Pillars of Liberty Monument

While walking across the Dedham common, I paused at this modest stone monument with a bronze plaque. The marker preserves the memory of one of the earliest political monuments erected in colonial Massachusetts: The Pillar of Liberty.

The original monument was erected on July 22, 1766, nearly a decade before the American Revolution began, and a full decade before the Declaration of Independence. At that time, tensions between the American colonies and Great Britain were already rising. The immediate issue was the Stamp Act of 1765, which imposed taxes on printed materials throughout the colonies and provoked widespread protests.

When the Stamp Act was repealed in 1766, colonists celebrated what they saw as a victory for their rights as English subjects. In Dedham, citizens marked the occasion by erecting a monument honoring the British statesman William Pitt the Elder, who had spoken in Parliament against taxing the colonies without representation.

The original monument consisted of this stone base and topped with a bust of Pitt. The monument symbolizes gratitude toward Pitt. But the bust did not stand for long. In 1769, during renewed tensions with Britain, the bust was destroyed.  

In the late 19th century, Massachusetts towns grew interested in preserving Revolutionary era history. Dedham chose to protect what remained of the monument. In 1888. the bronze plaque was added to the stone base.

I am grateful that I paused at this monument because before seeing it I was not aware of these Pillars of Liberty that appeared in colonial towns. This one stands as a reminder that the struggle for independence did not suddenly begin in 1775. The political ideas and protests were already taking shape years earlier.