Oath of a Freeman

[1] Stephen Daye was an English locksmith who sailed to Boston in 1638 with a Puritan cleric who had smuggled a printing press on board the ship.

And I will always endeavor (as in duty I am bound) to advance the peace and welfare of this body or commonwealth, to my utmost skill and ability.

And I will, to my best power and means, seek to divert and prevent whatsoever may tend to ruin or damage thereof, or of any the said Governor, Deputy Governor, or Assistants, or any of them, or their successors, and will give speedy notice to them, or some of them, of any sedition, violence, treachery, or other hurt or evil, which I shall know, hear, or vehemently suspect, to be plotted or intended against the said commonwealth, or the said Government established.

being by Gods 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 here swear by the great and dreadful Name of the Ever-living God, that I will be true and faithfull to the same, and will accordingly yield assistance & 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 priviledges thereof, submitting my self to the wholesome Lawes & Orders made and established by the same.

Moreover, I doe solemnly bind my self in the sight of God, that when I shal be called to give my voyce touching any 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 publike weal of the body, So help me God in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thus, there was considerable interest when a rare-documents dealer, Mark Hofmann, claimed to have found a broadside of the “Oath” in a New York bookstore in 1985.

In 1985, Hofmann's print of the “Oath” was offered for sale to both the Library of Congress and the American Antiquarian Society, at a reported asking price of US$1.5 million.

Both organizations wanted to undertake further testing of the “Oath” to determine its authenticity and remained interested in acquiring the document despite some troubling events after its discovery.

The deception began to unravel when Steven Christensen, a prominent leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and one of Hofmann's customers, was killed by a pipe bomb left at his office in downtown Salt Lake City in October 1985.