The Sons of Liberty was a secret organization created in the Colonies in 1765, whose goal was to advance the rights of the colonists and fight taxation from the Parliament, the British government. There is a debate on whether they were patriots or terrorists: some say that they were terrorists, while others think that they were patriots. I believe that they were terrorists. A patriot is a person who vigorously supports their country and is prepared to defend it against enemies or detractors (someone who underrated someone else). Even if the Sons of Liberty defended the Thirteen Colonies from the British laws, they broke many in that process, such as holding illegal meetings. Thus, they were unlawful which is a quality of a terrorist. A terrorist is a person who uses unlawful violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.
The Sons of Liberty had political aims and used unlawful violence. They planned to overthrow their government in a series of protests, which was a political aim and usually contained violence. Perhaps the most famous protest organized by the Sons of Liberty was the Boston Tea Party. In the evening of December sixteenth, 1773, members of the Sons of Liberty dressed as Native Americans (so they could not be recognized) and boarded three ships in Boston Harbor: Beaver, Dartmouth, Eleanor. These ships each contained over a hundred chests of tea from the British East India Company. The Sons of Liberty proceeded to throw three hundred and forty-two chests of tea into the harbor. Not only was this unlawful, but the crew of the ships had to be tied up in order for this protest to take place. The Sons of Liberty used violence and intimidation against quite a few people in order to get their way. One of them was Andrew Oliver who was a public official in charge of enforcing the Stamp Act. The Sons of Liberty created a mob, marched down to Oliver’s house, trashed and looted his property, and forced him to publicly swear an oath to never serve as a stamp master. Andrew Oliver’s brother-in-law, Thomas Hutchingson, was hit next by the Sons of Liberty.
Since he refused to denounce the Stamp Act in a letter to Parliament, a mob led by the Sons of Liberty trashed his house on August 26, causing two thousand three hundred pound’s worth of damage. Tarring and feathering was a form of public humiliation and torture used by the Sons of Liberty in colonial times. It was used to execute unofficial justice and revenge, and often as a type of mob vengeance. The tar came from shipyards while feathers came from pillows. The Sons of Liberty often threatened loyalists and tax collectors with this, and if the person was still seen as a threat, they would get tarred and feathered. Captain William Smith was one of these unlucky people. He was under the suspicion of an informer of smuggling activities. In the spring of 1766, he was tarred and feathered and thrown into the sea. When he was rescued by a passing boat, he reported, “They dawbed my body and face all over with tar and afterwards threw feathers on me.” All in all, the Sons of Liberty were terrorists. After the Thirteen Colonies gained their independence, this group of people became thought of as patriots, but they were terrorists when they were under England’s rule. They used unlawful violence and intimidation, had political aims, and led many protests that included violence and often resulted in damage. Many people were purposely harmed by the Sons of Liberty, and a group of patriots would not do that.
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