IV 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 438 
Recognizing the importance of the property rights granted by the United 
States Constitution; affirming the duty of each Member of this body 
to support and defend such rights; and asserting that no public body 
should unlawfully obtain the property of any citizen of the United States 
for the benefit of another private citizen or corporation. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 14, 2011 
Mr. BROUN of Georgia submitted the following resolution; which was referred 
to the Committee on the Judiciary 
RESOLUTION 
Recognizing the importance of the property rights granted 
by the United States Constitution; affirming the duty 
of each Member of this body to support and defend 
such rights; and asserting that no public body should 
unlawfully obtain the property of any citizen of the 
United States for the benefit of another private citizen 
or corporation. 
Whereas there is no greater expression of freedom and liberty 
than the defense of the God-given right of an individual 
to hold, possess, and use private property; 
Whereas John Locke, the great political philosopher lauded 
by so many of the Founders of this Nation, stated, ‘‘the 
preservation of property [is the reason] for which men 
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enter into society’’ and that ‘‘no [government] hath a 
right to take their [property], or any part of it, without 
their own consent, for this would be in effect to leave 
them no property at all.’’; 
Whereas William Blackstone, whose lectures shaped and 
helped inspire the Declaration of Independence, Constitu-
tion, and primal laws of America, wrote: ‘‘So great more-
over is the regard of the law for private property, that 
it will not authorize the least violation of it; no, not even 
for the general good of the whole community.’’; 
Whereas Samuel Adams, the political writer, statesman, and 
signer of the Declaration of Independence, declared that 
our rights included: ‘‘First, a right to life; Secondly, to 
liberty; Thirdly, to property; together with the right to 
support and defend them.’’; 
Whereas John Adams, diplomat, signer of the Declaration of 
Independence, and President of the United States, firmly 
proclaimed: ‘‘The moment the idea is admitted into soci-
ety, that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, 
and that there is not a force of law and public justice to 
protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.’’ and that 
‘‘Property is surely a right of mankind as real as lib-
erty.’’; 
Whereas John Adams also affirmed: ‘‘Property must be se-
cured or liberty cannot exist.’’; 
Whereas James Madison, author of the Constitution, and 
President of the United States, announced: ‘‘Government 
is instituted to protect property. . . . This being the end 
of government, that alone is a just government, which 
impartially secures to every man, whatever is his own.’’; 
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Whereas John Dickinson, signer of the Constitution, stated: 
‘‘Let these truths be indelibly impressed on our minds: 
(1) that we cannot be happy without being free; (2) that 
we cannot be free, without being secure in our property; 
(3) that we cannot be secure in our property, if, without 
our consent, others may, as by right, take it away.’’; 
Whereas Thomas Jefferson, the mind behind the Declaration 
of Independence, and President of the United States, 
wrote: ‘‘The true foundation of republican government is 
the equal right of every citizen in his person and property 
and in their management.’’ and ‘‘The first foundations of 
the social compact would be broken up were we definitely 
to refuse to its members the protection of their persons 
and property while in their lawful pursuits.’’; 
Whereas Thomas Jefferson also affirmed: ‘‘Charged with the 
care of the general interest of the nation, and among 
these with the preservation of their lands from intrusion, 
I exercised, on their behalf, a right given by nature to all 
men, individual or associated, that of rescuing their own 
property wrongfully taken.’’; 
Whereas Noah Webster, the ‘‘Father of American Scholar-
ship and Education’’, stated: ‘‘It is admitted that all men 
have an equal right to the enjoyment of their life, prop-
erty and personal security; and it is the duty as it is the 
object, of government to protect every man in this enjoy-
ment.’’; 
Whereas John Jay opined: ‘‘No power on earth has a right 
to take our property from us without our consent.’’; and 
Whereas Fisher Ames, framer of the Bill of Rights and Mas-
sachusetts Representative to the first four Congresses, 
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said: ‘‘The chief duty and care of all governments is to 
protect the rights of property.’’: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That— 
(1) these ideals did motivate and continue to 
justify the drafting of article 1, section 8 of the 
United States Constitution, which states that it is 
the responsibility of Congress ‘‘to promote the 
Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for 
limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive 
Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries’’, 
and the writing of the 5th Amendment to our Con-
stitution, which clearly states: ‘‘No person shall be 
. . . deprived of life, liberty, or property, without 
due process of law; nor shall private property be 
taken for public use, without just compensation.’’; 
(2) since every Member of this body has sworn 
or affirmed to both support and defend the entire 
Constitution and ‘‘to bear true faith and allegiance 
to the same’’, any act not in accordance with that 
oath is both a betrayal of the United States Con-
stitution and a violation of Federal law; and 
(3) in the constant pursuit of a more perfect 
union, all citizens of the United States should re-
main secure in the possession of private property, 
and no court, legislature, or executive shall, by pred-
atory law or tyrannical force, obtain the property of 
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any citizen of the United States for the benefit of 
another private citizen or corporation. 
Æ 
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