"In a land of manumitted peasants the primary trait of the peasant is bound to show itself now and then; as Wendell Phillips once said, “more than any other people, we Americans are afraid of one another”— that is, afraid of isolation, of derision, of all the consequences of singularity. "

manumit
SYLLABICATION: man·u·mit
PRONUNCIATION: AUDIO: mny-mt KEY
TRANSITIVE VERB: Inflected forms: man·u·mit·ted, man·u·mit·ting, man·u·mits
To free from slavery or bondage; emancipate.
ETYMOLOGY: Middle English manumitten, from Old French manumitter, from Latin manmittere : man, ablative of manus, hand; see man-2 in Appendix I + mittere, to send from.
OTHER FORMS: manu·mission (-mshn) —NOUN
manu·mitter —NOUN

For an explanation of how manumission was carried out and why it was called that see:
http://makeashorterlink.com/?B21515207

Bingley

Manumission. Figured this to be a reference to Manchester United's currently unsuccessful attempt to buy Louis Saha from Fulham.