James Otis Jr. was one of the most important leaders of the American Revolution – yet today, he is almost completely forgotten. Years before the Declaration of Independence, he laid the intellectual foundation for the revolution by championing natural rights, property rights, and the necessity of resisting tyranny.
To commemorate his birthday – February 5, 1725 – this article explores five fundamental truths that Otis taught, truths we ignore at our own peril.
1. Natural Rights: The Foundation of Liberty
Otis rooted his philosophy in the belief that natural rights are inherent to all individuals, preceding and superseding any government authority. He argued that these rights are not granted by rulers but are an unalienable gift from nature and God.
“There can be no prescription old enough to supersede the law of nature, and the grant of God almighty; who has given to all men a natural right to be free, and they have it ordinarily in their power to make themselves so, if they please.”
This principle echoed John Locke, who described natural liberty as freedom from any superior power on earth, bound only by the law of nature. Otis explained that this principle is the basis of free and independent states:
“This is the liberty of independent states; this is the liberty of every man out of society, and who has a mind to live so; which liberty is only abridged in certain instances, not lost to those who are born in or voluntarily enter into society; this gift of God cannot be annihilated.”
Today, many assume that when the founders and old revolutionaries spoke of “the natural liberty of man,” they deliberately excluded women. But James Otis rejected such a notion outright.
“Are not women born as free as men? Would it not be infamous to assert that the ladies are all slaves by nature?”
Likewise, many today assume they all supported slavery – but, again, that was not the case with Otis.
“The Colonists are by the law of nature free born, as indeed all men are, white or black.”
Citing Montesquieu, he warned that slavery could drive both Europe and America into darkness:
“No better reasons can be given, for enslaving those of any color than such as baron Montesquieu has humorously given, as the foundation of that cruel slavery exercised over the poor Ethiopians; which threatens one day to reduce both Europe and America to the ignorance and barbarity of the darkest age.”
Otis left no room for doubt – he saw slavery as one of the gravest violations of the law of nature.
“Nothing better can be said in favor of a trade, that is the most shocking violation of the law of nature.”
2. No Liberty Without Property Rights. And Consent
For Otis, liberty and property rights were inseparable. He argued that personal security depended on protection from government intrusion:
“Now one of the most essential branches of English liberty is the freedom of one’s house. A man’s house is his castle; and whilst he is quiet, he is as well guarded as a prince in his castle.”
Property rights were not just about possessions – they were about consent:
“Now can there be any liberty, where property is taken away without consent?”
Without property rights secured by consent, freedom cannot exist. If property can be taken at will, liberty is reduced to nothing more than an illusion, and the people are left in a state of political slavery.
“No man can take my property from me, without my consent: If he does, he deprives me of my liberty, and makes me a slave.”
Once property can be seized without consent, no other rights remain secure:
“For what one civil right is worth a rush, after a man’s property is subject to be taken from him at pleasure, without his consent? If a man is not his own assessor in person, or by deputy, his liberty is gone, or lays intirely at the mercy of others.”
