Free Planter
A "free planter" as opposed to a "freeman", was any one singular land holder, who possessed land outright that was usually given to him by the colony after he had finished his probationary period – except of course in those cases where the land owner had inherited his property; but if he was deemed legally incompetent, didn't pass his probationary period, or again lost his freedom through some irresponsibility of his own, he would have had his land and property confiscated from him and redistributed amongst the remaining freemen even if the inheritor was a well-respected citizen.
Read more about this topic: Freeman (Colonial)
Famous quotes containing the word free:
“Who are we? And for what are we going to fight? Are we the titled slaves of George the Third? The military conscripts of Napoleon the Great? Or the frozen peasants of the Russian Czar? No—we are the free born sons of America; the citizens of the only republic now existing in the world; and the only people on earth who possess rights, liberties, and property which they dare call their own.”
—Andrew Jackson (1767–1845)