When taking this subject on, one must consider what country controled the territory at the time.

Before 1776 or the American Revolutionary War, a free person or freed person was under the kings law of the country that controled the territory: England, France, or Spain.

After the American Revolutionary War is when American slave laws came into effect.

Free and Freed or two different terms. A free person is a person of any race. A freed person is a person of African descent.