“Our refuge is upon the soil, in all its freshness and fertility – our heritage is on the Public Domain, in all its boundless wealth and infinite variety. This heritage once secured to us, the evil we complain of will become our greatest good. Machinery from the formidable rival, will sink into the obedient instrument of our will – the master shall become our servant – the tyrant shall become our slave.“
George Henry Evans, Workingman’s Advocate, July 6, 1844
The labor theory of ownership was coined by social reformers in the 18th century to describe private ownership prior to the industrial revolution. The theory is considered the utopian alternative to an oppressive Capitalist system, and is central to Marxist, Communist, Socialist, and Nazi theory. Among these ideologies is the mutual belief that the industrial revolution created a capitalist system that is responsible for all of life’s struggle. The only difference between them is how they sought to eliminate their foes.
The United States was not free from this influence. The homestead laws applied the labor theory of ownership, void of social construction theories of capitalism, to dole out western lands to colonialists, immigrants, and newly freed slaves.
During the progressive era, the Land Ordinance of 1785 came under scrutiny for its lack of limitations. Opponents argued that loopholes in the Land Ordinance allowed individuals and corporations to acquire more land than anticipated and they feared wealthy landowners would buy up the newly acquired territory in the west. Many individuals rose to influence, advocating for limited private ownership of land, and formed factions to establish restrictions and requirements for anyone who filed for a homestead.
The National Reform Association was founded in 1844 by the reformer, union organizer, and founder of the Working Men’s Party, George Henry Evans. Evans was a devoted individualist-anarchist and abolitionist who widely promoted the idea of western expansion as a way for newly freed slaves and workers to escape the futile south and build a better life. He used the term, “Vote yourself a farm” and advocated for free farmland for Western Settlers. George sold his ideas in several newspaper publications along with other reformers.
There were two primary themes driving George Henry Evans in his Painite crusade for land reform. The historical doctrine of Norman Yoke, which demanded that in order to fix the “ill-gotten gains” of British society, the land that was taken by William The Conqueror from the English Anglo-Saxons must be taken over by the state, and rents from the land be redistributed to its rightful owners. Evans was also sympathetic towards the American Indian Tribes in the western United States, who had repeatedly faced conflict with the British over their ancestral homelands.
The labor theory of ownership is also a fundamental element of the Painite theory. In their view, the only moral justification for ownership of land is labor. Evans believed that ownership is the natural relationship between the product of labor (property) and the producer (the laborer). “A laborer has an absolute right to the product of his or her labor because it is his or her creation,” he argued. “It is not the community that created the ax or plow or stand of wheat, but some particular laborer.” The land is not the creation of any particular individual. It is created by God, therefore no individual can own it.
In 1862, the country’s first homestead laws were enacted and followed most of Evans’ ideas. But not before George died on February 22, 1856. The Homestead Act allowed settlers who did not take up arms against the government to obtain title to a maximum of 160 acres of public land. The Homestead Act required the land to be open for public entry; required settlers to reside on the land for at least 14 months; and required settlers to construct a habitable dwelling and irrigate the land.
This system of land ownership in the United States was a revolutionary act, and established the most significant form of equality the world had ever seen. The idea of owning private land attracted settlers to the American West, which led to the construction of today’s modern cities. The majority of private land in the west, unless it was sold at auction or ceded by a land grant, was acquired from the public domain by the labor of a western settler.
Yet, today’s social groups, who believe in the socialist idea, persistently asserting the need to eliminate poverty and homelessness, and whose ideologies demand the abolition of capitalism, reject the Homestead laws of the United States. In fact, the same people will equate the homestead laws to environmental degradation while denying the concept can remedy all their arguments.
