Property In Madison's Property

Madison’s two writings, Property and his Third Note, both had overlapping themes. Each of Madison’s writings were concerned with what defines property and how the definition of it should define how Americans interpret the Constitution. For this assignment, each article will be summarized and interpreted independently before a final interpretation of their significance in unison. In Madison’s earlier paper, Property, it is easy to deduce that some of the in Third Note were in their early development stages.

Madison’s Property defined what the term “property” meant to him. Madison beautifully described property as “that dominion in which one man claims and exercises over the external things of the world, in exclusion of every other individual.” (Madison 1972, 266) He argued that the literal definition of property is enhanced alternative of how a government typically classifies property. The old definition of property only included merchandize, money, or land. In the latter definition, religion is also included, as well as personal values and opinions.

In true Madison fashion, Madison’s definition of property benefited the common

Initially, the Third Note engaged the reader in a thought provoking discussion about the future and how American voting rights will need to change in order to accommodate the constitution. Madison’s note explicitly defined the term property and he outlined the how highly most governments regard land ownership. Madison set his sights on the future and saw the United States for what it would eventually become, and he reinforced the importance of a strong constitution that was prepared for changes in the future. Madison also provided a theoretical example of implementing a constitution that would be prepared for the present circumstances, however, he argued that the resulting constitution wouldn’t be