Up to August, 1630, the business of the Massachusetts-Bay Company was transacted in London. But the business of the Massachusetts-Bay Colony may be said to have really begun in May, 1631.
At “A Genrall Court holden att Boston, the 18th day of May, 1631. John Winthrop, Esq̃ was chosen Gounr for a whole yeare nexte ensueinge by the genrall consent of the Court, according to the meaneing of the pattent, and did accordingly take an oathe to the place of Goun̄r belonginge.”
“Tho: Dudley, Esq̃, is also chosen Deputy Gouñr for this yeare nexte ensuing, & did in prsence of the Court take an oath to his place belonginge.” And “to the end the body of the com̄ons may be prserued of honest & good men, it was likewise ordered and agreed that for time to come noe man shalbe admitted to the freedome of this body polliticke, but such as are members of some of the churches within the lymitts of the same.”
The Law that all freemen must be church members, while assented to in Salem in 1631, was modified in 1632, probably for local reasons, that no civil magistrate could be an elder in the church.
To give force to this law an Oath of Freemen was required, and this service the newly appointed Governor and the Deputy Governor elected to perform. The result of their labors, the original draft of the Oath of a Freeman, in the handwriting of the first and greatest of the Governors of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and the Oath of a Servant, in the handwriting of the second Governor—a document perhaps only surpassed in historical interest and importance by, and worthy to rank with, the Declaration of Independence—is now, appropriately, in the possession of the Public Library of the City of Boston, and its preservation assured.
Through the courtesy of the Trustees, this Society is permitted again to give publicity to the excellent facsimiles of these interesting documents, together with transcriptions of the somewhat obscure handwriting, with interlineations and cancelled words showing, line for line, the changes made by the authors, which first appeared in the Bulletin of the Library for July, 1894.
The Oath of a Freeman, or of a Man to be made ffree.
I, A. B. &c. being, by the Almighties most wise disposic̄on, become a membr of this body, consisting of the Goūnr, Deputy Goūnr, Assistants, & a comnlty of the Mattachusets in Newe England, doe, freely & sincerely acknowledge that I am iustly & lawfully subject to the goūmt of the same, & doe accordingly submitt my pson & estate to be ptected, ordered, & goūned by the lawes & constituc̄ons thereof, & doe faithfully pmise to be from time to time obedient & conformeable therevnto, & to the authie of the said Goūnr & Assistants & their successrs, & to all such lawes, orders, sentences, & decrees as shalbe lawfully made & published by them or their successors; and I will alwaies indeavr (as in dutie I am bound) to advance the peace & wellfaire of this bodie or com̄onwealth to my vtmost skill & abilitie; & I will, to my best power & meanes, seeke to devert & prevent whatsoeuer may tend to the ruyne or damage thereof, or of any the said Goūnr, Deputy Goūnr, or Assistants, or any of them, or their successrs, and will giue speedy notice to them, or some of them, of any sedic̄on, violence, treachery, or other hurt or euill which I shall knowe, heare, or vehemtly suspecte to be plotted or intended against the said com̄onwealth, or the said goumt established; and I will not att any time suffer or giue consent to any counsell or attempt that shalbe offered giuen, or attempted for the impeachmt of the said goūmt, or makeing any change or alterac̄on of the same, contrary to the lawes & ordinances thereof, but shall doe my vtmost endeavr to discover, oppose, & hinder, all & eūy such counsell & attempts. Soe helpe me God. [1631.]
Fac-simile of the Freemen’s Oath
The oath of a servt.
I. N. N. servt of &c. haveinge heard and vnderstoode that our—soveraigne Lord Kinge Charles hath by his łres patents vnder the great seale of England graunted power and aucthoryty vnto a Governor a Deputy Governor &. 18. Assistants to rule governe & Judge all ꝑsones wch doe or shall inhabyte in or betweene the Charles ryver &. 3. myles southward & merimack ryver &. 3. myles northwards in new England & soe westwards to the south sea, beinge wthin wch compa lymitts I doe nowe—inhabyt
Doe promise to be at all tymes hereafter Dureinge my abode in America to be obedyent to all lawes orders constitutions & comaunds wch by the s b said Governor Deputy Governor and assistants for the tyme being or the greater ꝑte of them shall be lawfully made or given—forth & shall come to my k heareinge, And to be true and faith full to them & their governemt, And I likewise promise that if I shall know heare of or heare of or suspect of any hurt or losse intended against any of them I will reveale the same to one or more of them wth all convenyent—speede, And to bind my selfe to the faithfull ꝑformance of this promise, I sweare by the name of the onely true God the lover of truth & the avenger of falshood