An Appeal to Heaven v2

An Appeal to Heaven Richardson 112 Trucker Hat

The Pine Tree Flag was a flag used during the American Revolution. The phrase “An Appeal to Heaven” comes from a publication written by British philosopher John Locke where he wrote "And where the Body of the People, or any single Man, is deprived of their Right, or is under the Exercise of a power without right, and have no Appeal on Earth, there they have a liberty to appeal to Heaven, whenever they judge the Cause of sufficient moment.” The phrase embodies the idea that we the people were given rights by God, and when those rights are trampled on by a corrupt and tyrannical government, we are not concerned with our Earthly judges but instead make our appeal to Heaven.

The pine tree was a symbol of colonial resistance and independence, stemming from one of the first acts of resistance by American colonists. In 1722, it became illegal for colonists to cut down white pine trees with a diameter larger than 12 inches, as they were to be reserved for the British Navy. In 1772, a sawmill in New Hampshire was discovered to have violated this law, and the owner, Ebenezer Mudgett, was arrested by the Sheriff. The following day after Mudgett was released, Mudgett and twenty men beat the Sheriff and a Deputy nearly to death with large rods, and sent them out of the town on horseback. Some credit this incident with inspiring the Boston Tea Party, contributing to the start of the American Revolution.

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