Who coined the phase "Sons of Liberty"?
The name Sons of Liberty was derived from a 1765 debate in Parliament over the Stamp Act. During the debate, Stamp Act supporter Charles Townshend made a disapproving statement of the American colonists. Irishman and Member of Parliament, Isaac Barré, stood up and defended the American colonists. He was reprimanded for positively speaking in favor of them calling the colonists "these Sons of Liberty." Being an Irishman, Barré shared many of the same views as the American colonists and was an advocate for their cause. Additionally, Barré had served in North America as a Colonel in the British Army during the French and Indian War. The debate took stock in the colonies, and the name was admirably used by the Patriot organization.
The Stamp Act was the first direct tax on the colonists. It taxed more than just papers, a two weeks wages tax on a pair of dice! The Stamp Act was viewed by the American colonists as a means of censorship, or a "knowledge tax," on the rights of the colonists to write and read freely. The stamp on a college diploma $7,000 in todays wages. The stamp of a Law License? $35,000.