Massachusetts adopted its state tree along with a state bird on March 21, 1941. The bill was introduced by the Massachusetts Audubon Society and the Massachusetts Forest and Park Association and was referred to the committee on conservation. The reasons for adopting the elm and chickadee were not recorded. However, both are common in Massachusetts.
Famous Massachusetts American elms include the Cambridge Elm, which was large when the Revolutionary War began. George Washington took command of the Continental Army under the great tree on July 3, 1775.
The Cambridge elm was estimated to be 204 years old when it fell on October 27, 1923. Many of its descendants were reportedly planted throughout the country. Perhaps some are growing in North Dakota, which also adopted the elm as state tree.
The Freedom Tree
Boston’s John Hancock Elms are actually English elms (Ulmus procera). They were planted by John Hancock, the first signer of the Declaration of Independence and a governor of Massachusetts. (I don’t know if these trees are still standing.)
Before the Revolutionary War, Boston patriots known as Free Men and Sons of Liberty gathered under a large elm. From its branches they hung effigies of Lord Butte and Andrew Oliver. Butte was the hated British parliamentary member who originated the Stamp Act. Oliver distributed the despised stamps locally.
The patriots attached a copper sign labeled “Liberty Tree” to the tree. Patriots rallied under the tree for a decade, until General Gage’s British soldiers burned it in 1776. But the Liberty Tree remained a symbol of rebellion throughout the Revolution.
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism - 
