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A Tree of Liber ty The HOA Board has approved plans to dedicate a tree planted in the new picnic area on Highland Springs Trail to honor our Four Seasons veterans. This dedication will take place on Veteran's Day November 11. Trees have often been used as a symbol of strength. A tree played a major part in the American Revolution. Contrary to general belief, resistance to British rule did not start with the Boston Tea Party on Dec. 16, 1773. That event, however, was another example of the colonists protesting taxes levied by the British Parliament without benefit of representation. The impetus for the revolutionary movement actually began with the Stamp Act in 1765. The British Parliament, looking for ways to reduce the debt they had accumulated in the Seven Years' War with France, passed the Stamp Act which required that almost all printed materials used in the colonies must carry an embossed revenue stamp. The stamp tax had to be paid in British currency, not with colonial paper money. Revenue from this Act was supposedly intended to defray expenses of British military troops stationed in North America. "The fees varied, depending upon the use of the printed material. Although Parliament received petitions from the Committees of Correspondence in the colonies, it refused to acknowledge or read them. This taxation obviously enraged the colonists. In Boston the Sons of Liberty organized protests and demonstrations declaring that the Stamp Act violated their rights as Englishmen. An important meeting place in Boston was an imposing elm tree which towered over the other nearby trees. On the morning of August 14, 1765, a crowd of colonists gathered under the tree 6 where someone had hung an effigy of Andrew Oliver, the colonist chosen by King George III to impose the Stamp Act. In the tree with the effigy was a British boot with a devil-like doll holding a scroll entitled "Stamp Act." The crowds became more aggressive as the number of colonists increased. That night the furious crowds marched through the streets to Oliver's house, burned the effigy and ransacked his home. Oliver immediately resigned. By Sept. 10, a copper plate with the inscription "Tree of Liberty" was nailed to the trunk of the giant elm. The tree continued to be a rallying point for patriots, including John Hancock and Samuel Adams. The Sons of Liberty met regularly there plotting their defiance of the unjust treatment the colonies were receiving. Resistance to the Stamp Act affected British merchants and manufacturers as well as colonists. The Act was finally repealed on March 18, 1766. Parliament, however, insisting on its power to legislate for the colonies, then passed the Declaratory Act, which contained a series of new taxes and regulations – also opposed by the colonists. As the agitation of the colonists increased, the Tree of Liberty became a vibrant symbol of the movement for independence from the British, so much so that in 1775, just before the outbreak of fighting, a group of British soldiers cut the tree down and used it for firewood. Such blatant disregard for the feelings of the colonists made them even more angry with the British. The original Liberty Tree had been planted in 1646 and stood for 129 years. The Pemberton Papers over 200 years ago noted that the tree had been the site which had "born the first fruits of Liberty in America." ~ Leighton McLaughlin and Bobbie Eckel FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | NOVEMBER 2013 | community News

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