Sons of Liberty was a group of patriotic societies that sprang up in the American colonies before the Revolutionary War (1775-1783). They began as secret societies but later came into the open. They fought against the Stamp Tax of 1765, opposed the importation of British goods after the passage of the Townshend Acts in 1767, and led resistance to the Tea Act of 1773. They were active from South Carolina to New Hampshire and supported the calling of the Continental Congress.
During the Civil War (1861-1865), some members of a group known as Copperheads began to call themselves the Sons of Liberty. They were Northern sympathizers with the South and were charged with planning to overthrow the government of President Abraham Lincoln. See Copperheads .
