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The Pillar of Liberty is a monument in Dedham, Massachusetts commemorating the repeal of the Stamp Act. Erected by the Sons of Liberty, it originally had a pillar with a bust of William Pitt on top.
When Parliament imposed the Stamp Act 1765 on the 13 colonies, there was little effect in Dedham and thus little outcry. [1] The one person most affected was Dr. Nathaniel Ames who would have to pay for each sheet of paper used in his almanac, his liquor license, and for his medical papers. [1] He began stirring up his fellow townsmen, and Town Meeting appointed a committee to draft a set of instructions to Samuel Dexter, their representative in the Great and General Court. [1] Seven men were appointed to the committee, but their draft was likely written by Ames. [2] The letter, which instructed Dexter to oppose the Act, was unanimously approved on October 21, 1765. [1]
When the act was repealed, there was great rejoicing in Boston but just an "illumination" at the Ames Tavern. [3] Some of those celebrating included the Sons of Liberty, whose Dedham Chapter included Nathaniel Ames, Ebenezer Battelle, Abijah Draper, and Dr. John Sprague, as well as the Free Brothers, a similar group which included Ames, Battelle, Sam West, Manasseh Cutler, Nat Fisher, and Joseph Ellis Jr. [3]
Word arrived in Boston about the repeal of the Stamp Act on May 16, 1766. [4] Five days later, Nathaniel Ames recorded in his diary that a stone cutter was at work on a monument memorializing the repeal. [4] It took 11 or 12 days worth of work throughout the spring and summer to create the base. [4]
On July 22, 1766, Ames, Ebenezer Battelle, and Abijah Draper and the Sons of Liberty placed the base of the Pillar of Liberty on the church green at the corner of High and Court streets. [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] A "vast concourse of people" attended its erection. [5] [7] The base, made out of a block of granite from Battelle's farm that had been squared, polished, had an inscription written by Ames. [5] [11] It was painted on July 28. [11]
Seven months later, a 10-12' classical pillar of dark New England granite, likely dug from somewhere between the central village and West Dedham, [8] was added with a bust of William Pitt the Elder. [10] [5] [7] [9] The bust was carved by Simeon Skilling, a Boston craftsman best known producing figureheads for ships. [5] [7] [11] The column was carved by Daniel Goodkin, and the base was made by a local stone cutter named Howard. [7] [4] It was known thereafter as Pitt's Head. [7] [12]
Pitt was credited, according to the inscription on the base, of having "saved America from impending slavery, and confirmed our most loyal affection to King George III by procuring a repeal of the Stamp Act." [5] [7] It is the only monument known to have been erected by the Sons of Liberty.
In inscription stated on the base's north face:
The Pillar of Liberty
To the Honor of William Pitt Esqr
& other Patriots who saved
America from impending slavery
and confirmed our most loyal Affections
to King George III by pro
curing the repeal of the Stamp Act
18th March 1766 [5] [7] [10]
And on its west face:
The Pillar of Liberty
Erected by the Sons of Liberty
in this Vicinity
Laus DEO REGI et Immunitatm
autoribusq. maxine Patrono
Pitt, qui Rempub. rurfum evulfit
Faucibus Orci.
[Praise to God, the King, and the
exceptional work of Pitt, the great-
est benefactor, who plucked the
republic from the jaws of Hell. [5] [7] [10]
The easterly face shows signs of being worked upon with tools, possibly to sink a plaque into it. [8]
The monument was destroyed on the night of May 11, 1769, when Parliament again tried to tax the colonies. [7] [12] [11] [13] Samuel Doggett offered a $12 reward for any information on who may have destroyed it. [14]
It is said that the boys of the town used Pitt's head as a football for years after it was destroyed. [14]
In 1828, the pillar was moved across Court Street and was later moved back to its original location for the 250th anniversary of the Town. [8] [9] [13] For the 200th and the 250th anniversaries of the Town of Dedham, the letters inscribed into the stone were painted so that they might be better read. [8] At the 250th in 1886, a bronze tablet was inserted bearing the inscription:
THIS STONE WAS FIRST
PLACED NEAR THIS SPOT
JULY 22, 1766. IT SUPPORTED
A WOODEN COLUMN SURMOUNTED
BY A BUST OF WILLIAM PITT.
BOTH COLUMN AND BUST
DISAPPEARED ABOUT THE
CLOSE OF THE LAST CENTURY.
THE STONE WAS
REMOVED FROM THE OPPOSITE
CORNER IN 1886. [15]
The Stamp Act 1765, also known as the Duties in American Colonies Act 1765, was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain which imposed a direct tax on the British colonies in America and required that many printed materials in the colonies be produced on stamped paper from London which included an embossed revenue stamp. Printed materials included legal documents, magazines, playing cards, newspapers, and many other types of paper used throughout the colonies, and it had to be paid in British currency, not in colonial paper money.
Fisher Ames was a Representative in the United States Congress from the 1st Congressional District of Massachusetts. He was an important leader of the Federalist Party in the House, and was noted for his oratorical skill.
A liberty pole is a wooden pole, or sometimes spear or lance, surmounted by a "cap of liberty", mostly of the Phrygian cap. The symbol originated in the immediate aftermath of the assassination of the Roman dictator Julius Caesar by a group of Rome's Senators in 44 BCE. Immediately after Caesar was killed the assassins, or Liberatores as they called themselves, went through the streets with their bloody weapons held up, one carrying a pileus carried on the tip of a spear. This symbolized that the Roman people had been freed from the rule of Caesar, which the assassins claimed had become a tyranny because it overstepped the authority of the Senate and thus betrayed the Republic.
Joshua Bates was an American educator and clergyman. He was the third president of Middlebury College.
The history of Dedham, Massachusetts, from 1800 to 1899 saw growth and change come to the town. In fact, the town changed as much during the first few decades of the 19th century as it did in all of its previous history.
Ebenezer Battelle (1754–1815) was an American Revolutionary War veteran, a bookseller in Boston, Massachusetts, and a settler of Marietta, Ohio, in the late 18th century.
The Dedham Museum and Archive, is a historical society dedicated to preserving and establishing a greater sense of appreciation for the history of Dedham, Massachusetts. It consists of a museum and an archive. As of 2002, it had nearly 1,000 members.
Captain Ebenezer Battle, also known as Ebenezer Battelle, represented Dedham, Massachusetts in the Great and General Court. He was also a selectman in 1779. Battle fought the retreating British soldiers following the battles of Lexington and Concord. One of his men, Elias Haven, died at Menotomy. After the fighting ended, his men walked the entire length of the battlefield, collecting weapons and burying the dead.
Nathaniel Ames was an American medical doctor, politician, and teacher. He represented Dedham, Massachusetts in the Massachusetts Great and General Court.
Ebenezer Fisher represented Dedham, Massachusetts in the Great and General Court. The Fisher School, now in Westwood, Massachusetts, was named in his honor. He served as selectman in 1785. He voted against the Norfolk and Bristol Turnpike as a member of the legislature in 1802. Fisher Ames was a driver for the road, and his brother Nathaniel believed his no vote made him a "traitor" motivated by "an ancient prejudice against the Old Parish," i.e. modern day Dedham.
Jason Haven was the longest serving minister of the First Church and Parish in Dedham.
The history of Dedham, Massachusetts from 1700 to 1799 saw the town become one of the largest and most influential country towns in Massachusetts. As the population grew and residents moved to outlying areas of the town, battles for political power took place. Similar battles were taking place within the churches, as liberal and conservative factions bristled at paying for ministers with whom they had differences of theological opinion. New parishes and preciencts were formed, and eventually several new towns broke away.
The Ames Tavern was a tavern in Dedham, Massachusetts. Founded as Fisher's Tavern in 1649 by Joshua Fisher, it eventually passed into the hands of Nathaniel Ames through a complicated lawsuit based on colonial laws of inheritance. It was eventually owned by Richard Woodward, who renamed it the Woodward Tavern by the time the convention that adopted the Suffolk Resolves met there.
Major Abijah Draper was a military officer under George Washington and prominent resident of Dedham, Massachusetts.
The Dedham Bank was a bank in Dedham, Massachusetts. It was located on the corner of High and Pearl Streets.
This is a timeline of the history of the town of Dedham, Massachusetts.
Memorial Hall served as both the town hall of Dedham, Massachusetts from 1868 until 1962 and as the Town's monument to the soldiers from the town who died in the Civil War.
The town of Dedham, Massachusetts, participated in the American Revolutionary War and the protests and actions that led up to it in a number of ways. The town protested the Stamp Act and then celebrated its repeal by erecting the Pillar of Liberty. Townsmen joined in the boycott of British goods following the Townshend Acts, and they supported the Boston Tea Party. Dedham's Woodward Tavern was the site where the Suffolk Resolves gathering was first convened.
The Powder House is an historic powder tower at 162 Ames Street in Dedham, Massachusetts. It stands on land owned by the Dedham Museum and Archive, but the Town of Dedham owns the structure itself.
The Dedham Liberty Pole was a liberty pole erected in 1798 in Dedham, Massachusetts. Several of those involved with the pole were arrested, resulting in both the harshest, and the lightest, sentences ever imposed under the Sedition Act of 1798.
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