Sons & Daughters of Liberty 

     One of the first acts of the Sons of Liberty was carried out on August 14, 1765, by a precursor group known as The Loyal Nine. An effigy (model or sculpture of a person) of Andrew Oliver, who was to be commissioned as Distributor of Stamps for Massachusetts, was found hanging in a tree on Newbury Street, which was to become known as the Liberty Tree, along with a large boot which had a devil climbing out of it. The boot was a play on the name of the Earl of Bute and the display was intended to establish an evil connection between Oliver and the Stamp Act.

 

     December 16, 1765 the Sons posted a letter to Andrew Oliver, demanding that he meet them at noon the following day at the Liberty Tree to publicly resign his office. Notices were posted all over town calling for all “True born Sons of Liberty” to meet Oliver at the Liberty Tree. Oliver resigned his office in front of 2000 townspeople that day.