American Principle Twelve: Vital to the American Work Ethic, Property Ownership Must Be Secure

"… are entitled to life, liberty and property ..."

Declaration, First Continental Congress, 1774

 

"All men … are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Declaration of Independence

 

"That all men … have certain inherent rights … namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property."

Virginia Declaration of Rights, 1776

 

The emotionally charged appeal for the redistribution of the fruits of man's labor was attempted in our own historical Plymouth Colony.  Following extensive food shortages, Governor Bradford turned to the Bible for wisdom and then announced that settlers would have a plot of land, and thereafter be entitled to the fruits of their own labor (April, 1623).  Entire families went to work, and hard times changed to a plentiful supply of food.  "It made all hands very industrious so that much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been..." *

 

This redistribution philosophy was later identified and popularized by Karl Marx (1818-1883) as "each according to his ability, to each according to need." 

 

Linking the work ethic to property ownership is a monumental break from the world's political history.  The incentive of property ownership is the engine that makes an economy flourish.  It is the value created in the usefulness of products provided by the suppliers that leads the buyer to spend his money to own the product.

 

"For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.  For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies" (2 Thessalonians 3:10-11).

 

 
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*http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch16s1.html

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