Freeman is a term derived from 12th century Europe and is common as a colonial expression of America in the Puritan period. In Massachusetts Bay Colony, a man must become a member of the Church to become a free man; in the adjacent Plymouth Colony, a man does not need to be a member of the Church, but he must be elected for this privilege by the General Court. Being a freeman brings the right to vote, and only free people can choose in Plymouth in 1632.
Black Legal Dictionary (9th edition) defines Freeman as follows:
1. A person who owns and enjoys all civil and political rights belonging to the people under a free government.
2. A person who is not a slave.
3. Hist. A member of a township company (city or borough) that has full civil rights, in particular. the right to vote.
4. Hist. A freedom holder. Cf. BUDAK BELIAN. 5. Hist. An allodial landowner. Cf. FOLLOWERS. - Free men also written.
"Freedom" is obtained after a specified time, or after the person requesting "payment" is satisfied. This is known as indentured slavery, and was originally not intended as stigma or shame for the people involved; many of the sons and daughters of the rich and famous at the time found themselves being forced into temporary servitude, Gary Nash reported that "many servants are actually nephews, nephews, cousins ​​and children of friends of English people emigrating, who pay their trip in return for their work once in America. "
The contract employee will sign an approved contract to serve for a certain number of years, usually five or seven years. Many immigrants to the colony come as contract workers, with others paying their way to the Colonies in exchange for the promise of service. At the end of his service, according to the contract, the required servant will usually be given some money, new clothes, land, or maybe a trip back to England. The required servant is not the same as an apprentice or child "placed outside."
Once a man is made free and is no longer considered public, he can become a member of the church (and will usually do so) and he can own the land. The amount of land it can have is sometimes determined by how many members there are in the family. As a free man, he becomes a member of the governing body, which meets in annual or semiannual meetings (city meetings) to create and enforce the law and provide judgments on civil and criminal matters. As the colony grew, the meeting became impractical and a representative bicameral system was developed. Free people will elect the vice-governor who forms the upper house in the General Court, and the assistant governor who forms the lower house, who elects the governor of their ranks and issues judgments on civil and criminal matters. To hold one of these offices, of course it takes a person to become a free man. Thus, voters and office holders who are eligible to vote are male landowners. Non-Puritans are not made free.
Video Freeman (Colonial)
Progress to freeman
Initially, a man was not officially considered free when he first entered the colony, or had recently become a member of one of the local churches; he is considered ordinary. Such people were never forced to work for others, but their movements were carefully observed, and if they abandoned the Puritan idealism, they were asked to leave the colony.
There is an unspecified probation, usually one to two years, that the "free man" candidate needs to get through, and he is allowed his freedom if he passes this probation. A Freeman is said to be free of all debts, because there is nothing else but God Himself.
Maps Freeman (Colonial)
Free creators
A "free planter" (as opposed to "free man") is any landowner owning the land directly which is usually given to him by the colony after he completes his probation, except in cases where the landowner inherits the property. But if he is deemed incompetent by law, does not pass his probation, or else loses his freedom through some of his own responsibilities, he will own the land and his possessions confiscated and redistributed among the free remaining persons, even if his heir is a citizen well who are respected.
Oath of a freeman
Initially, all those who seek to be free are required to take the Oath of a Freeman, in which they vow to defend the Commonwealth and not conspire to overthrow the government. The first handwritten version of "Freeman's Oath" was made in 1634; it was printed by Stephen Daye in 1639 in the form of a flyer or a piece of paper intended for posting in public places.
Further reading
- Nathaniel Bradstreet Shurtleff, MD, editor of Records of the Governor and Company of Massachusetts Bay in New England (1853-54, 5 volumes) [mainly volumes 1-3, and a list of "free people "]
- James Truslow Adams, LLD, The Founing of New England (1927)
- James Hammond Trumbull, The True-Blue Laws of Connecticut and New Haven and the False Blue Law Invented by Rev. Samuel Peters (1876)
- Theophilus Eaton, et al. New Haven settlements in New England and some laws for published Government for the Use of the Colony (1656) [or reasonable facsimile edition of the "Blue" Law "New Haven or Connecticut]
- Silas Andrus, Code 1650 [of Conn.] added some extracts from the Law and Judicial Process of the New-Haven Colony. Generally called the Blue Law (1822)
- John Fiske, Beginning of New England or Puritan Theocracy in Relation to Civil and Religious Freedom (1889, 1898 edition)
- Francis J. Bremer, Puritan Trial (1976)
- Lucias R. Paige, Massachusetts Freemen's List 1631-1691 (1849, 1988 edition)
- Robert A Menard Bursting the Government's fraud bubble (2005)
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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