The Concept of Property in the Context of Early American Political Writing

• Thesis title in Czech: Koncept majetku v kontextu rané americké politické literatury
• Thesis title in English: The Concept of Property in the Context of Early American Political Writing
• Key words: Deklarace nezávislosti|otroctví|majetek|John Locke|Listy federalistů
• English key words: Declaration of Independence|slavery|property|John Locke|Federalist Papers
• Academic year of topic announcement: 2015/2016
• Thesis type: diploma thesis
• Thesis language: angličtina
• Department: Department of Anglophone Literatures and Cultures (21-UALK)
• Supervisor: David Lee Robbins, Ph.D.
• Author: hidden - assigned and confirmed by the Study Dept.
• Date of registration: 08.06.2016
• Date of assignment: 08.06.2016
• Administrator's approval: not processed yet
• Confirmed by Study dept. on: 23.06.2016
• Date and time of defence: 29.01.2018 09:00
• Date of electronic submission: 18.12.2017
• Date of proceeded defence: 29.01.2018
• Submitted/finalized: committed by student and finalized
• Opponents: Mgr. Pavla Veselá, Ph.D.

Guidelines

When observing the values which repeatedly appear in early American literature we encounter ideas such as liberty, freedom, or the importance of the individual, but while property and ownership are often also core ideas and motivations for many Americans, their appearance is much more limited and excluded from certain contexts. This thesis aims to explore the concept of property in the Declaration of Independence within its historical context using The Federalist, The Anti-Federalist Papers and other contemporary political pamphlets and texts, for reference to narrow down the topic as well as to avoid excessive excursions into a legal context as opposed to a literary one. This will limit the time frame to the area between eighteenth century and nineteenth century. Following the introduction, the chapter’s primary focus will be analyzing property using philosophical, political and racial context with the final chapter summarizing and comparing the findings. It is my hypothesis that the concept of property will prove to be one of the key concepts in early American political writing but that it will be greatly downplayed on the formal level due to what might today be referred to as "political correctness."
The first chapter would be introducing the aim of the thesis and the primary and secondary texts that will be used. Also, it will be explaining the terminology, mainly what is meant by concept and property (as a slight extension of the modern meaning is needed for this term due to the fact that during the time slaves were not qualified as humans but as property of their masters). Likewise there will be a summary of the general historical background explaining the social and political context which resulted in the aforementioned texts being written.
The second chapter will consist of the analysis of The Declaration of Independence, explaining how property was viewed according to it and stating its original purpose. Moreover, it will provide a philosophical reading (mostly a comparison with Locke’s Second Treatise on Government and a consideration of the effect Transcendentalism would subsequently have on the significance and signification of property) as well as a religious reading, exploring, among other things, how and why, in the American formulation, the "pursuit of happiness" ("life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness") came to replace its British counterpart, the "pursuit of property" ("life, liberty, and property").
The third chapter would examine property (when interpreted mainly in terms of money, land, and the emerging concept of "capital," which would come closer to the present-day reading) in the purely political context, where it is often referred to as a requirement for freedom (since it enables for individuals and the community greater possibilities and options, and hence greater "liberty"). This chapter will mainly be supported by readings of The Federalist, The Anti-Federalist papers and Common Sense.
The fourth chapter would examine property in the context of slavery. It would examine what was the relationship between the two in the context of the Declaration of Independence, show the supposed view of the author, see how this would be viewed by the general public at the time and what this reading would mean in the economic and political context. This chapter will take references to slavery from main political texts of the time and examine their context as well as draw from the autobiography of Thomas Jefferson and some contemporary anti-slavery speeches.
The final chapter will provide a summary and a conclusion of the previously mentioned arguments as well as outline the modern interpretations of the Declaration of Independence’s approach to property.

References

Jefferson, Thomas. The Declaration of Independence
Locke, John. The Second Treatise on Government
Madison, James. Hamilton, Alexander. Jay, John. The Federalist Papers
Henry, Patrick. The Anti-federalist Papers
Paine, Thomas. Common Sense
James W. Ely. Property Rights in the Colonial Era and Early Republic, Taylor & Francis, 1997
Charles S. Hyneman, American Political Writing During the Founding Era: 1760-1805, vol. 2 [1983]
Jefferson, Thomas. The Autobiography of Thomas Jefferson. A & D Publishing. 2009
Kulikoff, Allan. The Agrarian Origins of American Capitalism. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1992.
Pamphlets of the American Revolution, 1750-1776, Volume I. Ed. Bernard Baylin. Harvard University Press. 1965
Hume, David. Essays Moral, Political, and Literary. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1987.
Huenefeld, Richard A. The Unalienable Right of Property: Its Foundation, Erosion and Restoration