McGuffey's Sixth Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition · Lesson CXVIII · Part 12: Herculaneum, Waterloo and A Psalm of Life

124. Origin of Property (Sir William Blackstone)

Goal: Your student can trace Blackstone's account of how property began, from shared use to ownership.

⏱ About 40 minutes · 6 steps

Open it at the Internet Archive ↗

You'll need

  • The book, open to this lesson
  • A notebook and pen
  • A dictionary

What's in the book

From Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England: how people first held the earth in common and how private property grew. The heading is at the top of the page.

The lesson, step by step

  1. Words and meanings

    Look over the notes and definitions printed at the end of the lesson before you start, so names and hard words don't trip up the reading.

    Property means things a person owns. Occupancy means taking and using something.

    Your student picks three unfamiliar words, guesses each meaning from the sentence, then checks a dictionary.

  2. About the author

    The book says Blackstone (1723–1780) was born in London, the son of a silk merchant. He studied at Oxford and became a lawyer in 1745, lectured at Oxford, and later practiced in London with great success. He was elected to Parliament in 1761 and became a judge in 1770. He is best known for his Commentaries on the Laws of England.

  3. Read aloud

    Read it a paragraph at a time and summarize each one.

  4. Talk about it

    SayHow did people use land and things at the very beginning, according to Blackstone?

    SayWhat changed as people grew more numerous?

    SayWhy did people need to own land in order to farm it?

    SayDo you think everything should be owned by someone? Is there anything that should be shared?

  5. Narration

    Your student explains Blackstone's story of property in three or four steps.

  6. Writing (optional)

    Write a paragraph: How do the people in your family decide what belongs to whom?

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