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# Freeholder Yeomanry

## Definition

Independent small landowners who possess freehold property and enjoy political rights through their land ownership, representing a class of economically secure and politically influential farmers who have direct stake in land improvement and national prosperity.

## Source Chapter

Book III, Chapter 2

## Context

Smith presents the English yeomanry as uniquely prosperous and respected compared to continental Europe, attributing this to legal protections including secure leases, the forty-shilling freehold vote qualification, and laws preventing landlords from exploiting improvements made by tenants without leases.

## Economic Domain

Production

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