An American Liberty Elm was named after the Liberty Tree, the country’s first symbol of freedom. On the morning of August 14, 1765, the people of Boston found two effigies hanging from an elm in protest of the Stamp Act, and from that day the tree became known as the Liberty Tree. It stood through countless meetings, speeches, and celebrations and became the rallying place for the Sons of Liberty. In August 1775, as a last act of violence before their evacuation of Boston, British soldiers cut it down because it bore the name Liberty.