Freemans Oath

Whereas I [A. B.] being an inhabitant of the Jurisdiction of the Massachusets, and now to be made free. Do hereby acknowledge my selfe to be subject to the Government thereof (Considering how I stand obliged to the Kings Majesty, his Heires and Successors, by our Charter and the Government established thereby Do Swear accordingly, by the Great and Dreadfull Name of the Ever-Living GOD, that I will bear Faith and true Alegiance to our Soveraigne Lord the King, his heires and Successors,) and that I will be true and Faithfull to the same, and will accordingly yeild Assistance and Support thereunto with my person and estate, as in equity I am bound; And will also truely endeavour to maintain and preserve all the Liberties and priviledges thereof, submitting my selfe to the wolesome Laws made and established by the same.

And farther that I will not Plot nor Practice any Evill against it, or consent to any that shall so do, but will timely discover and reveal the same to Lawfull Authority now here established, for the speedy prevention thereof.

Moreover I do Solemnly bind my selfe in the sight of God, that when I shall be called to give my Voyce touching any such matter of this State wherein Freemen are to deal, I will give my Vote and Suffrage as I shall in mine own Conscience judge best to conduce and tend to the Publick Weale of the body, without respect of persons or favour of any man. So help me God in our Lord Jesus Christ. [1665.]

The oath of the Goūnor, Dept Goūnor, & other publicke officers, to runne thus:—

Whereas I, A. B., am chosen Gouernor, &c., considering how I stand obliged to the kings majesty, his heires & successors, by our charter and the gouerment here established thereby, doe sweare, &c, as aboue. [1665.]

In their demand for changes in the 1660 Book of the General Laws and Liberties, the Commissioners in their 14th section proposed: “That, page 33, ‘none be admitted freemen but such as are members of some of the churches wth in the limitts of this jurisdiction’ may be explained, & comp̄hend such as are members of ye church of England.”

At the General Court of 23 May, 1666.

It is ordered that the Secretary, at the request of all such as are admitted to the freedome of this Colony or any in their behalf, give a true copy out of this Courts Records, of their names, by them to be delivered to the clerks or recorders of those Courts in the severall Counties to which they do belong, with a copy of the Oath of Freemen as it is now stated, that they may there take their Oathes &c. [1666.]

At the General Court of 15 October, 1673:

As an addition to the Law, title Freemen, section the third, it is ordered by this Court and the authority thereof that henceforth the names of such as desire to be admitted to the freedome of this Com̄on-wealth, not being members of churches in full comunion, shall be entred wth the secretary, from tjme to tjme, at the Court of election, and read ouer before the whole Court sometime that sessions and shall not be put to vote in the Court till the Court of election next followg. [1673.]

This order of Court was repealed 9 February 1682/3.

Att a Generall Court, held at Boston, 10th of October, 1677.

Whereas many secret attempts haue binn lately made by euil minded persons to set fire in the toune of Boston and other places, tending to the destruction of the whole, this Court doeth account it their duty to vse all lawfull meanes to discouer such persons and prevent the like for time to come.

Bee it therefore ordered & enacted by this Court and the Authority thereof, That the Law, title Oathes and Subscriptions, page 120 sect. 2., requiring all persons, as well inhabitants as strangers, (that have not taken it) to take the Oath of Fidelity to the Country, be revived and put in practice through this Jurisdiction. And for the more effectual execution thereof, It is ordered by this Court; That the select men, Constables, and Tithing-men, in every town do, once every quarter of a year so proportion and divide the precincts of each town, and go from house to house, and take an exact list of the Names, quality and callings of every person, whether Inhabitant or Stranger, that have not taken the said Oath, and cannot make due proof thereof; and the Officers aforesaid are hereby required forthwith to return the names of such persons unto the next magistrate, or County Court, or chief military officer in the town where no Magistrate is, who are required to give such persons the said Oath prescribed in the Law, wherein not only Fidelity to the Country, but Allegiance to our King, is required; And all such as take the said oath shall be Recorded and Enrolled in the County Records by the clerk of each County Court. And all such as refuse to take the said Oath, they shall be proceeded against as the said Law directs. And further, this Court doth Declare; That all such refusers to take the said Oath shall not have the benefit of our Laws to Implead, Sue, or recover any Debt in any Court or Courts within this Jurisdiction, nor have protection from this Government whilest they continue in such obstinate refusal.

And furthermore, It is Ordered; That if any Officer intrusted with the Execution of this Order, do, neglect, or omit his or their duty therein, they shall be fined according to their demerits, not exceeding five pounds for one offence, being complained of, or presented to the County Courts or Court of Assistants, And this Law to be forthwith Printed and Published, and effectually executed from and after the last of November next. And that all persons that administer the Oath abovesaid, shall in like manner make return of the Names of such persons so sworn to the respective Clerks of the County Courts. Made October 10, 1677.

Att the second sessions of the Gen̄ll Court held at Boston, 2 October, 1678.

Whereas it hath pleased his most excellent Majesty, our gracious king by his letter bearing date the twenty-seventh of Aprill, 1678, to signifie his Royall pleasure, That the Authority of this his Colony of Massachusetts in New-England, do give forth Orders that the Oath of Allegiance, as it is by Law established within his Kingdome of England, be administred and taken by all his subjects within this Colony who are of years to take an oath:

In Obedience whereunto, and as a demonstration of our Loyalty; It is ordered and enacted by this Court and the Authority thereof, that, as the members of this Court now sitting have readily taken the Oath of Allegiance, so, by their Example and Authority, they do require and command that the same Oath be given and taken by all his Majesties subjects within this Jurisdiction that are of sixteen years of age and upwards. And to the end this Order be duely executed, it is hereby Ordered, that a convenient number of printed Copies of the said Oath of Allegiance, exactly agreeing with the written copy inclosed in his majesties Letter, and signed by the Secretary of State, to be sent forth unto every Magistrate and Justice of peace, and to the Constable of every town within this Jurisdiction.

And it is further Ordered that the Magistrates and Justices, or such as are Commissioned with Magistratical Authority in every County of this Colony do with all convenient speed repair to the several Towns and Villages within this Jurisdiction, at such time, and in such order as they best may, and accomplish the same; giving forth their warrant to the Constables of each Town to convene all the inhabitants of the Age abovesaid, and taking their names in writing, administer the said Oath of Allegiance to each of them, and return their Names to the Recorder of each County Court to be enrolled. And if any shall refuse to take the said Oath, or absent themselves unless in case of sickness, the Names of such shall be returned to the Recorder of the County, who are to be proceeded against by the County Courts respectively, for the first offence whereof he is legally convicted, to pay such a fine as the County Court shall impose, not exceeding five pounds, or three Moneths Imprisonment in the common prison or house of Correction: And for the second offence whereof he shall be lawfully convicted, what summe the County Court shall inflict, provided it exceed not ten pounds, or six Moneths Imprisonment without Baile, or Mainprise. [1678.]

The officials of the Government, ignoring the copy of the Oath of Allegiance given them by the royal commissioners, took the Oath in Court as it is given in Michael Dalton’s “The Countrey Justice,”—a work of much esteem in its time, which passed through some ten or eleven editions, three of which are in the valuable Library of this Society, and one of them, there is reason to believe, may have been the volume used in this historical incident,—all of them declaring that the same is to be understood as not infringing the liberties and privileges granted in his Majesty’s royal Charter to this Colony of the Massachusetts.

Regarding the manner of taking the Oath; the New England custom was by holding up the right hand, as opposed to the custom in England of holding, or laying the hand on the Bible, or kissing it. This was one of the irritating questions in dispute between the Colonists and the Andros faction. Samuel Sewall, in his Diary, under date of June 11, 1686, says: “I read the Oath myself holding the book in my left hand, and holding up my right hand to Heaven.” And, in 1687, Increase Mather discoursed on the “laying the hand on and kissing the booke in swearing.” This question continued to irritate, and was one of the predisposing causes of the Revolutionary War in the Province of New York. In 1772, a Bill was lost in Council, “For Removing Doubts in the administration of Oaths.” This Bill was designed to favor a number of people, chiefly from Scotland and the north of Ireland, who held conscientious scruples against the present legal form of kissing the Bible; and allow them to use the form in use in Scotland and the New England Colonies of lifting up the right hand. The weight of Episcopal authority denied them this right.

In the colonization of New England the figure of John Winthrop looms colossal. Given time, he would have built an Empire whose only ruler would have been the Lord of Hosts. He can hardly be called a Puritan—his conversion came too late—but he was a Congregationalist. His method was so simple as to be open to the understanding of anyone, but it was a firm principle of government. As an illustration: when he was appealed to by a small group of settlers near the border line of New Hampshire for information as to how they could become freemen of the Colony of Massachusetts-Bay, his reply was: “Get a Minister.” When they answered that they had no Minister, and did not know where to get one, again came back his uncompromising reply: “Get a Minister.” In this reply rested his whole system of colonization. It was simplicity itself. The English Government recognized its power when, by Proclamation, they endeavored to prevent the emigration of Puritan Ministers from England. “Get a Minister!” Gather about him! Build him a church, and homes for yourselves and families. This done, you have a Plantation. When you have thus qualified to become freemen, and have taken the Oath of a Freeman, you will be entitled to hold office; assist in framing laws, and enforcing those already made; and, as members of the Commonwealth, be assured that all your rights will be protected. This principle of government was firm, but not repellent. If you could not conform to it there was no reason for remaining among them. The world was wide enough for every one. And you could go to Maine, or Rhode Island. Under it was formed a government that has never been equalled in prosperity, morality and all that makes for happiness. No less a personage than Hugh Peters has declared that in the six years of his residence in the Colony of Massachusetts-Bay, he had never seen a drunken man or heard a profane oath.

The limits of their territory they continually enlarged by firmly insisting upon the border lines of their Patent, and even stretching them when near some natural boundary; by purchasing the rights of New Plymouth in the Colony of Maine, for 400 pounds, they added a tract of seven hundred square miles; by the purchase of the Gorges Patent, for 1,250 pounds sterling, they acquired a jurisdiction over the rest of the Province of Maine which made it a District of Massachusetts down to the year 1820. There has been a good deal of sympathy, and many unnecessary tears have been shed over the so-called banishment of Roger Williams to Rhode Island; but it was his friend, John Winthrop, who whispered in his ear the desirability of the location of the Providence Plantations. And there was no reason why Roger Williams could not have gone out from Salem with head erect, and with his gaze fixed on the stars, as every good missionary should go, knowing that the powers of the government of Massachusetts-Bay was as much behind his settlement, without an Oath, as it was behind the colonists of Connecticut, and New Haven, who had gone out from Cambridge, Watertown and Roxbury, carrying with them the Oath of a Freeman as a principle of their governments. In the Union of the Colonies of Massachusetts-Bay, New Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven, of which John Winthrop was the first President, a new idea was advanced in his system of government, which eventually attained greater results.

It cannot be said that John Winthrop accomplished these things unaided. There were others who ably assisted him, whose names, also, should be held in honored remembrance. But through it all, can be seen the firm, directing mind and purpose of a man whose vision looked beyond his present to a future, and a Republic that was to be.

And this is why our people should look upon The Oath of a Freeman, which was his work, not alone as the glorious first fruit of the Printing-Press in this Country; but also as a great state paper which accomplished without bloodshed, on a smaller scale it is true, all that was achieved, one hundred and thirty-seven years later, after seven years of warfare, through the Declaration of Independence.

In Connecticut and New Haven Colonies.

The colonists of Connecticut, in the main, followed closely the general system of laws of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, from which they had emigrated. Their form of government was theocratic, the Oath of a Freeman being the test of citizenship. The settlers of Windsor, who came from Dorchester with John Warham, in 1635, did not, however, make church membership a necessary qualification for holding civil office.

The settlers of Guilford, who were joined to New Haven Colony, exercised their powers of government by a system which conformed to the grant from Lord Say and Brook to Theophilus Eaton and his company. Like that at New Haven it was an aristocracy, but modelled in a singular way. As a part of New Haven Colony they were entitled to one Magistrate, who was their head and invested with the whole executive and judicial power. The settlers were divided into two classes, freemen and planters. The freemen could consist only of those who were church members, and partook of the sacrament. They were all under oath agreeably to their form of government. Out of their number were chosen three or four deputies to sit with the Magistrate in General Courts, and all public officers. The planters consisted of all inhabitants above the age of twenty-one years, with a certain estate, which qualified them to vote in town meetings.

5 to Apr 1638. A genrall Cort at Hartford.

Forasmuch as it has pleased the Allmighty God by the wise disposition of his diuyne pruidence so to Order and dispose of things that we the Inhabitants and Residents of Windsor, Hartford and Wethersfield are now cohabiting and dwelling in and vppon the River of Conectecotte and the Lands thereunto adioyneing; And well knowing where a people are gathered togather the word of God requires that to mayntayne the peace and vnion of such a people there should be an orderly and decent Gouerment established according to God, to order and dispose of the affayres of the people at all seasons as occation shall require: doe therefore assotiate and conioyne our selues to be as one publike State or Com̄onwelth; and doe, for our selues and our Successors and such as shall be adioyned to vs att any tyme hereafter, enter into Combination and Confederation togather, to mayntayne and prsearue the liberty and purity of the gospell of our Lord Jesus wch we now prfesse, as also the disciplyne of the Churches wch according to the truth of the said gospell is now practiced amongst vs; As also in or Ciuill Affaires to be guided and gouerned according to such Lawes, Rules, Orders and decrees as shall be made, ordered & decreed, as followeth: [The eleven Fundamentalls.] [1638.]

In Connecticut, it would appear that the Oath of Fidelity required of all that were admitted freemen up to July 1640, was as follows: