Montana Freemen

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The Montana Freemen were a Christian Patriot group based in Montana, United States, near the town of Jordan. The Montana Freemen believed in the doctrine of individual sovereignty and rejected the authority of the U.S. Federal Government. As a result of these beliefs, they attempted to set up their own parallel systems of government ("Justus Township"), "common-law court", banking, and credit. They became publicly known during their 81-day-long standoff with U.S. Federal Marshals from March 25 through June 1996.

Two of the main books used by Freemen were "Anderson on the Uniform Commercial Code", and a hard to find "Bankers Handbook". Leroy Schweitzer and the Freemen also used various other law and UCC Books (Uniform Commercial Code) and provisions to file, against public officals, liens that were sold to generate equity to fund their efforts to make a "firm offer to pay off the national debt". The liens were generated after notice was given per UCC provisions that their "Justus Township" court had party with a claim for tort or damages incurred by the named public officals for violations of their oaths of office and support of the non-constitutional bankrupt credit system that was as Thomas Jefferson put it: "...depriving the people of their property until our posterity wakes up homeless...". Their efforts, from the Freeman perspective, raised the awareness, at least some at the time, of the never ending perpetual national debt fiat credit system, and how this causes inflation and price manipulations to financially undermine and bankrupt the private individual class of farmers and ranchers. At the very least, their efforts resulted in laws being changed in Montana and eventually elsewhere, to require that any liens filed had to have a current county judge or clerk signature to be held valid as "commercial paper" which can be sold or traded. Freemen contended in various shortwave and talk radio interviews, that several of the liens they sold into the offshore banking market are on the asset sheets of financial institutions even perhaps today, as pressure tactics were, as also claimed by freemen and family of those in custody, used to induce Switzer and others to release the leins on public officials that had been sold outside U.S. jurisdiction.

[edit] See also

• micronation
• Branch Davidians (1993)
• Ruby Ridge (1992)
• "The Montana Freeman" The Untold Story of Government Suppression and The News Media Cover-Up by J. Patrick Shannan of Jackson Mississippi (self published by: "Center for Historical Analysis")
• Government debt (national debt)
• Government financial reports

[edit] External links

A incomplete archive of CNN reports:

• CNN - Freemen standoff