Paine, Thomas.

Agrarian Justice, Opposed to Agrarian Law, and to Agrarian Monopoly ; Being a Plan for Meliorating the Condition of Man, by creating in every Nation a National Fund, to pay to every person, when arrived at the age of Twenty-One years, the sum of Fifteen Pounds Sterling, to enable him; or her to begin the world; And Also, Ten Pounds Sterling per annum during life to every person now living of the age of Fifty Years, and to all others when they shall arrive at that age, to enable them to live in old age without Wretchedness, and go decently out of the world. By Thomas Paine, author of Common sense, Rights of man, Age of reason, &c. &c.

First Irish Edition / First Cork Edition. Cork, Printed at the late Gazette-Office, no year [1797]. Octavo. 16 pages. Original half-leather. Binding in very poor condition but interior firm and clean besides the endpaper and first few pages of the Volume which is bound before the work by Thomas Paine. Rear endpaper missing. Very important publication, perfectly protected n the rear of this Volume. The Cork-Print of this important pamphlet is of utmost rarity.

[″The Agrarian Justice” is Bound with: 1. Sir Roger L’strange [sic] – “Seneca’s Morals. By way of Abstract. The last Edition, Corrected and Revised. Frontispice, [6], 283 pages / Followed by: 2. Subscriber’s Advertisement for “Seneca’s Morals” – To be published at the Cork Gazette – Office in Grattan-Street” 4 pages. [Dated: “October 31st, 1797”] / Followed by: Thomas Paine – “Agrarian Justice” //

Agrarian Justice is the title of a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine and published in 1797, which proposed that those who possess cultivated land owe the community a ground rent, which justifies an estate tax to fund universal old-age and disability pensions and a fixed sum to be paid to all citizens upon reaching maturity.

It was written in the winter of 1795–96 but remained unpublished for a year. Paine was undecided whether to wait until the end of the ongoing war with France before publishing, however, having read a sermon by Richard Watson, the Bishop of Llandaff, which discussed the “Wisdom… of God, in having made both Rich and Poor,” he felt the need to publish under the argument that “rich” and “poor” were arbitrary divisions, not divinely created ones.

In response to the private sale of royal (or common) lands, Paine proposed a detailed plan to tax land owners once per generation to pay for the needs of those who have no land. Some consider this a precursor to the modern idea of citizen’s dividend or basic income. The money would be raised by taxing all direct inheritances at 10%, and “indirect” inheritances, those not going to close relations, at a somewhat higher rate. He estimated that to raise around £5,700,000 per year.

Around two-thirds of the fund would be spent on pension payments of £10 per year to every person over the age of 50, which Paine had taken as his average adult life expectancy.

Most of the remainder would be used to make fixed payments of £15 to every man and woman on reaching the age of 21, then the age of legal majority.

The small remainder of the money raised that was still unused would be used for paying pensions to “the lame and blind.″

For context, the average weekly wage of an agricultural labourer was around 9 shillings, which would mean an annual income of about £23 for an able-bodied man working throughout the year.

Paine’s proposal presaged the social safety net of later eras and governments, proposing seven entitlements to protect the poorest citizens from the ravages of market capitalism:

Grants to subsidize schooling of 4 pounds per annum
One-time payments to adults on reaching maturity
One-time payments to newly married couples and new parents
Eliminate taxes on working poor
Back-to-work schemes
Pensions for seniors
Burial benefits to surviving spouses

and also provided a scheme of how to pay for them.

The work is based on the contention that in the state of nature, “the earth, in its natural uncultivated state … was the common property of the human race.” The concept of private ownership arose as a necessary result of the development of agriculture since it was impossible to distinguish the possession of improvements to the land from the possession of the land itself. Thus, Paine viewed private property as necessary while at the same time asserting that the basic needs of all humanity must be provided for by those with property, who have originally taken it from the general public. In some sense, that is their “payment” to non-property holders for the right to hold private property.

Historian Richard Bell described Agrarian Justice as “an extraordinary social justice manifesto”, that is “not proto-Marxism” but rather “a non-Marxist critique of the free market that lays no plans to nationalize … or limit property or … acquisition”. (Source: Wikipedia)

• Keywords: 18th Century · 18th Century – Rare · Economics – Rare · Economy and Equality · Paine, Thomas · Social Reform · Social Security History · Social Theory · Universal Wage
• Inventory Number: 31751AB

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