News:

We need volunteers in sales, marketing, PR, IT, and general "running of an organization." 
Maximize your Appleseed energy to make this program grow, and help fill the empty spots
on the firing line!  An hour of time spent at this level can have the impact of ten or a
hundred hours on the firing line.  Want to help? Send a PM to Monkey!

Main Menu

Flag of the Month April 2021 - Sons of Liberty

Started by Mrs. Smith, April 01, 2021, 11:09:30 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

Mrs. Smith

Good Morning!  The April submission for Project Appleseed's Flag of the Month series is, appropriately, the Sons of Liberty Flag!
The Sons of Liberty flag, which later became known as the "Rebellious Stripes," was created around 1767.  It was designed with nine vertical stripes alternating in color, five red and four white.  The nine stripes represented the nine colonies that attended the Stamp Act Congress. 



The Sons of Liberty have been known as the original American Patriots. Some of America's Founding Fathers worked with the Sons of Liberty.  The organization is best known for its involvement in the Boston Tea Party. Their flag became as iconic as they were, serving as the basis for many other flags for the unified rebellious American colonies.  The British outlawed the flag, the highest endorsement the Crown could give.  The Colonists made the stripes horizontal and continued the use of the flag.  The name, Sons of Liberty, comes from a speech made in the British Parliament by Irishman Isaac Barre. He referred to the American colonists as "sons of liberty" when arguing against the passage of the Stamp Act.

When the flag was flown it was used as a call to the citizens to rally at a large elm tree, known as the "Liberty Tree," to protest. The British cut the tree down in an effort to stop the dissent.  The colonists raised a pole in its place and called it the "Liberty Pole."
The first branch of the Sons of Liberty was founded in Boston in August 1765, followed by a satellite in New York in November of the same year. December saw communication between groups in Connecticut and New York. In January of 1766, Boston and New York linked up. By March, Providence was in communication with New Hampshire, Newport, and New York. Later that year in March, groups were set up in Maryland, New Jersey, and as far south as Virginia.  The primary activity of the Sons of Liberty was tracking British troop movements. This was important to warn colonial garrisons that troops might be coming to confiscate arms or powder from the colonists. Another common organizing activity of the Sons was to gather around the Liberty Tree for protests and discussion.

By the time the Revolutionary War started in 1775, the stripes had grown to 13, representing the unified resistance of all 13 colonies.  A flag having 13 horizontal red and white stripes was used by Commodore Esek Hopkins (Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Navy) and by American merchant ships during the war. This flag was also associated with the Sons of Liberty. Red and white were common colors of the flags, although other color combinations were used, such as green and white or yellow and white.  After the end of the American Revolutionary War, Isaac Sears, Marinus Willet, and John Lamb in New York City revived the Sons of Liberty. In March 1784, they rallied an enormous crowd that called for the expulsion of any remaining Loyalists from the state starting May 1. The Sons of Liberty were able to gain enough seats in the New York assembly elections of December 1784 to have passed a set of punitive laws against Loyalists. In violation of the Treaty of Paris (1783), they called for the confiscation of the property of Loyalists. Alexander Hamilton defended the Loyalists, citing the supremacy of the treaty.

"Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren't." - Margaret Thatcher

You can have peace, or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having both at once. - Robert A. Heinlein

"A generation which ignores history has no past, and no future." - Lazarus Long

"What we do now echoes in eternity." Marcus Aurelius

Waco 1-17       Waco 1-19     El Paso 7-19       Alamogordo 5-20     Albuquerque 7-21       Houston 8-21 (SBC)    Colorado Springs  2-22 (SBC)    Midland 8-22 (KDIBC)     Albuquerque 2-23      Harvard 5-23      El Paso 12-23 (PIBC)     Phoenix 2-24    El Paso 3-24