Note 159 — Isaack de Rasieres to Samuel Blommaert[129]

In 1626, Isaac Allerton on behalf of the Plymouth settlers, agreed to buy the interests of the remaining London Adventurers for £1800, which De Rasieres translated into guilders by a simple formula. In July 1627, though De Rasieres may not have been well informed of the event, a group of leading men in the Colony, led by Bradford, became “Undertakers” for six years to pay this debt (and about £600 in other debts owed by the Colony) by means of a monopoly on the external trade of the settlement, including all dealings with the Indians. According to the agreement, each colonist who was a Freeman of the Company (i.e., had agreed to the purchase in 1626 and acquired rights to a share in the division of lands) made an annual payment to the Undertakers of three bushels of corn or six pounds of tobacco as they might specify. Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation, 184-188, 194-196.