manumission

plural manumissions

1. historicaluncountableRelease from slavery or other legally sanctioned servitude; the giving of freedom.

   The manumission of the slaves in New York has been gradual.

   1823, [James Fenimore Cooper], chapter IV, in The Pioneers, or The Sources of the Susquehanna; […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), New York, N.Y.: Charles Wiley; […], →OCLC

   5 more examples

   The most important law of Augustus, was the lex oelia sentia, deserving of all praise, which related to the manumission of slaves.

   1867, John Lord, The Old Roman World: the Grandeur and Failure of Its Civilization

   In the west, and especially in Cornwall, the names of the serfs were mainly Celtic,—Griffith, Modred, Riol, and so forth,—as may be seen from the list of manumissions preserved in a mass-book at St. Petroc's, or Padstow.

   1881, Grant Allen, chapter 19, in Anglo-Saxon Britain

   In the light of her bedroom candle Marguerite hung not in greater ecstasy over the jewel-casket than hung Zuleika over the box of tricks. She clasped her hands over the tremendous possibilities it held for her—manumission from her bondage, wealth, fame, power. Stealthily, so soon as the house slumbered, she packed her small outfit, embedding therein the precious gift.

   1911, Max Beerbohm, chapter II, in Zuleika Dobson

   The more innocent dreamed of a manumission kindly bestowed by the new Emperor as one of a number of acts of justice and clemency proper to a new reign.

   1985, Anthony Burgess, Kingdom of the Wicked

   Rather than encouraging his countrymen to liberate their slaves, he opposed both private manumission and public emancipation.

   2012 November 30, Paul Finkelman, “The Real Thomas Jefferson: The Monster of Monticello”, in New York Times, retrieved 03 Aug 2015

   Synonyms: emancipation, enfranchisement, liberation

2. countableAn instance of this; an act of manumitting.