By this constitutional guaranty every person is well guarded in his ownership and possession of property. In countries existing before America not much attention was paid to the rights of property owners. If the king or emperor should demand possession of a certain piece of property the owner had little to say about it. He received his orders and obeyed them, because he was afraid of the power of the government. The government could pay or not as it pleased. But this period of wrong and injustice was ended, so far as the people of America were concerned, when the Constitution became the final power in this land.
There are a few people in this country who seek to have private ownership of property abolished. No law taking away the right to own property can ever come into force in this country until the people by their votes change the Constitution. The Constitution stands guard over the farms, the homes, the money, and all forms of personal property. It guards the cottage of the widow with the same jealous care that it does the ten-story building of the bank. No person and no power can interfere with the right to accumulate property and to hold it, provided only it is honestly obtained.
1. What are the three things that every man, woman, and child cherishes?
2. What does the Constitution say about these three things?
3. What was the Bastile? The Tower of London?
4. Show how injustice was worked by confining people without due process of law.
5. What are some of the essentials of "due process of law"?
6. When can private property be taken by the government?
7. When the State wishes a piece of land, end the owner will not sell for a fair price, how is the matter adjusted?
8. What right for reconsideration has a person against whom a judgment has been rendered in a trial court?
9. How can the reasonable value of property be established or proven?
10. Suppose the President of the United States wished a certain piece of property upon which to build a summer home. Could the President secure the land? Give reasons.
A. What are some of the steps necessary to due process of law?
B. What would be the effect on people if life, liberty, or property could be taken without due process?
C. Discuss the process of condemning property.