Chapter: CHAPTER. V. OF PROPERTY.


Sect. 25. Whether we consider natural reason, which tells us, that men,
being once born, have a right to their preservation, and consequently to
meat and drink, and such other things as nature affords for their
subsistence: or revelation, which gives us an account of those grants
God made of the world to Adam, and to Noah, and his sons, it is very
clear, that God, as king David says, Psal. cxv. 16. has given the earth
to the children of men; given it to mankind in common. But this being
supposed, it seems to some a very great difficulty, how any one should
ever come to have a property in any thing: I will not content myself to
answer, that if it be difficult to make out property, upon a supposition
that God gave the world to Adam, and his posterity in common, it is
impossible that any man, but one universal monarch, should have any
property upon a supposition, that God gave the world to Adam, and his
heirs in succession, exclusive of all the rest of his posterity. But I
shall endeavour to shew, how men might come to have a property in
several parts of that which God gave to mankind in common, and that
without any express compact of all the commoners.

Sect. 26. God, who hath given the world to men in common, hath also
given them reason to make use of it to the best advantage of life, and
convenience. The earth, and all that is therein, is given to men for the
support and comfort of their being. And tho' all the fruits it naturally
produces, and beasts it feeds, belong to mankind in common, as they are
produced by the spontaneous hand of nature; and no body has originally a
private dominion, exclusive of the rest of mankind, in any of them, as
they are thus in their natural state: yet being given for the use of
men, there must of necessity be a means to appropriate them some way or
other, before they can be of any use, or at all beneficial to any
particular man. The fruit, or venison, which nourishes the wild Indian,
who knows no enclosure, and is still a tenant in common, must be his,
and so his, i.e. a part of him, that another can no longer have any
right to it, before it can do him any good for the support of his life.

Sect. 27. Though the earth, and all inferior creatures, be common to all
men, yet every man has a property in his own person: this no body has
any right to but himself. The labour of his body, and the work of his
hands, we may say, are properly his. Whatsoever then he removes out of
the state that nature hath provided, and left it in, he hath mixed his
labour with, and joined to it something that is his own, and thereby
makes it his property. It being by him removed from the common state
nature hath placed it in, it hath by this labour something annexed to
it, that excludes the common right of other men: for this labour being
the unquestionable property of the labourer, no man but he can have a
right to what that is once joined to, at least where there is enough,
and as good, left in common for others.

Sect. 28. He that is nourished by the acorns he picked up under an oak,
or the apples he gathered from the trees in the wood, has certainly
appropriated them to himself. No body can deny but the nourishment is
his. I ask then, when did they begin to be his? when he digested? or
when he eat? or when he boiled? or when he brought them home? or when he
picked them up? and it is plain, if the first gathering made them not
his, nothing else could. That labour put a distinction between them and
common: that added something to them more than nature, the common mother
of all, had done; and so they became his private right. And will any one
say, he had no right to those acorns or apples, he thus appropriated,
because he had not the consent of all mankind to make them his? Was it a
robbery thus to assume to himself what belonged to all in common? If
such a consent as that was necessary, man had starved, notwithstanding
the plenty God had given him. We see in commons, which remain so by
compact, that it is the taking any part of what is common, and removing
it out of the state nature leaves it in, which begins the property;
without which the common is of no use. And the taking of this or that
part, does not depend on the express consent of all the commoners. Thus
the grass my horse has bit; the turfs my servant has cut; and the ore I
have digged in any place, where I have a right to them in common with
others, become my property, without the assignation or consent of any
body. The labour that was mine, removing them out of that common state
they were in, hath fixed my property in them.

Sect. 29. By making an explicit consent of every commoner, necessary to
any one's appropriating to himself any part of what is given in common,
children or servants could not cut the meat, which their father or
master had provided for them in common, without assigning to every one
his peculiar part. Though the water running in the fountain be every
one's, yet who can doubt, but that in the pitcher is his only who drew
it out? His labour hath taken it out of the hands of nature, where it
was common, and belonged equally to all her children, and hath thereby
appropriated it to himself.

Sect. 30. Thus this law of reason makes the deer that Indian's who hath
killed it; it is allowed to be his goods, who hath bestowed his labour
upon it, though before it was the common right of every one. And amongst
those who are counted the civilized part of mankind, who have made and
multiplied positive laws to determine property, this original law of
nature, for the beginning of property, in what was before common, still
takes place; and by virtue thereof, what fish any one catches in the
ocean, that great and still remaining common of mankind; or what
ambergrise any one takes up here, is by the labour that removes it out
of that common state nature left it in, made his property, who takes
that pains about it. And even amongst us, the hare that any one is
hunting, is thought his who pursues her during the chase: for being a
beast that is still looked upon as common, and no man's private
possession; whoever has employed so much labour about any of that kind,
as to find and pursue her, has thereby removed her from the state of
nature, wherein she was common, and hath begun a property.

Sect. 31. It will perhaps be objected to this, that if gathering the
acorns, or other fruits of the earth, &c. makes a right to them, then
any one may ingross as much as he will. To which I answer, Not so. The
same law of nature, that does by this means give us property, does also
bound that property too. God has given us all things richly, 1 Tim. vi.
12. is the voice of reason confirmed by inspiration. But how far has he
given it us? To enjoy. As much as any one can make use of to any
advantage of life before it spoils, so much he may by his labour fix a
property in: whatever is beyond this, is more than his share, and
belongs to others. Nothing was made by God for man to spoil or destroy.
And thus, considering the plenty of natural provisions there was a long
time in the world, and the few spenders; and to how small a part of that
provision the industry of one man could extend itself, and ingross it to
the prejudice of others; especially keeping within the bounds, set by
reason, of what might serve for his use; there could be then little room
for quarrels or contentions about property so established.

Sect. 32. But the chief matter of property being now not the fruits of
the earth, and the beasts that subsist on it, but the earth itself; as
that which takes in and carries with it all the rest; I think it is
plain, that property in that too is acquired as the former. As much land
as a man tills, plants, improves, cultivates, and can use the product
of, so much is his property. He by his labour does, as it were, inclose
it from the common. Nor will it invalidate his right, to say every body
else has an equal title to it; and therefore he cannot appropriate, he
cannot inclose, without the consent of all his fellow-commoners, all
mankind. God, when he gave the world in common to all mankind, commanded
man also to labour, and the penury of his condition required it of him.
God and his reason commanded him to subdue the earth, i.e. improve it
for the benefit of life, and therein lay out something upon it that was
his own, his labour. He that in obedience to this command of God,
subdued, tilled and sowed any part of it, thereby annexed to it
something that was his property, which another had no title to, nor
could without injury take from him.

Sect. 33. Nor was this appropriation of any parcel of land, by improving
it, any prejudice to any other man, since there was still enough, and as
good left; and more than the yet unprovided could use. So that, in
effect, there was never the less left for others because of his
enclosure for himself: for he that leaves as much as another can make
use of, does as good as take nothing at all. No body could think himself
injured by the drinking of another man, though he took a good draught,
who had a whole river of the same water left him to quench his thirst:
and the case of land and water, where there is enough of both, is
perfectly the same.

Sect. 34. God gave the world to men in common; but since he gave it them
for their benefit, and the greatest conveniencies of life they were
capable to draw from it, it cannot be supposed he meant it should always
remain common and uncultivated. He gave it to the use of the industrious
and rational, (and labour was to be his title to it;) not to the fancy
or covetousness of the quarrelsome and contentious. He that had as good
left for his improvement, as was already taken up, needed not complain,
ought not to meddle with what was already improved by another's labour:
if he did, it is plain he desired the benefit of another's pains, which
he had no right to, and not the ground which God had given him in common
with others to labour on, and whereof there was as good left, as that
already possessed, and more than he knew what to do with, or his
industry could reach to.

Sect. 35. It is true, in land that is common in England, or any other
country, where there is plenty of people under government, who have
money and commerce, no one can inclose or appropriate any part, without
the consent of all his fellow-commoners; because this is left common by
compact, i.e. by the law of the land, which is not to be violated. And
though it be common, in respect of some men, it is not so to all
mankind; but is the joint property of this country, or this parish.
Besides, the remainder, after such enclosure, would not be as good to
the rest of the commoners, as the whole was when they could all make use
of the whole; whereas in the beginning and first peopling of the great
common of the world, it was quite otherwise. The law man was under, was
rather for appropriating. God commanded, and his wants forced him to
labour. That was his property which could not be taken from him
where-ever he had fixed it. And hence subduing or cultivating the earth,
and having dominion, we see are joined together. The one gave title to
the other. So that God, by commanding to subdue, gave authority so far
to appropriate: and the condition of human life, which requires labour
and materials to work on, necessarily introduces private possessions.

Sect. 36. The measure of property nature has well set by the extent of
men's labour and the conveniencies of life: no man's labour could
subdue, or appropriate all; nor could his enjoyment consume more than a
small part; so that it was impossible for any man, this way, to intrench
upon the right of another, or acquire to himself a property, to the
prejudice of his neighbour, who would still have room for as good, and
as large a possession (after the other had taken out his) as before it
was appropriated. This measure did confine every man's possession to a
very moderate proportion, and such as he might appropriate to himself,
without injury to any body, in the first ages of the world, when men
were more in danger to be lost, by wandering from their company, in the
then vast wilderness of the earth, than to be straitened for want of
room to plant in. And the same measure may be allowed still without
prejudice to any body, as full as the world seems: for supposing a man,
or family, in the state they were at first peopling of the world by the
children of Adam, or Noah; let him plant in some inland, vacant places
of America, we shall find that the possessions he could make himself,
upon the measures we have given, would not be very large, nor, even to
this day, prejudice the rest of mankind, or give them reason to
complain, or think themselves injured by this man's incroachment, though
the race of men have now spread themselves to all the corners of the
world, and do infinitely exceed the small number was at the beginning.
Nay, the extent of ground is of so little value, without labour, that I
have heard it affirmed, that in Spain itself a man may be permitted to
plough, sow and reap, without being disturbed, upon land he has no other
title to, but only his making use of it. But, on the contrary, the
inhabitants think themselves beholden to him, who, by his industry on
neglected, and consequently waste land, has increased the stock of corn,
which they wanted. But be this as it will, which I lay no stress on;
this I dare boldly affirm, that the same rule of propriety, (viz.) that
every man should have as much as he could make use of, would hold still
in the world, without straitening any body; since there is land enough
in the world to suffice double the inhabitants, had not the invention of
money, and the tacit agreement of men to put a value on it, introduced
(by consent) larger possessions, and a right to them; which, how it has
done, I shall by and by shew more at large.

Sect. 37. This is certain, that in the beginning, before the desire of
having more than man needed had altered the intrinsic value of things,
which depends only on their usefulness to the life of man; or had
agreed, that a little piece of yellow metal, which would keep without
wasting or decay, should be worth a great piece of flesh, or a whole
heap of corn; though men had a right to appropriate, by their labour,
each one of himself, as much of the things of nature, as he could use:
yet this could not be much, nor to the prejudice of others, where the
same plenty was still left to those who would use the same industry. To
which let me add, that he who appropriates land to himself by his
labour, does not lessen, but increase the common stock of mankind: for
the provisions serving to the support of human life, produced by one
acre of inclosed and cultivated land, are (to speak much within compass)
ten times more than those which are yielded by an acre of land of an
equal richness lying waste in common. And therefore he that incloses
land, and has a greater plenty of the conveniencies of life from ten
acres, than he could have from an hundred left to nature, may truly be
said to give ninety acres to mankind: for his labour now supplies him
with provisions out of ten acres, which were but the product of an
hundred lying in common. I have here rated the improved land very low,
in making its product but as ten to one, when it is much nearer an
hundred to one: for I ask, whether in the wild woods and uncultivated
waste of America, left to nature, without any improvement, tillage or
husbandry, a thousand acres yield the needy and wretched inhabitants as
many conveniencies of life, as ten acres of equally fertile land do in
Devonshire, where they are well cultivated?

Before the appropriation of land, he who gathered as much of the wild
fruit, killed, caught, or tamed, as many of the beasts, as he could; he
that so imployed his pains about any of the spontaneous products of
nature, as any way to alter them from the state which nature put them
in, by placing any of his labour on them, did thereby acquire a
propriety in them: but if they perished, in his possession, without
their due use; if the fruits rotted, or the venison putrified, before he
could spend it, he offended against the common law of nature, and was
liable to be punished; he invaded his neighbour's share, for he had no
right, farther than his use called for any of them, and they might serve
to afford him conveniencies of life.

Sect. 38. The same measures governed the possession of land too:
whatsoever he tilled and reaped, laid up and made use of, before it
spoiled, that was his peculiar right; whatsoever he enclosed, and could
feed, and make use of, the cattle and product was also his. But if
either the grass of his enclosure rotted on the ground, or the fruit of
his planting perished without gathering, and laying up, this part of the
earth, notwithstanding his enclosure, was still to be looked on as
waste, and might be the possession of any other. Thus, at the beginning,
Cain might take as much ground as he could till, and make it his own
land, and yet leave enough to Abel's sheep to feed on; a few acres would
serve for both their possessions. But as families increased, and
industry inlarged their stocks, their possessions inlarged with the need
of them; but yet it was commonly without any fixed property in the
ground they made use of, till they incorporated, settled themselves
together, and built cities; and then, by consent, they came in time, to
set out the bounds of their distinct territories, and agree on limits
between them and their neighbours; and by laws within themselves,
settled the properties of those of the same society: for we see, that in
that part of the world which was first inhabited, and therefore like to
be best peopled, even as low down as Abraham's time, they wandered with
their flocks, and their herds, which was their substance, freely up and
down; and this Abraham did, in a country where he was a stranger. Whence
it is plain, that at least a great part of the land lay in common; that
the inhabitants valued it not, nor claimed property in any more than
they made use of. But when there was not room enough in the same place,
for their herds to feed together, they by consent, as Abraham and Lot
did, Gen. xiii. 5. separated and inlarged their pasture, where it best
liked them. And for the same reason Esau went from his father, and his
brother, and planted in mount Seir, Gen. xxxvi. 6.

Sect. 39. And thus, without supposing any private dominion, and property
in Adam, over all the world, exclusive of all other men, which can no
way be proved, nor any one's property be made out from it; but supposing
the world given, as it was, to the children of men in common, we see how
labour could make men distinct titles to several parcels of it, for
their private uses; wherein there could be no doubt of right, no room
for quarrel.

Sect. 40. Nor is it so strange, as perhaps before consideration it may
appear, that the property of labour should be able to over-balance the
community of land: for it is labour indeed that puts the difference of
value on every thing; and let any one consider what the difference is
between an acre of land planted with tobacco or sugar, sown with wheat
or barley, and an acre of the same land lying in common, without any
husbandry upon it, and he will find, that the improvement of labour
makes the far greater part of the value. I think it will be but a very
modest computation to say, that of the products of the earth useful to
the life of man nine tenths are the effects of labour: nay, if we will
rightly estimate things as they come to our use, and cast up the several
expences about them, what in them is purely owing to nature, and what to
labour, we shall find, that in most of them ninety-nine hundredths are
wholly to be put on the account of labour.

Sect. 41. There cannot be a clearer demonstration of any thing, than
several nations of the Americans are of this, who are rich in land, and
poor in all the comforts of life; whom nature having furnished as
liberally as any other people, with the materials of plenty, i.e. a
fruitful soil, apt to produce in abundance, what might serve for food,
raiment, and delight; yet for want of improving it by labour, have not
one hundredth part of the conveniencies we enjoy: and a king of a large
and fruitful territory there, feeds, lodges, and is clad worse than a
day-labourer in England.

Sect. 42. To make this a little clearer, let us but trace some of the
ordinary provisions of life, through their several progresses, before
they come to our use, and see how much they receive of their value from
human industry. Bread, wine and cloth, are things of daily use, and
great plenty; yet notwithstanding, acorns, water and leaves, or skins,
must be our bread, drink and cloathing, did not labour furnish us with
these more useful commodities: for whatever bread is more worth than
acorns, wine than water, and cloth or silk, than leaves, skins or moss,
that is wholly owing to labour and industry; the one of these being the
food and raiment which unassisted nature furnishes us with; the other,
provisions which our industry and pains prepare for us, which how much
they exceed the other in value, when any one hath computed, he will then
see how much labour makes the far greatest part of the value of things
we enjoy in this world: and the ground which produces the materials, is
scarce to be reckoned in, as any, or at most, but a very small part of
it; so little, that even amongst us, land that is left wholly to nature,
that hath no improvement of pasturage, tillage, or planting, is called,
as indeed it is, waste; and we shall find the benefit of it amount to
little more than nothing.

This shews how much numbers of men are to be preferred to largeness of
dominions; and that the increase of lands, and the right employing of
them, is the great art of government: and that prince, who shall be so
wise and godlike, as by established laws of liberty to secure protection
and encouragement to the honest industry of mankind, against the
oppression of power and narrowness of party, will quickly be too hard
for his neighbours: but this by the by.

To return to the argument in hand.

Sect. 43. An acre of land, that bears here twenty bushels of wheat, and
another in America, which, with the same husbandry, would do the like,
are, without doubt, of the same natural intrinsic value: but yet the
benefit mankind receives from the one in a year, is worth 5l. and from
the other possibly not worth a penny, if all the profit an Indian
received from it were to be valued, and sold here; at least, I may truly
say, not one thousandth. It is labour then which puts the greatest part
of value upon land, without which it would scarcely be worth any thing:
it is to that we owe the greatest part of all its useful products; for
all that the straw, bran, bread, of that acre of wheat, is more worth
than the product of an acre of as good land, which lies waste, is all
the effect of labour: for it is not barely the plough-man's pains, the
reaper's and thresher's toil, and the baker's sweat, is to be counted
into the bread we eat; the labour of those who broke the oxen, who
digged and wrought the iron and stones, who felled and framed the timber
employed about the plough, mill, oven, or any other utensils, which are
a vast number, requisite to this corn, from its being feed to be sown to
its being made bread, must all be charged on the account of labour, and
received as an effect of that: nature and the earth furnished only the
almost worthless materials, as in themselves. It would be a strange
catalogue of things, that industry provided and made use of, about every
loaf of bread, before it came to our use, if we could trace them; iron,
wood, leather, bark, timber, stone, bricks, coals, lime, cloth, dying
drugs, pitch, tar, masts, ropes, and all the materials made use of in
the ship, that brought any of the commodities made use of by any of the
workmen, to any part of the work; all which it would be almost
impossible, at least too long, to reckon up.

Sect. 44. From all which it is evident, that though the things of nature
are given in common, yet man, by being master of himself, and proprietor
of his own person, and the actions or labour of it, had still in himself
the great foundation of property; and that, which made up the great part
of what he applied to the support or comfort of his being, when
invention and arts had improved the conveniencies of life, was perfectly
his own, and did not belong in common to others.

Sect. 45. Thus labour, in the beginning, gave a right of property,
wherever any one was pleased to employ it upon what was common, which
remained a long while the far greater part, and is yet more than mankind
makes use of. Men, at first, for the most part, contented themselves
with what unassisted nature offered to their necessities: and though
afterwards, in some parts of the world, (where the increase of people
and stock, with the use of money, had made land scarce, and so of some
value) the several communities settled the bounds of their distinct
territories, and by laws within themselves regulated the properties of
the private men of their society, and so, by compact and agreement,
settled the property which labour and industry began; and the leagues
that have been made between several states and kingdoms, either expresly
or tacitly disowning all claim and right to the land in the others
possession, have, by common consent, given up their pretences to their
natural common right, which originally they had to those countries, and
so have, by positive agreement, settled a property amongst themselves,
in distinct parts and parcels of the earth; yet there are still great
tracts of ground to be found, which (the inhabitants thereof not having
joined with the rest of mankind, in the consent of the use of their
common money) lie waste, and are more than the people who dwell on it
do, or can make use of, and so still lie in common; tho' this can scarce
happen amongst that part of mankind that have consented to the use of
money.

Sect. 46. The greatest part of things really useful to the life of man,
and such as the necessity of subsisting made the first commoners of the
world look after, as it doth the Americans now, are generally things of
short duration; such as, if they are not consumed by use, will decay and
perish of themselves: gold, silver and diamonds, are things that fancy
or agreement hath put the value on, more than real use, and the
necessary support of life. Now of those good things which nature hath
provided in common, every one had a right (as hath been said) to as much
as he could use, and property in all that he could effect with his
labour; all that his industry could extend to, to alter from the state
nature had put it in, was his. He that gathered a hundred bushels of
acorns or apples, had thereby a property in them, they were his goods as
soon as gathered. He was only to look, that he used them before they
spoiled, else he took more than his share, and robbed others. And indeed
it was a foolish thing, as well as dishonest, to hoard up more than he
could make use of. If he gave away a part to any body else, so that it
perished not uselesly in his possession, these he also made use of. And
if he also bartered away plums, that would have rotted in a week, for
nuts that would last good for his eating a whole year, he did no injury;
he wasted not the common stock; destroyed no part of the portion of
goods that belonged to others, so long as nothing perished uselesly in
his hands. Again, if he would give his nuts for a piece of metal,
pleased with its colour; or exchange his sheep for shells, or wool for a
sparkling pebble or a diamond, and keep those by him all his life he
invaded not the right of others, he might heap up as much of these
durable things as he pleased; the exceeding of the bounds of his just
property not lying in the largeness of his possession, but the perishing
of any thing uselesly in it.

Sect. 47. And thus came in the use of money, some lasting thing that men
might keep without spoiling, and that by mutual consent men would take
in exchange for the truly useful, but perishable supports of life.

Sect. 48. And as different degrees of industry were apt to give men
possessions in different proportions, so this invention of money gave
them the opportunity to continue and enlarge them: for supposing an
island, separate from all possible commerce with the rest of the world,
wherein there were but an hundred families, but there were sheep, horses
and cows, with other useful animals, wholsome fruits, and land enough
for corn for a hundred thousand times as many, but nothing in the
island, either because of its commonness, or perishableness, fit to
supply the place of money; what reason could any one have there to
enlarge his possessions beyond the use of his family, and a plentiful
supply to its consumption, either in what their own industry produced,
or they could barter for like perishable, useful commodities, with
others? Where there is not some thing, both lasting and scarce, and so
valuable to be hoarded up, there men will not be apt to enlarge their
possessions of land, were it never so rich, never so free for them to
take: for I ask, what would a man value ten thousand, or an hundred
thousand acres of excellent land, ready cultivated, and well stocked too
with cattle, in the middle of the inland parts of America, where he had
no hopes of commerce with other parts of the world, to draw money to him
by the sale of the product? It would not be worth the enclosing, and we
should see him give up again to the wild common of nature, whatever was
more than would supply the conveniencies of life to be had there for him
and his family.

Sect. 49. Thus in the beginning all the world was America, and more so
than that is now; for no such thing as money was any where known. Find
out something that hath the use and value of money amongst his
neighbours, you shall see the same man will begin presently to enlarge
his possessions.

Sect. 50. But since gold and silver, being little useful to the life of
man in proportion to food, raiment, and carriage, has its value only
from the consent of men, whereof labour yet makes, in great part, the
measure, it is plain, that men have agreed to a disproportionate and
unequal possession of the earth, they having, by a tacit and voluntary
consent, found out, a way how a man may fairly possess more land than he
himself can use the product of, by receiving in exchange for the
overplus gold and silver, which may be hoarded up without injury to any
one; these metals not spoiling or decaying in the hands of the
possessor. This partage of things in an inequality of private
possessions, men have made practicable out of the bounds of society, and
without compact, only by putting a value on gold and silver, and tacitly
agreeing in the use of money: for in governments, the laws regulate the
right of property, and the possession of land is determined by positive
constitutions.

Sect. 51. And thus, I think, it is very easy to conceive, without any
difficulty, how labour could at first begin a title of property in the
common things of nature, and how the spending it upon our uses bounded
it. So that there could then be no reason of quarrelling about title,
nor any doubt about the largeness of possession it gave. Right and
conveniency went together; for as a man had a right to all he could
employ his labour upon, so he had no temptation to labour for more than
he could make use of. This left no room for controversy about the title,
nor for encroachment on the right of others; what portion a man carved
to himself, was easily seen; and it was useless, as well as dishonest,
to carve himself too much, or take more than he needed.

 Locke begins his discussion of property by alluding to Filmer's theory of patriarchalism, which suggested that only an absolute monarch descended from Adam would have any right to property because God gave Adam dominion over all the land. Locke disagrees and writes that he will spend the rest of this chapter demonstrating how God provided for mankind in common to have property, even if they do not form a compact. The fruits of the Earth, including animals, land, and vegetation, are to be enjoyed by all men because, as Locke points out in Chapter II, no one man is born with dominion over another. Of course, there must be some way to appropriate these necessities of life to men in order for them to be as beneficial as possible and to avoid conflict. The first topic Locke addresses is that of man's own person, or, the labor of his body. This belongs exclusively to him and he may reap the work of his hands. When he removes something from nature through his hard work, it is no longer the common property of all mankind but belongs to himself exclusively. If a man picks up acorns under a tree, they belong to him at the moment of their gathering because this labor of gathering is what legitimates their possession. The gatherer of acorns does not need to receive the permission of all other men before he takes something from the common into his own possession because this would be completely unrealistic- men would starve trying to make sure every other man approved of his actions. Locke uses other examples to reinforce this point- an Indian who kills a deer is entitled to that deer, a man who catches a fish is entitled to that fish, and a hunter who chases and captures a hare is entitled to that hare. It is the labor that legitimates the possession, even when the property, be it an animal or land, was held by the commons. Locke then addresses the question of to how much property men are entitled, and examines the supposition that they will overreach themselves in taking God's bounty. He points out that the Bible says God gave man the Earth to enjoy, and that when man first walked upon it he was so scarce and nature so vast, that there was never any problem with rapaciousness or conflict. The issue now is not food or animal but land. Any piece of land that a man labors upon is his. Scripture validates this because God commanded man to labor as part of his punishment for sin. Initially this was not problematic because there was plenty of land for everyone. God gave the land to the industrious and diligent, not to the "quarrelsome and contentious." Anyone who desired another's land was no doubt seeking to benefit from another's hard work. In a land like England where there is a government in place, the compact necessitates the approval of one's fellow man before appropriating and enclosing land. The land does not belong to all mankind but to an individual parish or county. When God commanded man to subdue and cultivate, He also introduced the concept of dominion. Human beings were commanded to labor; this is the condition of life. This labor thus gives men private possessions. This measure of labor meant that men could only cultivate as much land as was physically possible and his enjoyment derived from this cultivation. He did not need to take an immoderate amount of land or encroach upon that of his neighbor. Locke wrote that this was actually still the case at the time of the writing of the Second Treatise, as there were still vast unclaimed areas of land in America and even Spain where a man could claim, plow, cultivate, and utilize the fruits of the soil without incurring the displeasure of others. Unfortunately, the invention of money made this impossible. Once men assigned value to some agreed-upon method of currency, larger possessions became de rigueur. Claiming that a piece of gold had intrinsic value and could buy food or people or land meant that men desired more. This is unfortunate, Locke writes, because when a man labors on the land it yields something beneficial to mankind. When many acres are enclosed but lie wild and uncultivated simply because they are held by a man's title to the land, this is extremely wasteful. If a man gathers too much fruit and it rots, this is not only wasteful but a violation of the common law of nature because that rotted fruit did not provide sustenance to anyone. Locke writes that since Adam and his heirs did not have exclusive dominion over the earth, many men could have distinct titles to it through their labor. Locke continues his discussion of how only labor provides value, asserting that nine-tenths of the products of the earth that men find useful come from labor and are not entirely natural. The Americans have a multitude of uncultivated land but merely eke out an existence because land is not improved by labor. Bread, wine, and cloth serve the same purposes as acorns, water, and leaves/skins, but are vastly superior. The things that men enjoy and that improve their lives derive from labor. The labor put into a loaf of bread, for example, includes that of the ploughman, reaper, thresher, oxen-breakers, baker, and more. History reveals that men were initially content to use of nature only what they needed. As communities began to organize into states and kingdoms and create laws, they began regulating the land and negotiating the boundaries of their land with other communities. There were still open tracts of land where communities had not formed, but this was impossible in communities that adopted the idea of money . While men knew it was unwise to hoard things like fruit and nuts, which would rot and expire, it was definitely possible to hoard money because it would not spoil. In the beginning of the world when the land was vast and commerce was impossible, there was no system of money. Men's voluntary consent to this system began the inequality of private possessions and the right of the government to regulate the right of property. Locke concludes by summarizing the state of property before money and government- only labor created value, men did not take more than they needed, and conflict and controversy over land did not exist.

