What started as a simple meeting place — an old elm tree at the corner of what is now Essex and Washington streets in Boston — branched into a tradition and a symbol of public protest. In 1765 a group of colonists who called themselves the Loyal Nine (a precursor to the Sons of Liberty) who were angry over the Stamp Act began to plan resistance to the tyranny of the English Crown. They regularly gathered beneath the tree for speeches and political meetings.
As a symbol, the Liberty Tree’s fame spread and other communities in places as far away as Rhode Island and Maryland named their own liberty trees. The trees became so well known that they became landmarks. In 1775, the beloved Boston elm tree, which was nearly 130 years old, paid the price for its fame when a group of loyalists and British soldiers cut it down.
