Oath of a Freeman

"The Oath of a Free-Man" from New-England’s Jonas Cast Up at London (1647), pages 24-25

The “Oath of a Freeman” was a loyalty pledge required of all new members of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1630s.[1] Printed as a broadside by Stephen Daye in 1639, it is the first document from a printing press known to have been produced in the present day United States. No copies are known to exist, but the text is known from a handwritten copy and two books, New-England’s Jonas Cast Up at London (1647) and Massachusetts’s General Lawes and Libertyes (1648).[2]

A supposed original printing of the document surfaced in 1985,[1] but it was later revealed to be the work of forger Mark Hofmann.[3]

  1. ^ a b McDowell 1985.
  2. ^ Steers, Edward (2013). Hoax: Hitler's Diaries, Lincoln's Assassins, and Other Famous Frauds. University Press of Kentucky. p. 23. ISBN 978-0-8131-4159-6.
  3. ^ Lindsey 1987.