Free State


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Free State 1

1. See Congo.
2. See Ireland.
3. A province and historical region of east-central South Africa. European settlement of the area began early in the 1800s and accelerated with an influx of Boer farmers after 1835. Great Britain annexed the region in 1848 and granted it independence as the Orange Free State in 1854. In 1900, during the Boer War, Great Britain once again annexed the territory, this time as the Orange River Colony. The renamed Orange Free State formed an independent government in 1907 and became a founding province of South Africa in 1910, being renamed again to Free State in 1995.

Free State 2

n.
Any of the states in the Union in which slavery was illegal before the Civil War.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Free State

n
1. (Placename) a province of central South Africa; replaced the former province of Orange Free State in 1994: gold and uranium mining. Capital: Bloemfontein. Pop: 2 745 590 (2011 est). Area: 129 480 sq km (49 992 sq miles)
2. (Historical Terms) history US (before the Civil War) any state prohibiting slavery
3. (Placename) short for Irish Free State
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

Free′ State`


n.
1. (before the Civil War) a state in which slavery was prohibited.
2. Irish Free State.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

free state

One where slaves have been freed or where slavery has not been permitted.
Dictionary of Unfamiliar Words by Diagram Group Copyright © 2008 by Diagram Visual Information Limited
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.free state - a Mid-Atlantic stateFree State - a Mid-Atlantic state; one of the original 13 colonies
Maryland, Old Line State, MD
U.S.A., United States, United States of America, US, USA, America, the States, U.S. - North American republic containing 50 states - 48 conterminous states in North America plus Alaska in northwest North America and the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean; achieved independence in 1776
Mid-Atlantic states - a region of the eastern United States comprising New York and New Jersey and Pennsylvania and Delaware and Maryland
South - the region of the United States lying to the south of the Mason-Dixon line
Aberdeen - a town in northeastern Maryland
Annapolis, capital of Maryland - state capital of Maryland; site of the United States Naval Academy
Baltimore - the largest city in Maryland; a major seaport and industrial center
Fort George G. Meade, Fort George Gordon Meade, Fort Meade - a United States Army base in Maryland; headquarters of the National Security Agency
Frederick - a town in northern Maryland to the west of Baltimore
Hagerstown - a town in northern Maryland
Chesapeake Bay - a large inlet of the North Atlantic between Virginia and Maryland; fed by Susquehanna River
Potomac, Potomac River - a river in the east central United States; rises in West Virginia in the Appalachian Mountains and flows eastward, forming the boundary between Maryland and Virginia, to the Chesapeake Bay
Susquehanna, Susquehanna River - a river in the northeastern United States that rises in New York and flows southward through Pennsylvania and Maryland into Chesapeake Bay
2.free state - any state prohibiting slavery prior to the American Civil War
American state - one of the 50 states of the United States
North, Union - the United States (especially the northern states during the American Civil War); "he has visited every state in the Union"; "Lee hoped to detach Maryland from the Union"; "the North's superior resources turned the scale"
slave state - any of the southern states in which slavery was legal prior to the American Civil War
3.free state - a province in central South Africa that was colonized by the BoersFree State - a province in central South Africa that was colonized by the Boers; named Free State in 1997
Orange Free State
Republic of South Africa, South Africa - a republic at the southernmost part of Africa; achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1910; first European settlers were Dutch (known as Boers)
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
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References in classic literature ?
Do you say that the people of the free state have nothing to do with it, and can do nothing?
But, since the legislative act of 1850, when she heard, with perfect surprise and consternation, Christian and humane people actually recommending the remanding escaped fugitives into slavery, as a duty binding on good citizens,--when she heard, on all hands, from kind, compassionate and estimable people, in the free states of the North, deliberations and discussions as to what Christian duty could be on this head,--she could only think, These men and Christians cannot know what slavery is; if they did, such a question could never be open for discussion.
If the mothers of the free states had all felt as they should, in times past, the sons of the free states would not have been the holders, and, proverbially, the hardest masters of slaves; the sons of the free states would not have connived at the extension of slavery, in our national body; the sons of the free states would not, as they do, trade the souls and bodies of men as an equivalent to money, in their mercantile dealings.
On the shores of our free states are emerging the poor, shattered, broken remnants of families,--men and women, escaped, by miraculous providences from the surges of slavery,--feeble in knowledge, and, in many cases, infirm in moral constitution, from a system which confounds and confuses every principle of Christianity and morality.
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There are then three parts of domestic government, the masters, of which we have already treated, the fathers, and the husbands; now the government of the wife and children should both be that of free persons, but not the [I259b] same; for the wife should be treated as a citizen of a free state, the children should be under kingly power; for the male is by nature superior to the female, except when something happens contrary to the usual course of nature, as is the elder and perfect to the younger and imperfect.
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A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
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Back of the man were a number of black soldiers in the uniform of the Congo Free State.
And what assurance have you that I cannot bring an armed force about you that will prevent your return to the Congo Free State?"
As soon as Tarzan regained his senses and it was found that he was not seriously injured, the prisoners were hastened into line and the return march toward the Congo Free State boundary commenced.
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We would sell the raft and get on a steamboat and go way up the Ohio amongst the free States, and then be out of trouble.
The lot of towheads was troubles we was going to get into with quarrelsome people and all kinds of mean folks, but if we minded our business and didn't talk back and aggravate them, we would pull through and get out of the fog and into the big clear river, which was the free States, and wouldn't have no more trouble.
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Deputy President David Mabuza says government has offered support to farmers who were affected by drought in the Free State, Northern Cape and the Eastern Cape."As government, we will not allow our agricultural sector to collapse because farmers are the lifeblood of our economy.
Support for farmers affected by drought

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