1765 Apparel Co · American-Made
An Appeal to Heaven — Sons of Liberty
When there's no earthly court left to hear you — when the men in power have made themselves judge, jury, and crown — one appeal still...
The Story Behind the Shirt
When there's no earthly court left to hear you — when the men in power have made themselves judge, jury, and crown — one appeal still stands open. John Locke called it the appeal to Heaven. The colonists raised it on a flag: a single pine tree over four words, An Appeal to Heaven, flown by Washington's ships as they sailed out to face an empire. This back-print sets that flag inside a crest — the Liberty Tree crowned with the Cross, banners above and below, and the name of the men who started it all in 1765: the Sons of Liberty.
Rooted Below, Appealing Above
Look at the cross at the top of the tree. That's the whole argument in one image. The Sons of Liberty never claimed their rights came from Parliament — or even from themselves. They claimed they came from God, and that no king could revoke what Heaven had granted. So when the courts closed and the petitions went unanswered, they made their appeal higher than any throne. Liberty rooted in the earth, answering to Heaven above it. That's not rebellion for its own sake. It's a free man refusing to call any earthly power his god.
Built on the Bayside 5100
Printed on the Bayside 5100 — a 6.1 oz, 100% pre-shrunk cotton heavyweight tee, made in the USA. Shoulder-to-shoulder taping, double-needle hems, full cut. A substantial American-made shirt built to take a beating and hold its shape wash after wash, not a thin promotional blank. You'll feel the difference the first time you put it on.
From the 1765 Family
Designed by 1765 Apparel Co. in partnership with 1765 Sanctum Co. — built for men who fear God and bow to no earthly crown. Altar. Arms. Allegiance. Kneel only to Heaven.
1765apparelco.com · 1765sanctumco.com
The History Behind the Mark
Before it flew over a ship, the phrase sat in a law book. John Locke’s Second Treatise of Government (1690) laid down the doctrine: when free men are wronged and have no appeal on earth, they are left to the only remedy in such cases — an appeal to heaven. Locke took it from Jephthah in the Book of Judges, who exhausted every negotiation with the Ammonites and then took his case to the only court left: “The Lord the Judge be judge this day” (Judges 11:27). The motto is not a sigh. It is a filing in a court no king controls.
October 1775. Washington commands an army with no navy, so he arms a handful of schooners to raid British supply ships off Boston. His secretary, Colonel Joseph Reed, writes from Cambridge proposing their ensign: “a flag with a white ground, a tree in the middle, the motto ‘Appeal to Heaven’.” Two months earlier, redcoats and Loyalists had taken axes to Boston’s Liberty Tree — the elm where the Sons of Liberty had rallied since the Stamp Act fight of 1765, the year we wear as our name. They felled one tree on land; another was already headed to sea. Massachusetts wrote the pine and the motto into her navy’s official colors the following April.
The cross of light crowning this pine is ours, and it makes explicit what the motto always assumed: an appeal only matters if the Judge is real. The men who flew this flag had petitioned king and Parliament for a decade and meant the words literally — when every earthly docket closed, they filed upward. Two hundred fifty years on, that court has not adjourned.
Asked Straight
Is "An Appeal to Heaven" a real Revolutionary flag, or a modern slogan?
Real, and older than the country. The motto comes from John Locke's Second Treatise of Government (1690), and in October 1775 Washington's secretary Joseph Reed proposed the white-field pine flag as the ensign for the schooners Washington sent against British supply ships — Massachusetts made it her state navy's official colors the next April. Nothing on this shirt came out of a marketing meeting.
How does a 6.1 oz heavyweight tee actually fit and feel?
Substantial. This is the Bayside 5100 — 6.1 ounces of 100% US-grown cotton with shoulder-to-shoulder taping and double-needle hems, built in a full classic cut, not slim-fashion. The cotton is preshrunk, so order your normal size; it breaks in like good denim and holds its shape instead of bagging out.
Is it really made in America, or just designed here?
Dirt to shirt. The cotton is grown in American soil, the blank is knit, cut, and sewn in the USA by Bayside, and your shirt is printed to order in the USA. Plenty of patriot-branded tees are printed on imported blanks — this isn't one of them.
- Dirt to ShirtCotton grown, spun, knit & sewn on American soil.
- Veteran-OwnedFounded by a combat veteran — a continuation of an oath.
- Printed to OrderPressed in the States when you order. Built to last.
Size & Fit
Heavyweight Bayside 5100 — 6.1 oz, 100% U.S.-grown cotton, true dirt-to-shirt. Front & back print.
Fit: classic unisex cut that runs true to size. Prefer a relaxed, lived-in drape? Order one size up.
| Size | Chest width | Body length |
|---|---|---|
| S | 18 | 26 |
| M | 20 | 28 |
| L | 22 | 29 |
| XL | 24 | 30 |
| 2XL | 26 | 31 |
| 3XL | 28 | 32 |
Shipping & Returns
Made to order and shipped from the U.S., typically within 5–7 business days. Free U.S. shipping over $55. 30-day returns on unworn items — no restocking fee (customer covers return shipping).
Care
Machine wash cold, inside out. Tumble dry low. Do not iron directly on the print. Made to outlast a decade of wear.