Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- Part I Contexts and possibilities
- Part II Texts
- 4 The Real Rights of Man, Thomas Spence, 1775
- 5 An Essay on the Right of Property in Land, William Ogilvie, 1782
- 6 Enquiry concerning Political Justice and Its Influence on Morals and Happiness, William Godwin, 1798
- 7 The Effects of Civilization on the People in European States, Charles Hall, 1805
- 8 A Lay Sermon Addressed to the Higher and Middle Classes on the Existing Distresses and Discontents, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1817
- 9 Report to the County of Lanark, Robert Owen, 1821
- 10 A Few Doubts as to the Correctness of Some Opinions Generally Entertained on the Subjects of Population and Political Economy, ‘Piercy Ravenstone’, 1821
- 11 An Inquiry into the Principles of the Distribution of Wealth Most Conducive to Human Happiness; Applied to the Newly Proposed System of Voluntary Equality of Wealth, William Thompson, 1824
- 12 Labour Defended against the Claims of Capital or the Unproductiveness of Capital Proved with Reference to the Present Combinations amongst Journeymen, Thomas Hodgskin, 1825
- 13 Rural Rides, William Cobbett, 1830
- 14 Conclusion
- Notes
- Index
4 - The Real Rights of Man, Thomas Spence, 1775
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- Part I Contexts and possibilities
- Part II Texts
- 4 The Real Rights of Man, Thomas Spence, 1775
- 5 An Essay on the Right of Property in Land, William Ogilvie, 1782
- 6 Enquiry concerning Political Justice and Its Influence on Morals and Happiness, William Godwin, 1798
- 7 The Effects of Civilization on the People in European States, Charles Hall, 1805
- 8 A Lay Sermon Addressed to the Higher and Middle Classes on the Existing Distresses and Discontents, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1817
- 9 Report to the County of Lanark, Robert Owen, 1821
- 10 A Few Doubts as to the Correctness of Some Opinions Generally Entertained on the Subjects of Population and Political Economy, ‘Piercy Ravenstone’, 1821
- 11 An Inquiry into the Principles of the Distribution of Wealth Most Conducive to Human Happiness; Applied to the Newly Proposed System of Voluntary Equality of Wealth, William Thompson, 1824
- 12 Labour Defended against the Claims of Capital or the Unproductiveness of Capital Proved with Reference to the Present Combinations amongst Journeymen, Thomas Hodgskin, 1825
- 13 Rural Rides, William Cobbett, 1830
- 14 Conclusion
- Notes
- Index
Summary
Spence begins by asserting a natural and equal right to land and liberty. In a state of nature, land is held in common. The equal right to land is justified because to deny it is to deny the right to sustenance and therefore to life. No people is entitled to alienate its land, for to do so would be to deprive posterity of the sustenance that is their right. This is the natural state of affairs; and society, we may presume, was created in order to safeguard these original rights. But if we look at existing nations, we do not find these natural rights established; for in the past land was claimed, or rather usurped, by a few lords, and their claim was not challenged. Consequently they became the possessors not only of the land, but also in effect of the resident animals and even men, who depended upon the lords for their livelihood. ‘Thus were the first landholders usurpers and tyrants’ (2); they have transmitted this unjust property to their descendants, causing misery for the majority and a continuing violation of natural rights. This is the present state of affairs; Spence now proposes a plan for a better arrangement. He imagines the inhabitants of a country, ‘after much reasoning and deliberation’, assembling in their parishes and setting up parish corporations. The parishes then retake all land into the possession of the people.
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- Information
- Socialism, Radicalism, and NostalgiaSocial Criticism in Britain, 1775-1830, pp. 101 - 106Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1987