Woody Guthrie Quotes
Was a great high wall there that tried to stop me. Was a great big sign there said private Property but on the back side it didn't say nothing. That side was made for you and me.
Guthrie, Woody. "This Land Is Your Land." Ludlow Music, 1956.
Earlier, treaties had been negotiated whereby whites purchased certain Indian lands. Tecumseh and others had objected not only to the concept of land sale, but to those who had sold the lands {612650}.
Congress was debating the Naturalization Act of 1790. Page and many others (see {616324}) argued that there should be no qualification requirements on immigrants as every person coming to America added to the strength of the nation. Congress reached a compromise between those who favored unlimited naturalization and citizenship and those who wanted heavy restrictions. It required a 2 year residence, a certification of good character and an oath, modest by modern standards.
This was written and adopted by Vermont a decade before the United States Constitution the ideas for which were in existence in America before the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia.
This is a fascinating quotation in that Cooper was a strong patriot of the American system. Today, this statement would be considered un-American and communistic. The notion that each person had a right to a share of land ownership. America changed in this respect. In Cooper’s day, there was so much land and so few people that it was part of the American concept that each man should have land. (Free men and not slaves of course). But as the population grew, speculators realized that there was opportunity and today in America ALL LAND is owned by people, corporations, other organizations and the government. The population is still growing and the potable water is in shorter and shorter supply. Already, we have to pay for water in much of the country. Perhaps in years to come, someone who argues that each person is entitled to clean air to breathe might be thought of as a radical communist.
At the time, land was much more of a necessity for the average person than today in America. But in early America and much of the rest of the world today, without land one had little or no opportunity to do almost anything. So equality of land distribution was necessary for equality of opportunity. America never solved the problem of equality of land distribution; we just developed an economy where land was not longer so critical to opportunity.
It was drafted by John Adams. 9 Years later the French in their Revolution used the first clause in their Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen—See Quotation 602404 For an opposite point of view see Quotation 635927.
He was one of those arguing for tha nation to award every American 15 pounds upon reaxhing the age of 18, This would allow the young man (it is not clear that this applied to females as well) to buy a basic start in life. A houirse, a gun, and the ability to buy a small plot of land. The proposal got lost in the events of the Revolution. The ancient middle age Jews had a custom whereby when a young man reached the age of 13, and could demonstrate that he was literate, and familiar with the Torah (1st 5 Books of the Old Testament which was for them the "law", he would be given gifts by his relatives and often the comminithy or congregation as a whole, so taht he had the wherewithall to start an adult life. Many of the founding fathers were very familiar with the Ancient Jewish Republic and some adopted a version of this.]
Woodrow Wilson Guthrie was an American singer-songwriter, who is one of the most significant figures in American folk music. His music, including songs such as "This Land Is Your Land", has inspired several generations both politically and musically.
