On this day in 1776 Samuel Adams's Sons of Liberty pulled down the statue of King George in lower Manhattan.

I said "Samuel Adams's" as he was a member; he was not its leader. The Sons of Liberty had no organized leadership. it was a loose-knit theme around which marginalized people in numerous cities united to protest law enforcement and a system that stripped them of their rights.

There was Sam Adams but there was also Isaiah Thomas, and Paul Revere, Patrick Henry, Samuel Chase, etc. Not only did they tear down statues, but they burned down law enforcement officers' houses.

They had a flag, which is to this day on display at the Old State House in Boston.

The result of the constant Sons of Liberty protests is that a large number of stamp collectors no longer wanted to be stamp collectors, and the specific abuses the protestors were fighting against were abated as a result.

If you walk 4 miles up Broadway from the spot where the Sons of Liberty tore down that statue 244 years ago tonight, you'd find a theatre where (in better times) a show's pre-curtain announcement is delivered by "King George" — whose role in history is still, miraculously, known!