As previously noted, the Pilgrims had planned to land in Northern Virginia where they had a patent to settle; but they had drifted off course and ended up in Cape Cod. Because the immigrants were concerned that they had no legal rights to settle there, the men drew up the Mayflower Compact before they left the ship. It was a social contract which established a set of rules for self-government and obliged the people in the settlement to abide by the laws of the government created. “The General Court was a gathering of all the freemen, that is, men who were allowed to vote, in the colony. It met in the local meetinghouse about four times a year. The court had the authority to pass laws, impose taxes and hold criminal trials. The standards for admitting Freemen were much more lenient that they were in the later Massachusetts Bay Colony and did not require church membership. A man had to be elected to this privilege by the General Court.
“The Plymouth Colony never received a legal charter from the king and based its existence as a self-governing colony completely on the Mayflower Compact and two land patents it received from the New England Council in 1621 and 1630.” (https://historyofmassachusetts.org/plymouth-colony-government/)
The Massachusetts Bay Colony had received a royal charter from King Charles I which allowed it to become a self-governing commonwealth.
In Notes Concerning the Early “Freemen” in New England, it says:
“On the 19th of Oct. 1630, the first [Puritan] General Court was held in Massachusetts. It was attended, not by elected representatives, “but by everyone that was free {i.e. not slaves or indentured servants}, of the corporation, in person. None had been admitted freemen since they left England. It was ordered that for the future, the freemen should choose the assistants, and the assistants, from among themselves, choose the governor and the deputy governor. The court of assistants was to have the power of making laws and appointing officers. This was a departure from their charter. One hundred and nine freemen were admitted at this court, (William Blaxton being the first to take the oath.) …The next General Court was the court of election for 1631. The scale was now turned, and the freemen resolved to choose both governor, deputy and assistants, notwithstanding the former vote, and made an order that, for the time to come, none should be admitted to the freedom of the body politic [but such as had been examined for their religious views and formally admitted to their (Congregational) church.
It was the “freemen” who had the right of suffrage. After 1631, a man had to demonstrate that he was a member in good standing of a Congregational church, that he had property amounting to 200L, or income the equivalent of the interest which would be produced by an investment of 200 L, and he had to take the Freeman’s Oath before the General or Quarterly Court and be admitted to become a freeman in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
The Freeman’s Oath said:
“I (A. B.) being by God’s providence an Inhabitant and Freeman, within the Jurisdiction of this Commonwealth; do freely acknowledge my self to be subject to the Government thereof: And therefore do swear by the great and dreadful Name of the Ever-living God that I will be true and faithful to the same, and will accordingly yield assistance and support thereunto, with my person and estate, as in equity I am bound; and will also truly endeavor to maintain and preserve all the liberties and privileges thereof , submitting my self to the wholesome Lawes and Orders made and established by the same. And further that I will not plot or practice any evil against it, or consort with any that shall so do; but will timely discover and reveal the same to lawfull Authority now here established, for the speedy preventing thereof.
Moreover, I do solemnly bind myself in the eyes of God, that when I shall be called to give my voice touching any such matter of this State, in which Freemen are to deal, I will give my vote and suffrage as I shall judge in mine own conscience may best conduce and tend to the public weal of the body, So help me God in the name of Jesus Christ.”
Initially, any male on first entering into a colony, or just recently having become a member of one of the local churches, was considered common, not formally free. There was an unstated probationary period that the prospective "freeman" needed to go through,– usually one to two years –in which 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 theoretically could be put to death. If they passed, they were allowed their freedom. A Freeman was said to be free of all debt, “owing nothing to anyone except God Himself.”
The freemen of each town elected Selectmen to govern their town. The government of the Colony was headed by an elected governor and a deputy governor. Each town chose two deputies to the General Court which served as both a legislative and judicial body.
When King Charles II was restored to the English Throne after Cromwell’s civil war, he moved to bring the American colonies under direct crown control and revoked the Massachusetts charter in June of 1684. The Plymouth Colony and the Massachusetts Bay
Colony were joined with other colonies to form the Dominion of New England. When Charles II died, he was succeeded by James II, who continued his efforts. In 1686, Sir Edmund Andros was appointed governor. He was met with resentment and subversion
by the colonists. When news reached New England that James II had been deposed and replaced by his daughter, Mary II, and her husband, William III of Orange, during the Glorious Revolution, a mob gathered in Boston, demanding the surrender of Andros.
He and other Dominion officials were arrested and imprisoned on April 18, 1689, and previous authorities such as Simon Bradstreet were reinstated. However, that left both the Plymouth Colony and the Massachusetts Bay Colony without a legal foundation
for their governments. Representatives of both colonies negotiated with King William and the Lords of Trade, who decided to combine the two colonies to prevent a return to Puritan rule. The Province of Massachusetts Bay was created by the Charter of 1691. Under its provisions, a governor, deputy-governor, and twelve assistants were elected annually by the colonists. Towns throughout Massachusetts sent two representatives to a General Assembly, which met twice a year to discuss and pass laws, as well as hear and rule on judicial cases.
Despite such democratic practices, freedom and political involvement was limited as the vote was restricted to male freemen, excluding women and Native Americans. African slaves were allowed a certain amount of self-government, as many communities in Massachusetts allowed slaves to continue the tradition of electing their own rulers. This was formalized in a system of “Black Kings” who helped govern and acted as representatives of the slave communities within the local government. Native American tribes such as the Wampanoag, the Mohegan, the Wangunk, and the Pequot continued to follow the customs of their tribes, occasionally forming alliances and confederations with neighboring tribes.
The following 85 years was marked by a growing distrust between the colonists of Massachusetts and the British government in London, especially as Britain passed a number of unpopular taxes to pay for the military protection they provided for the colonies during the French and Indian Wars. Polarizing events such as the Boston Tea Party and the Boston Massacre helped galvanize the public against the Crown.
This distrust and dissatisfaction eventually led to the American Revolution towards the end of the seventeenth century, though loyalties in Massachusetts were mixed. Many of those who followed the Congregationalist Church became Patriots while Anglicans remained loyal to the Crown. Massachusetts produced notable revolutionary leaders during this era, including Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and John Adams. In 1780, John Adams helped write a new constitution for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which would later inspire the United States Constitution.
NEHG Register 3: 41, L.R. Paige, Notes Concerning the Early “Freemen” in New England