The Liberty Tree 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. It was destroyed by the British troops and Tories, during the siege of Boston in August 1775. The Essex Gazette on August 31st, 1775, described the destruction of the tree, saying, 'They made a furious attack upon it. After a long spell of laughing and grinning, sweating, swearing, and foaming with malice diabolical, they cut down the tree because it bore the name of liberty.' It was this revolutionary symbol of freedom, that Thomas Jefferson referenced in the quote below. This statement was penned in a letter written to fellow revolutionary William Stephenson Smith in 1787 while Jefferson was living in Paris. Jefferson had seen the successful creation of an independent United States following the American Revolution and was now poised to view the beginnings of a bloody revolution in France.   1. From the statment above from Jefferson, How could this quote be misused in bringing change? Who is responsible to decide appropriate use of violence based on the quote. How does this relate in todays society?

The Liberty Tree 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. It was destroyed by the British troops and Tories, during the siege of Boston in August 1775. The Essex Gazette on August 31st, 1775, described the destruction of the tree, saying, 'They made a furious attack upon it. After a long spell of laughing and grinning, sweating, swearing, and foaming with malice diabolical, they cut down the tree because it bore the name of liberty.'

It was this revolutionary symbol of freedom, that Thomas Jefferson referenced in the quote below. This statement was penned in a letter written to fellow revolutionary William Stephenson Smith in 1787 while Jefferson was living in Paris. Jefferson had seen the successful creation of an independent United States following the American Revolution and was now poised to view the beginnings of a bloody revolution in France.