Liberty Tree

The Liberty Tree (1646–1775) was a famous elm tree that stood in Boston near Boston Common, in the years before the American Revolution (1776–1783). In 1765, colonists in Boston staged the first act of defiance against the British government at the tree. The tree became a rallying point for the growing resistance to the rule of Britain over the American colonies and for that reason it was felled by British soldiers in 1775.

History

In 1765 the British government imposed a Stamp Act on the American colonies. It required all legal documents, permits, commercial contracts, newspapers, pamphlets, and playing cards in the American colonies to carry a tax stamp. Because the Act applied to papers, newspapers, advertisements, and other publications and legal documents, it was viewed by the colonists as a means of censorship, or a "knowledge tax," on the rights of the colonists to write and read freely.

On 14 August 1765, a crowd gathered in Boston under a large elm tree at the corner of Essex Street and Washington Street, originally called Orange Street, to protest the hated Stamp Act. Patriots who later called themselves the Sons of Liberty had hung in effigy Andrew Oliver, the colonist chosen by King George III to impose the Stamp Act, in the branches of the tree. Up in the tree with the effigy hung a British cavalry jackboot. Grinning from inside the boot was a devil-like doll holding a scroll marked “Stamp Act.” It was the first public show of defiance against the Crown and spawned the resistance that led to the American Revolutionary War 10 years later. On 10 Sept., a sign saying "Tree of Liberty" was nailed to the trunk of the tree.

Liberty Tree (disambiguation)

Liberty Tree or Tree of Liberty can refer to:

Liberty Tree Mall

The Liberty Tree Mall is a shopping mall in Danvers, Massachusetts, USA that is one-third owned by the Simon Property Group. The Simon Property Group owns the common area of the mall between Kohl's and Best Buy. The right-hand area of the property from Best Buy to Staples is owned by Target, and the property from Kohl's to Dick's Sporting Goods is owned by New England Development.

History

The mall was built in 1972, and was renovated and expanded in 1993. The mall is less than a mile away from the Northshore Mall, in Peabody, although both malls are primarily owned and operated by Simon. Since the 1980s, this mall has focused more on the discount end, whereas the Northshore Mall has focused on the mainstream/upscale end, thus enabling them to coexist semi-peacefully.

Ann & Hope, one of the former anchor stores of the mall, was opened in 1969 before the mall was completed. The name Liberty Tree derives from the local version of Boston's Liberty Tree, which stood less than a half mile east of the current location of the mall. In the early years of the mall, a large metal tree stood at the center court to commemorate the Liberty Tree. The Liberty Tree sculpture was a featured exhibit in the New England Pavilion at the 1964-65 New York World's Fair and was designed by Albert Surman. Lechmere was the mall's other anchor.