Stamp+Act+Project

Tiffany Wong 10/26/10 U.S. History 1 Period 5 ** The Sons Of Liberty Used Mobs as a Political Tactic! **

The Sons of Liberty were not right in using the mob to get their point across. During the Boston Riot on August 14, 1765, colonists were angered by the idea of the Stamp Act. They tried very hard to get their perspective voiced out. To do this, colonists hung effigies of political figures that had a connection to the Stamp Act on elm trees, specifically the “Liberty Tree”. This was where the colonists had protest meetings and important announcements. While protesting, colonists would also loot, vandalize, and burn down the nice homes of political figures. Colonists thought that if they hung effigies on the Liberty Tree and burn down the homes of political figures in connection with the Stamp Act, then they would get their point across and dissolve the Stamp Act, but actually it just made matters worse. Colonists were viewed as angry people who would do anything to voice out their thoughts, including violence. There was chaos and a loss of trust in the colonists. Colonists are part of Britain so it is their civic duty to be taxed. The money collected from the tax would be used to pay the costs of defending protecting and defending the American Frontier. They basically just want to live and be protected in Britain, but don’t want to do anything for Britain. If they want to be protected, they should to anything they can to help.

How I Viewed This Matter: All this violence is unnecessary. Seriously, if you need to get your point across, use a safer way. There are many other ways to show your point of view. Just talk about the problem instead of using violence to threaten the government. What’s the point of burning down a house? So what if he’s homeless, that just makes you a bad person. If you continue to use violence, you will only be hurting yourself. You should also help out your own nation if you want to be protected. You can’t just live and be protected for free. If you don’t help by paying taxes, you would most likely be viewed as a criminal, and I’m pretty sure the Sons of Liberty are not criminals, so they shouldn’t use violence.

10/26/10- Boston Riot Wordle http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/2633775/Boston_Riot

10/26/10- Boston Riot Slideshow media type="custom" key="7324139"