page_1008 < previous page page_1008 next page > Page 1008 the state, attachment to the work ethic, and racism. Contributory social insurance, they have come to believe, is an entitlement; means-tested public welfare is not. For all these reasons, Social Security, broadly conceived, remains elusive for millions of Americans. Michael Katz, In the Shadow of the Poorhouse: A Social History of Welfare in America (1986); James T. Patterson, America's Struggle against Poverty, 19001985 (1986). JAMES T. PATTERSON See also New Deal; Welfare and Public Relief. Societies See Fraternal Societies; Women's Voluntary Associations. Society of Friends See Quakers. Sons of Liberty The Sons of Liberty was a loose affiliation of colonial Patriot groups, organized during the Stamp Act resistance of 1765. The term son of liberty had been used earlier to designate any supporter of freedom, and individual groups under various names had formed in many of the colonies in previous years; but the Sons of Liberty was the first formal intercolonial organization of such groups. The movement began in New York City, where a Sons organization was established in January 1765. This group initiated correspondence with Sons of Liberty in New England and then established ties with the Carolinas, Virginia, and Georgia. In many cities, the new name was given to a preexisting club or association; in other places, a specific episode of resistance gave birth to the group. Most members were middle or upper class, but (though the movement was initially organized as a secret society) they usually tried to build a broad base of political support. Cooperation with less disciplined extralegal groups frequently triggered violence, and though the Sons rarely sought such outbursts (and sometimes worked with local officials to restrain them), they also continued the political agitation that tended to precipitate crowd action. Although British officials widely suspected them of plotting to overthrow the government, the Sons' official aims were narrower; they focused specifically on organizing  and sometimes compelling  resistance to the Stamp Act. Indeed, they insisted on their loyalty to the king and stressed that they were upholding the Constitution against the usurpation of royal officials. With the repeal of the Stamp Act in 1766, the movement dissolved. It revived, however, in 1768 in response to the Townshend Acts. From then until the Revolution, Sons of Liberty groups remained in active correspondence with one another and took the lead in organizing and enforcing resistance movements within their respective colonies. See also Revolution. South AmericaU.S. Relations See Latin AmericaU.S. Relations. Southern Christian Leadership Conference The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) was led by the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and was the backbone of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. The group was formed in the wake of the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott of 19551956. King and two other ministers, Charles K. Steele and Fred L. Shuttlesworth, issued a call for clergymen who wanted to press for civil rights to meet in Atlanta early in 1957. Sixty black ministers from ten states came to set up the coordinating group for the regional movement; they elected King SCLC's first president, with the Reverend Ralph Abernathy as treasurer. The organization accomplished little in the next three years but was galvanized into action by the spreading movement, mostly among college students, to conduct sit-ins at cafeterias and lunch counters that would not serve blacks. King  < previous page page_1008 next page >