THERE IS, HOWEVER, A SOURCE FOR ENLARGING OUR UNDERSTANDING OF PROPERTY RIGHTS IN THE POLITICAL THOUGHT OF THE LATE-EIGHTEENTH CENTURY THAT HAS RARELY BEEN USED-THOSE MORAL PHILOSOPHERS IN THE ...NATURAL LAW TRADITION WHO TAUGHT AT AMERICAN COLLEGES. SAMUEL JOHNSON AND JOHAN GROS AT COLUMBIA, JOHN WITHERSPOON AND SAMUEL STANHOPE SMITH AT PRINCETON, THOMAS CLAP AT YALE, AND JAMES WILSON AT PENNSYLVANIA WERE AMONG THE MOST LEARNED, IMPORTANT, AND ACTIVE MEN IN AMERICAN INTELLECTUAL AND POLITICAL LIFE.8 MOREOVER, THEY ALL PUBLISHED COMPLETE AND SYSTEMATIC TREATISES ON MORAL PHILOSOPHY OR LAW, USUALLY BASED ON THEIR LECTURES, THAT DELINEATED THE GENERAL NATURE OF RIGHTS AND DUTIES, AS WELL AS THE SPECIFIC NATURE OF THE RIGHTS AND DUTIES THAT SHOULD GOVERN PROPERTY OWNERSHIP. AN EXAMINATION OF THESE TREATISES WILL REVEAL AN ATTITUDE TOWARD PROPERTY RIGHTS-FOUND AMONG THOSE WHO THOUGHT PROPERTY WAS A NATURAL RIGHT AS WELL AS AMONG THOSE WHO THOUGHT IT WAS AN ADVENTITIOUS (CONVENTIONAL) RIGHT-THAT WAS LOCATED BETWEEN POSSESSIVE INDIVIDUALISM AND CIVIC HUMANISM. THIS ATTITUDE, WHICH WILL BE REFERRED TO AS BOURGEOIS VIRTUE, DEFENDED PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, BUT NEVER SUGGESTED THAT SUCH A DEFENCE REQUIRED LIFTING THE LIMITATIONS ON PROPERTY RIGHTS THAT MAY BE DEMANDED BY VIRTUE AND THE PUBLIC GOOD.9
