The Framers Believed Property is an Essential Human Right
March 25, 2019, Steven Koskulitz, 1 Comment
Paul Larkin, Senior Legal Research Fellow at The Heritage Foundation, asserted that the right to property was essential in establishing the United States and that the Supreme Court has not been respecting that right. He discussed the Framers’ view of the right to property, how the Supreme Court has failed to sufficiently respect this right, and solutions to protect this right more fully.
The Framers held a very high view of the right to property, and expanded its definition further than many would today. “They believed that property embraced far more than mere ownership of land or material goods. The term ‘property’ included “property which men have in their persons as well as their goods,†which included the right to the fruits of their labor.†James Madison wrote: “The term ‘property’ in its particular application, means that dominion which one man claims and exercises over the external things of the world, in the exclusion of every other individual…it embraces everything to which a man may attach a value and has a right…a man’s land or merchandise or money is called his property†and “A man has property in his opinions and free communication of them.â€
https://www.academia.org/the-framers-believed-property-is-an-essential-human-right/