An American Liberty Elm was named for the Liberty Tree, the country's first symbol of freedom. On the morning of August 14, 1765, Boston awoke to find two effigies of British official hanging from the branches of a towering elm in protest of the Stamp Act, and from that day it became known as the Liberty Tree. The rebellious stripes, America's first flag, became the Liberty Tree Flag. Plans for the Boston Tea Party were made there, and it stood through countless meetings and celebrations as 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.