Foundations of American Environmental Thought and Action 15
Cittyes, Townes, or through the Lands. Great
Roades from Citty to Citty not to Containe
Less then Fourty foot in breadth, shall be first
laid Out {& declared to be} for highwayes,
before the Divident of Acres be laid out for
the purchaser, a[nd the] like Observation to be
had for Streets in the Townes & Cittyes, that
there may be Conven[ient] Roades & Streets
preserved not to be Incroached upon by any
planter or Builder, and [that] none may build
Iregulerly to the dammage of another, in this
Custome guide.
* * *
[18th] That in Clearing the Ground, Care
be Taken to Leave One Acree of Trees for every
five Acres Cleared, especially to Preserve Oak &
Mulberries for Silk & Shipping.
Source: The Papers of William Penn, Vol. 2: 1680-1684, ed.
Richard S. Dunn and Mary Maples Dunn (Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982), pp. 98, 100.between colonies, and to England was deemed
essential to the common good, and the provi-
sion of wood for shipbuilding was the object of
many of the earliest set-asides of timbered land.
Sometimes, however, the setting aside of wood-
land was carried out in order to support unreal-
istic projects. Penn's scheme to develop mulberry
groves as the basis for the establishment of a silk
industry proved to be a fanciful notion.
The 11 of July 1681
[1st] That so Soone as it pleaseth God that
the abovesaid persons Arrive there, a certaine
Quant[ity] of Land or Ground platt shall be
laid out for a large Towne or Citty in the most
Convenient pla[ce] upon the River for health &
Navigation, and every Purchaser & Adventurer
shall by lott have soe much Land therein, as
will Answer to the Proportion he hath bought
or Taken up upon Rent; but it is to be Noted
that the Surveyors shall Consider wha[t]
Roades or high wayes will be Necessary to the
Document 14: John Locke on Property and Labor (1690)
The writings of the English philosopher John Locke, who was greatly influenced by the views of Francis Bacon
[see Document 8], Thomas Hobbes [see Document 11], and René Descartes, were a major source for the drafters
of the U.S. Constitution and the early members of Congress. His thesis that an individual's property should not
exceed the amount of property that a laborer could tend was later incorporated into the Homestead Act [see
Document 42].- [I]f gathering the Acorns, or other Fruits
of the Earth, &c. makes a right to them, then any
one may ingross as much as he will. To which I
Answer, Not so. The same Law of Nature, that
does by this means give us Property, does also
bound that Property too. God has given us all
things richly, 1 Tim. vi. 12 is the Voice of Reason
confirmed by Inspiration. But how far has he given
it us? To enjoy. As much as any one can make
use of to any advantage of life before it spoils;
so much he may by his labour fix a Property in.
Whatever is beyond this, is more than his share,
and belongs to others. Nothing was made by God
for Man to spoil or destroy. And thus considering
the plenty of natural Provisions there was a long
time in the World, and the few spenders, and to
how small a part that provision the industry of
one Man could extend it self, and ingross it to the
prejudice of others; especially keeping within the
bounds, set by reason of what might serve for his
use; there could be then little room for Quarrels
or Contentions about Property so establish’d.- But the chief matter of Property being
now not the Fruits of the Earth, and the Beasts
that subsist on it, but the Earth it self; as that
which takes in and carries with it all the rest:
I think it is plain, that Property in that too is
acquired as the former. As much Land as a Man