free state
Self-governing political territory
A free state is a political unit that is self-governing or autonomous, or one where slavery is prohibited.
Before the American Civil War, the distinction between free states and slave states was central to national politics: Missouri's admission as a slave state required a compromise.
The term also applies to any territory operating with significant independence. (Capitalized Free State appears in proper names like the Irish Free State or South Africa's Free State province.)
Supreme independent authority
- self-governanceIndependent management of affairs
- independenceFreedom from external control
- republicState with elected leaders
- constitutionInherent physical or structural makeup
autonomy · statehood · territory · jurisdiction · self-determination · confederation · commonwealth · federation
Formal discontinuation of practice
- emancipationRelease from legal bondage
- slaveryOwnership of people
- antebellumBefore a war's start
- Missouri Compromise1820 slavery boundary legislation
Civil War · Union · popular sovereignty · territory · admission · Fugitive Slave Act · Mason-Dixon
sovereignty
Supreme independent authority
- self-governanceIndependent management of affairs
- independenceFreedom from external control
- republicState with elected leaders
constitution · autonomy · statehood · territory · jurisdiction · self-determination · confederation · commonwealth · federation · legislature
abolition
Formal discontinuation of practice
- emancipationRelease from legal bondage
- slaveryOwnership of people
- antebellumBefore a war's start
Missouri Compromise · Civil War · Union · popular sovereignty · territory · admission · Fugitive Slave Act · Mason-Dixon
- governancegovernance, government, democracy, vote, parliament
- Abolitionismabolitionists, abolitionist movement, anti-slavery, antislavery, abolitionism
- Antebellum Americaantebellum era, Compromise of 1850, sectionalism, states' rights, Fugitive Slave Act
- German geographyBavaria, Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg
- political entitiesnation, country, kingdom, republic, dominion
- quantum statesqubit, singlet, triplet, entangled, coherent
free statecolony
Dependent territorial settlement
protectorate · vassal state · puppet state · occupied territory · mandate
free statepolice state
Regime controlling through surveillance
surveillance state · oppressive regime · dictatorship · tyranny · despotism