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The Sons of Liberty were under the direct command of Adams, who called the Mob out whenever he determined that a British action demanded a protest. Early on, he learned a trick of modern political protestors by making the riots appear spontaneous. Of course, Adams controlled them with precision, and aimed actions only at Royal officials, politicians, or tax collectors. The Mob burned Royalists in effigy from the “Liberty Tree,” stoned their houses, and tarred and feathered customs collectors. When Tory John Robinson was married, the Sons of Liberty surrounded his home on the honeymoon night, broke out all the windows, and shouted obscenities at the newlyweds until dawn. But not all of the Mob’s activities were so prankish. Following passage of the Stamp Act (1765) the Sons of Liberty completely demolished Stamp Commissioner Oliver’s home and drank the entire contents of his wine cellar. He resigned his post the next day. Then the Mob proceeded in a drunken rage to Lieutenant Governor Thomas Hutchinson’s home, where an observer described the scene:

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By 1775 the American Revolution was inevitable. The battles at Lexington and Concord were simply formalized versions of the resistance that had been going on in the streets of Boston for 10 years. The Sons of Liberty introduced violence into the British-American dispute and made reconciliation impossible, which was Adams’ goal all along, namely to alienate the moderates and make them choose sides. Events also revealed that “news” and “propaganda” often were one and the same, depending on who did the “reporting.” With that strategy in mind, Sam Adams and the Sons of Liberty proved that rioting, looting, and violence—disgusting as they often were—could be effective Revolutionary tools.

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