John Locke's Second Treatise

“And thus came in the use of Money, some lasting thing that Men might keep without spoiling, and that by mutual consent Men would take in exchange for the truly useful, but perishable Supports of Life.” (Chapter V: 47).

In Chapter V of his Second Treatise, John Locke defines the legitimate appropriation of property as a process dependent on the use of personal labor by individuals. He explains that God has given the World to all of mankind so that they might use its resources to their advantages. Each person is born with a “Property” in his or her own “Person” and thus, when an individual removes something from the State that was provided by Nature and mixes it with his Labor, it subsequently becomes his property. Locke emphasizes the gravity of labor in putting “the difference of value on every thing,” (V: 40, 3-4). However, the acquisition of property is severely limited past a certain point in the State of Nature. Locke ascertains that individuals can only rightfully take what they can use before it spoils, and that they can only take as much as will leave enough for others. When money has been introduced into a society, individuals are able to store large amounts of their gains in wealth and property, and as a result, some individuals inevitably acquire more in terms of value than others. As these select individuals gain more, they consequently reduce the ability of others to appropriate and gain as much as they want of the Earth. While the use of money ultimately increases the inequality of property in society by exaggerating the “different degrees of industry” that have already created disparity (48), Locke asserts that this inequality is justified because all men have knowingly agreed to its use in giving money a value. T...

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...s to raw materials. For example, a person might want to be a farmer. In order to do this in the original state of nature, he would need to acquire land, animals, and materials to build his farm. He would then only be able to produce as much as he could use and as would not infringe upon the ability to produce or acquire necessary property by others. However, with the introduction of money, even if he could not buy the land for his own farm, he could seek other economic endeavors that would be just as personally beneficial. Instead of owning his own small farm, he could work in a grocery store and obtain the same amount of relative personal property via his earned wages, and these could be used to purchase all of his necessities. Higher levels of industry encouraged by the use of money reduce the risk that individuals cannot meet the opportunities they are seeking,