The Liberty Tree

While it was many years ago that I saw the Disney film called "Johnny Tremain" I can still hear the rousing march beat of the Sons Of Liberty song saluting the Liberty Tree.

Plant the seed in our homeland, boys. Let it grow where all can see.
Feed it with our devotion, boys. Call it the Liberty Tree.

It’s a tall old Tree
And a strong old Tree
And we are the Sons
Yes, we are the Sons
The Sons of Liberty.

Save it from the storm, boys. Water down its roots with tea.
And the sun will always shine on the ole’ Liberty Tree.

[Chorus]

March along with the piper, boys. We were born forever free.
Let’s go pay the piper, boys, beneath the Liberty Tree.

[Chorus]

Pay the price they’re asking, boys. Always pay the tyrant’s fee.
Never give up the struggle, boys. Fight for the Liberty Tree.

[Chorus]

Stand for the rights of man, boys. Stand against all tyranny.
Hang the lamps of freedom, boys, high on the Liberty Tree.

[Chorus]

The Liberty Tree (1646–1775) was a famous elm tree that stood in Boston, near Boston Common, in the days before the American Revolution. The tree was a rallying point for the growing resistance to the rule of England over the American colonies.

In 1765 the British government imposed a Stamp Act on the American colonies. It required all legal documents, permits, commercial contracts, newspapers, pamphlets, and playing cards in the American colonies to carry a tax stamp.

The summer of 1765 in Boston was marked by militant citizens demonstrating against the Stamp Act. On August 14, 1765, a group of men calling themselves the Sons of Liberty gathered in Boston under a large elm tree to protest the hated Stamp Act. The Sons of Liberty concluded their protest by hanging two tax collectors in effigy from the tree. From that day forward, the tree became known as the "Liberty Tree."

When the news of the Liberty Tree spread throughout the colonies, local patriots in each of the 13 colonies formed a Sons of Liberty group and identified a large tree to be used as a meeting place. In those times, holding an unauthorized assembly was dangerous business that carried threats of imprisonment or death. The casual appearance of a group chatting beneath a tree was much safer.



During the siege of Boston, about the last day of August 1775, a party of Loyalists led by Job Williams defiantly cut the liberty tree down in an act of spite, and used the tree for firewood. This act only further enraged the colonists. As resistance to the British grew, flags bearing a representation of the Liberty Tree were flown to symbolize the unwavering spirit of liberty.