What is "freeborn"

Freeborn \Free"born`\, a. Born free; not born in vassalage; inheriting freedom.

a. born free rather than in bondage or as a slave

adj. born free of free parents

"Freeborn" is a term associated with political agitator John Lilburne (1614–1657), a member of the Levellers, a 17th-century English political party. As a word, "freeborn" means to be born free, rather than to be born in slavery or bondage or vassalage. Lilburne argued for basic human rights that he termed "freeborn rights", which he defined as being rights that every human being is born with, as opposed to rights bestowed by government or by human law. John Lilburne's concept of freeborn rights, and the writings of Richard Overton another Leveller, may have influenced the concept of unalienable rights, (Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.) mentioned in the United States Declaration of Independence.

Other historians, according to Edward Ashbee, consider that it was not the tradition of "Freeborn Englishmen", as espoused by Lilburne, Overton, John Milton and John Locke, that was the major influence on the concept of unalienable rights in the United States Declaration of Independence, but rather "an attempt to recreate 'civic republicanism' established in classical Greece and Rome".

" Freeborn" is a term associated with political agitator John Lilburne (1614–1657).

Freeborn may also refer to:

• Free negro
• Free people of color
• Freeborn (name)
• Freeborn County, Minnesota, a county in Minnesota, United States
• Freeborn, Minnesota, a city in Freeborn County, Minnesota, United States
• Freeborn Lake, a lake in Douglas County

Freeborn is both a surname and a given name. Notable people with the name include:

Surname:

• Charles James Freeborn, American United States Army soldier of World War I
• Glenn Freeborn (born 1973), Australian rules footballer
• James Freeborn (1876–?), Canadian sport shooter
• John Freeborn (1919–2010), British World War II flying ace and Royal Air Force officer
• Scott Freeborn (born 1978), Scottish footballer
• Stanley B. Freeborn (1891–1960), Chancellor of University of California, Davis
• Stuart Freeborn (1914–2013), English make-up artist
• William Freeborn (1816–1900), pioneer in Minnesota, Montana, and California
• William Freeborn (settler) (1594–1670), founding settler of Portsmouth, Rhode Island

Given name:

• Freeborn Garrettson (1752–1827), American clergyman
• Freeborn Garretson Hibbard (1811–1895), American Methodist minister, theologian and writer
• Freeborn G. Jewett (1791–1858), American lawyer and politician