No taxation without representation” because colonists did not have their

own representative in Parliament and therefore believed that they had no colonial voice in

Parliament. Colonists wanted the rights of their own colonial assemblies to impose taxes.

Colonists organized the Sons and Daughters of Liberty in order to protest British taxes and

enforce the boycotts through persuasion and intimidation. Colonists at this point were unwilling

even to accept an import tax because it was designed to collect revenue, not to regulate trade.

(South Carolina Department of Education, 2011).

Document A

Considering the actions the Sons of Liberty committed against British colonial government, are

they deemed as rebels or revolutionaries?

1

Source:Adam, S. (n.d.). Epilogue: Securing the Republic: Samuel Adams to James Warren

November 4, 1775

Samuel Adams was an American statesman and political philosopher who wrote down his

opinion on the taxes imposed on the colonists by British Parliament.

“If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better

than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask

not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed

you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that

ye were our countrymen.”

“No people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily

subdued, when knowledge is diffused and virtue is preserved. On the

Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauched in their

Manners, they will sink under their own weight without the Aid of foreign

Invaders.”

1. What does Samuel Adams compare obeying British Parliament to?

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

2. What freedoms is the author referring to?

_____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________



2

Document B

Source:Henry, P. (n.d.). Founding Era. Speech: Give me Liberty, or give me death

The following was stated at the Second Virginia Convention discussing the efforts made to

boycott and petition Parliament and its failed efforts. March 23, 1775.

“I ask, gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not

to force us to submission? Can gentlemen assign any other possible motive for it?

Has Great Britain any enemy, in this quarter of the world, to call for all this

accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she has none. They are meant for us;

they can be meant for no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those

chains which the British ministry have been so long forging. And what have we

to oppose to them? Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the

last ten years. Have we anything new to offer upon the subject? Nothing. We

have held the subject up in every light of which it is capable; but it has been all in

vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication? What terms shall we

find which have not been already exhausted? Let us not, I beseech you, sir,

deceive ourselves. Sir, we have done everything that could be done, to avert the

storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we

have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have

implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and

Parliament.

Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace! But there is no peace. The war is

actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears

the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand

we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so

dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?



3

Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me,

give me liberty or give me death!”

3. What has accumulated in the colonies from Great Britain to make the author say that the

colonies are enemies to the British?

__________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

4.What have the colonist done to try to reach terms with Parliament that did not work, making

the author feel that the only other option is to go to war?

__________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

Document C

Source:Parade of the Sons of Liberty. (n.d.). Lantern Slides



4

Lantern slide depicting a torch light parade in New York City of Sons of Liberty against the

Stamp Act of 1870. The Stamp Act was an Act of British Parliament requiring all publications

and legal and commercial documents in the American colonies to bear a tax stamp.

5. Based off the lantern slide above, what is the shared view of the colonist marching?

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

6. Describe the images in the lantern slide that brought you to your statement above.

_____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

7. When is it the appropriate time for people to form in groups to rally for a specific cause? Use a

modern day example to support your answer.

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

Document D

Source:Sons of Liberty Non Importation Agreement, November 29, 1773

An ordinance issued to all colonist living in New York from the newly formed group the Sons of

Liberty.



5

“Therefore, to prevent a Calamity, which, of all others, is the most to be

dreaded,—Slavery, and its terrible Concomitants,—We the Subscribers, being

influenced from a Regard to Liberty, and disposed to use all lawful Endeavours,

in our Power, to defeat the pernicious Project, and to transmit to our Posterity,

those Blessings of Freedom, which our Ancestors have handed down to us; and

to contribute to the Support of the Common Liberties of America, which are in

danger to be subverted, DO, for those important Purposes, agree to associate

together, under the Name and Style of the SONS of LIBERTY, of NEW YORK,

and engage our Honour, to and with each other, faithfully to observe and perform

the following RESOLUTIONS, Viz.

1st. Resolved, That whoever shall aid, or abet, or in any Manner assist, in the

Introduction of Tea, from any Place whatsoever, into this Colony, while it is

subject by a British Act of Parliament, to the Payment of a Duty, for the Purpose

of raising a Revenue in America, he shall be deemed, an Enemy to the Liberties

of America.

2d. Resolved, That whoever shall be aiding, or assisting, in the Landing, or

carting of such Tea, from any Ship, or Vessel, or shall hire any House,

Storehouse, or Cellar, or any Place whatsoever, to deposit the Tea, subject to a

Duty as aforesaid, he shall be deemed, an Enemy to the Liberties of America.

3d. Resolved, That whoever shall sell, or buy, or in any Manner contribute to the

Sale, or Purchase of Tea, subject to a Duty as aforesaid, or shall aid, or abet, in

transporting such Tea, by Land, or Water, from this City, until the 7th. Geo. III.

Chap. 46, commonly called the Revenue Act, shall be totally, and clearly

repealed, he shall be deemed, an Enemy to the Liberties of America.

4th. Resolved, That whether the Duties on Tea, imposed by this Act, be paid in

Great Britain, or in America, our Liberties are equally affected.

5th. Resolved, That whoever shall transgress any of these Resolutions, we will

not deal with, or employ, or have any Connection with him.

NEW-YORK, November 29, 1773.”

8. What is a tax? What does it create for the government issuing the tax?

__________________________________________________________________________



6

__________________________________________________________________________

9. If a merchant in the colony was to pay a duty or tax to British Parliament what are they

considered by the Sons of Liberty?

______________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

10. What is the resulting action if the resolutions were not adhered to in that colony?

_____________________________________________________________________________

11. How would you react if a group of your classmates created a petition that says you can no

longer drink your favorite juice from the vending machines their reason is that they feel the

cooperation who creates the beverage pollutes the environment. If you continue to purchase it

you will be considered an enemy to the school. What is your reaction?

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

Document E

Source:The Patriotic barber of New York, or the Captain in the suds, 1775

Cartoon shows a New York barber refusing to finish shaving a customer after learning of his

British identity.



7

12. How are the colonist treating the captain, a supporter of the British Parliament?

______________________________________________________________________________

13. Support your above statement with examples from the image above.

__________________________________________________________________________

14. When minorities were denied service throughout history the owner/operator was seen in a

negative light. Is this situation any different, how?

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

Document F

Source:Bostonians Tarring and Feathering. (n.d.).



8

10. This propaganda poster was posted throughout cities. What audiences do you think they are

aiming to reach?

____________________________________________________________________________

11. Identify the symbolism shown on the Liberty Tree.

______________________________________________________________________________

12. Describe the actions of the men in the background and forefront. How does this reflect their

sentiments about the imposed taxes?

____________________________________________________________________________

13. A noose is guaranteed death but tarring and feathering is a form of torture. Why do you think

it is was placed in the tree?

____________________________________________________________________________

Document G

Source:The Alternative at Williamsburg

"Virginian loyalist" being forced to sign a document, possibly issued by the Williamsburg

Convention, by a club-wielding mob of "liberty men". On the left, a man is being led towards a



9

gallows standing in the background on the right and from which hangs a sack of feathers and a

barrel of tar.

14. Who were the loyalist? Why are they being pressured to sign their allegiance?

______________________________________________________________________________

15. What was the result of ‘tories’ who did not agree with the ‘liberty men’?

___________________________________________________________________________

16. Is it right for a group of people to pressure individuals into something they do not believe in

because they are the minority?

____________________________________________________________________________

Document H & Document I

Source H: The Boston Massacre, The British View,”EyeWitness to History”, 1770.

Source I: The Bloody Massacre Perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party

of the 29th Regt.

The text to the left is the trial testimony of Captain Thomas Preston who was commander of the

British squad that evening of the massacre. He, along with the other members of the squad, was

tried for murder in a Boston Court. The painting to the right was created five days after the



10

massacre of Boston colonists by British troops.It displays a group of seven uniformed soldiers,

on the signal of an officer, fire into a crowd of civilians at left.

17. According to Captain Preston, who were the instigators of the situation? How?

____________________________________________________________________________

18. The image shows a man ordering the squad to fire, how does this contradict Preston’s

statement?

_____________________________________________________________________________

19. If you were told about a situation days after it happened will you believe that every detail

was factual? Why

____________________________________________________________________________

Document I

Source:The “Charleston Tea Party” is an article that appeared in the South Carolina Gazette in

November of 1774.

The article was written to inform readers about a new shipment of Tea



11

…The same Day arrived here, in the Ship Britannia, Capt. Samuel Ball, jun. from

London (amongst a Number of other Passengers) …

Before Captain Ball had been many Hours in Port, the Committee of

Observation were informed, that he had Seven Chests of Tea on board,

subject to that Duty which all America have denied to be constitutionally

imposed; and the Minds of the People appeared to be very much

agitated. To allay the Ferment which there seemed reason to apprehend,

that Committee met early on Wednesday Morning, sent for Captain Ball,

who readily attended, and, after expressing to him their Concerns and

Astonishment at his Conduct, acquainted him, it was expected the said

Teas should not be landed here. He acknowledged having the mischievous

Drug on board … But declared, that he was an entire Stranger to their

being on board his Ship, ‘till he was ready to clear out, when he discovered

that his Mate had received them in his Absence: --- That, as seen as he

made the Discovery … he entered [a] … Protest; which he hoped would

acquit him from the Suspicion of having any Design to act contrary to the

Sense of the People here, or the Voice of all America.

On Thursday at Noon, an Oblation was made to Neptune, of the said seven

chests of Tea, by Messrs. Lindsay, Kinsley and Mackenzie themselves;

who going on board the Ship in the Stream, with their own Hands

respectively stove the Chests belong to each, and emptied their Contents

into the River, in the Presence of the Committee of Observation, who

likewise went on board, and in View of the whole General Committee on

the Shore besides numerous Concourse of People, who gave three hearty

Cheers after the emptying of each Chest, and immediately after separated

as if nothing had happened.

20. How does this document show the prevalence of the Sons of Liberty within the colonies?

How is this action related to the others committed in the previous sources?

_________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________



12



13



14



15



16

Sons of Liberty: Rebels or Revolutionaries?

Documents

Transcript of Sons of Liberty: Rebels or Revolutionaries?