As one of the most important philosophers of the modern age, John Locke asserts this empowering aspect of property in his Second Treatise of Government. Though God gave the world to all creatures in common, “every man has a property in his own person” (p. 1). The body of a man belongs solely to him and he may harvest the work of his own hands. When a man labors to remove something from its natural state, no longer is it the common property of all mankind. It belongs exclusively to the man. The apple becomes his when he picks it. All individuals have the capability of acquiring and defending the property needed to support themselves. Property rights can be understood as fundamental human rights, as significant as the freedom of speech or religious
