On the recordMarch 2, 1995
In recent years the issue of property rights has been hotly debated, as a growing movement of property owners at the grassroots level feel that their rights are being seriously infringed upon. Some have characterized this movement as greedy, comprised of people who have no interest in the public good. I would like to go back to the beginning of the debate and bring some historical perspective into this discussion. In 1772, Samuel Adams set out to ``state the rights of the Colonists * * * as men, and as subjects; and to communicate the same to the several towns and the world.'' He began his task with the declaration that: The absolute rights of Englishmen and all freemen, in or out of civil society, are principally personal security, personal liberty, and private property. Throughout the succeeding revolutionary period, these three rights were time and again recalled--life, liberty, and property.
Source
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