Natural Inheritance and Its Discontents: A Contemporary Reevaluation of Agrarian Justice

Author: Zachary Stark

Field of Study: Philosophy, Politics and Law

Program Affiliation: Source Project Research Program

Faculty Mentors: Will Glovinsky

Easel: 104

Timeslot: Afternoon

Abstract: Thomas Paine’s Agrarian Justice (1797) argued that the natural state of mankind includes capital in the form of readily available natural resources and that this capital should be returned in the form of cash transfers. These grants were to be funded by an inheritance tax reflecting the natural value of uncultivated land. This paper will examine existing forms of state-provided services, such as education and a police force, in preparing a recommendation on whether they are sufficient restitution for natural inheritance. In addition to Agrarian Justice and other works of Paine, this work will analyze alternate forms of social welfare, including the United States Budget, the British Poor Laws, and Henry George’s “ground-rent” theory. This paper argues that a cash transfer is the most indiscriminate and durable form of capital to replace natural inheritance. The final product will include a modified version of Paine’s plan suitable for today’s economic landscape.