The Wild Indian's Venison: Locke's Theory of Property and English Colonialism in America

Abstract

Locke's theory of property in the Two Treatises of Government is shaped by his deep involvement in the development of colonial policy, as secretary to both the Lord Proprietors of Carolina and the Council of Trade and Plantations. This article will demonstrate the extent to which chapter five of the Second Treatise mirrors the arguments made both by the ethical and economic defenders of the English plantation. By calling America vacant, by beginning property in land through enclosure and cultivation and limiting it to that which does not spoil, and by introducing money and international commerce as the means by which the spoilage proviso can be transcended, Locke incorporates both an ethical justification for taking Indian occupied land and economic reasons for favouring settled agrarian based colonies. Thus, embedded within Locke's theory of property is a vigorous economic and ethical defence of England's colonial activities in the new world.