legal emancipation

     Legal emancipation means the emancipation of a minor ( someone under the age of 18, or 21 in some states ) from parental control. The minor will no longer be the parents' responsibility. The parents will not be responsible for the minor's debts, or for the care of the minor. This status is usually reserved for minors who marry, for which they need their parents' permission. A married minor can sign a contract and own property without the involvement of his or her parents. Joining the military at 17 may also emancipate a minor. A 16 or 17-year old who has a job and gets an apartment might be recognized as emancipated by a law court. A teen who gets in trouble with the law might be considered as emancipated for the purpose of living in a group home, or a facility supervised by the state. For the few minors who have a substantial income, legal emancipation may be an important issue, since it gives the minor the legal right to keep any money earned.

public school

In America ( the United States ) , we call our state-run schools "public schools", since they are open to the public, supported by the public, and run by the public. Schools that are privately run, and open only to those who are admitted, are called "private schools".
In the United Kingdom ( England ) "public school" means an elite private school. It was called public school by those who would have kept their children at home with a tutor if they hadn't sent them to school.

Hessians

     The Hessians ( in American history ) were soldiers loaned by the ruler of Hesse, in what is now Germany, to the king of England. Hessians fought the Americans in the Revolutionary War. They fought with the British--that is, on the side of the British, against the Americans. British soldiers also fought the Americans.  There were many more British soldiers than there were Hessians.
     Someone has started a historical error that seems to be spreading. I read it in a political science textbook--a college level textbook. The author claimed that the Hessians fought the Americans because the British didn't like to fight with a people so closely related. Not so. The British were here, quartered in Boston and some other places, before the revolution began, and they did most of the fighting. I don't know what made the author decide that if Hessians fought, that that the British didn't--he just guessed that part, perhaps, and incorrectly.  There were at least as many British soldiers as Hessians--possibly  twice as many. The British didn't need the Hessians because they didn't want to fight the Americans themselves--they wanted the Hessians so that their army would be large enough to defeat the Americans easily.