Progression To Freeman
Initially, any male first entering into a colony, or just recently having become a member of one of the local churches, was formally not free. They were considered common. Such persons were never forced to work for another individual, per se, but their movements were carefully observed, and if they veered from the Puritanical ideal, they were asked to leave the colony. If they stayed or later returned to the colony, they were put to death.
There was an unstated probationary period that the prospective "freeman" needed to go through, and if he did pass this probationary period of time – usually one to two years – he was allowed his freedom.
A Freeman was said to be free of all debt, owing nothing to anyone except God Himself.
Read more about this topic: Freeman (Colonial)
Famous quotes containing the words progression and/or freeman:
“Measured by any standard known to science—by horse-power, calories, volts, mass in any shape,—the tension and vibration and volume and so-called progression of society were full a thousand times greater in 1900 than in 1800;Mthe force had doubled ten times over, and the speed, when measured by electrical standards as in telegraphy, approached infinity, and had annihilated both space and time. No law of material movement applied to it.”
—Henry Brooks Adams (1838–1918)
“I am a freeman and jolly as a beggar.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)