The Sons of Liberty were originally created to oppose some of the tax laws of the British. They organized protests and boycotts of British products to try to pressure the British government to end these laws. As events in the colonies became more serious, the Sons of Liberty began to do things to prepare for war.

When the call for establishing militias was made, mainly in response to the Intolerable Acts, the Sons of Liberty were ready to form these militias in the colonies. They began to closely monitor the activities of the British army, especially in Boston. When they expected the British army to move from Boston, they developed a secret code to let the colonists know if the British were coming by land or by sea. The lanterns that would be placed in the steeple of the North Church would signify how the British army would be moving. One lantern meant the British army was coming by land. Two lanterns meant they were coming by sea.

Once the British army began to move, the Sons of Liberty sent Paul Revere and William Dawes to awaken the Massachusetts militia to get ready to fight. They also warned Samuel Adams and John Hancock to go into hiding because the British believed their capture would calm things down in Massachusetts. When the British moved to Lexington, the colonial militia was ready for them, thanks to the effects of the Sons of Liberty.

The Sons of Liberty played an important role in helping the colonists prepare for battle. Monitoring the actions and movements of the British army was one way they accomplished this.

How did the Sons of Liberty resist British rule?

The Sons of Liberty were a group of tradesmen and workers from Boston who actively opposed British rule in the late-eighteenth century. One way they did this was through the printed word. One of the members, Benjamin Edes, was a printer and the other, John Gill, a journalist for the Boston Gazette used their expertise to produce a steady stream of anti-British publications.

On August 14 1765, the Sons made an effigy of Andrew Oliver, the man chosen to collect the proceeds from the notorious Stamp Act in Massachusetts. The effigy was found hanging from a tree alongside a large boot with a devil hanging from it. The discovery of this effigy prompted a mob to raid Oliver's house and sent a clear message to the British militia. 

From this point, the Sons resisted British rule by forcing Stamp Duty Collectors to resign their position and by placing pressure, and sometimes violence, on merchants who did not follow their agenda. 

By the end of 1765, the Sons' influence had spread far beyond the Massachusetts Colony and had sent a clear message to the British government.