It would be strange if children could make
laws fit to govern men. And with the laws of marriage will go the laws
of property in land. Land was common property at first, and what right
had any one to make it private? The first man who appropriated land was
a thief. And those who inherited it from him were receivers of stolen
goods. And the title that was vicious at first could never be made valid
by time. The continuance of a wrong can never make it right. Allow that
men have a right to the land in consequence of long possession and
inheritance, and you must allow that men may have a right to their
slaves. The right to land, and the right to slaves, are not so different
as some would suppose. What is man's right to his own body worth, if he
is deprived of his right to the land? Man lives from the land, and
unless he has a right to the land, he can have no right to life. A right
to life implies a right to the land. Men live _on_ the land as well as
_from_ it; and if they have not a right to the land, they can have no
right to live. And man has a right to perfect freedom. Life without
freedom is slavery; and slavery is the extinction of all rights, the
right to life included. And woman has equal rights with man. And
children have equal rights with either.
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