The American Liberty elm was named after the Liberty Tree, our country's first symbol of freedom. On the morning of August 14, 1765, the people of Boston awoke to find two effigies hanging from an elm in protest of the Stamp Act, and from that day the tree became known as the Liberty Tree. For the next ten years it stood through countless meetings, speeches, and celebrations, often serving as a 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.