The Sons of Liberty

Liberty is a word that means: being free within a society without restrictions imposed by someone else's authority. This means that no one person (like a king) could make all the rules for the people. They were free to make choices on their own and to create laws. Having a wing, like King George to rule over the people in the colonies was challenging.

King Mosiah in the Book of Mormon said:

Now it is better that a man should be judged of God than of man, for the judgments of God are always just, but the judgments of man are not always just.

Therefore, if it were possible that you could have just men to be your kings, who would establish the laws of God, and judge this people according to his commandments, yea, if ye could have men for your kings who would do even as my father Benjamin did for this people—I say unto you, if this could always be the case then it would be expedient that ye should always have kings to rule over you. ---Mosiah 29

So the Sons of Liberty were men who believed that they should be free to make their own choices. They did not want to be controlled physically or in regard to what they could believe or their religion, etc.

The Sons of Liberty was a secret political group that would discuss their rights and how to make changes in the colonies. Unfortunately they sometimes used violence as a way to get what they thought was right. They were active in the Thirteen Colonies and wanted to advance the rights of the colonists in fighting against taxation by the King and British government.

It was founded by Samuel Adams (cousin to John Adams) and John Hancock. Their ideas were radical--they were extreme. In fact, their beliefs would be considered treason.

What is treason? Treason is the crime of betraying one's county, especially by attempting to overthrow the current government. Traitor is another word to describe a person who was guilty of treason (betraying your country or government). A traitor, if captured, would be punished by death, usually by hanging.

Interesting fact: One of the greatest and most well known traitors in American History (maybe in all of history) is Benedict Arnold. The short story is that he was one of George Washington's greatest associates and a major general during the conflict with Great Britain. After fighting for several years as a patriot, he became a spy for the British Army and betrayed General Washington and his country! (There is more to the story...)

OK back to the Sons of Liberty...

Many of those who called themselves the Sons of Liberty were prominent members in society. However, being a member would need to be kept quiet so as to avoid capture. Samuel Adams, John Adams and Paul Revere were members. They argued that the British Parliament (the group of men who worked together to make laws), did not have a right or the authority to impose laws on the colonies or to impose taxes without consent from the colonies themselves.

People in the colonies organized protests throughout the settlements and demanded that their liberty be protected. This quickly attracted attention from the British parliament and King and later led to anger and an inevitable war.

Watch this video for more information. This website has a lot of good informati0n!