For the nearly six thousand years of recorded history, wealth was measured in such things as property, livestock, precious metals, precious stones, and later coins issued by governments. In the Middle Ages, bank notes started to be issued as currency. In just the last couple hundred years, an amazing new commodity has grown to become the most valuable of all. That commodity is ideas.
Today, an idea can have almost unlimited value. As ideas became so valuable, the opportunity to acquire and grow wealth became available to virtually anyone with initiative. It did not matter how poor you were, or what race, creed, or religion you were, you could have an idea that could create great wealth.
When ideas began to have such value, it brought about major changes to currency. The greatest wealth was no longer measured in such things as precious metals or property, or even currency, but in stocks and bonds. This enabled people who may not get ideas to be able to invest in them and thereby share in the prosperity they produced. This released one of the biggest transfers of wealth from the few to the many in history.
This also produced challenges such as how to protect the ownership of ideas. Patents and copyrights could have extraordinary value. Registering and protecting intellectual property had to evolve quickly as modern thieves started focusing on stealing valuable ideas. Modern economic systems also had to become increasingly sophisticated. Even so, the free market was more democratic and less discriminating than any previous system—economic or political.
A good example of how democratic the free market economy was is reflected in the growth of corporations as owners of businesses. Anyone could invest in a corporation, and the wealth created by the company was shared by all who did.
It is truly one of the wonders of the world to see how such a remarkable economic system grew so organically. It was not engineered as much as steered, and even very little of that was required. The most brilliant political leaders and economists had the wisdom to stay out of its way, just nudging it occasionally to keep it on the right track. Occasionally some bigger corrections were needed, such as reining in the monopolies, or excessive speculation. At times major problems occurred because they were not addressed on time. Even so, political leaders who were presumptuous or too heavy-handed with the economy would cause it to slow or even result in a recession. The oxygen of the free market is freedom.
This is not to imply that the free market was not helped along by some great and revolutionary thinkers, but the most powerful and successful free markets are those that were given the freedom to grow and mature with the least interference. For nearly two centuries, America was the freest and best place in the world for business, and many of the world’s best and brightest came to America for that reason.
America did not invent the free market or bring about the advancing modern world, but it was a place where initiative and innovation would be esteemed, rewarded, and the resulting fruit protected. All of this was the result of having built a strong foundation of understanding and protecting the power of private property.
The American Founding Fathers believed and taught that protecting private property was essential for the stewardship Jesus taught about in The Parable of the Talents. Talents were a measurement of currency in Jesus’ time. Scripture states that “the whole earth belongs to The Lord” (see Exodus 19:5), so the resources He entrusts to us is a sacred trust. According to this Parable, the good stewards are the ones that increase and multiply what He entrusts to them.
Until the American Revolution, virtually the whole world was ruled by imperial governments. Private property was allowed, but for the most part it was restricted to the noble class. The counties that American states are divided into got their name from the word “Count,” which was a rank of nobility. The size of the counties reflected the approximate size of an average Count’s estate until the 20th century.
The peasants, or lower classes, would work these estates for a share of the harvest, which is why some called them “share-croppers.” It was rare for anyone from the lower classes to own land. Ultimately, the king and his nobles owned everything, so any invention would belong to them. For this reason, those who gave time or attention to innovate or invent were rare.
The English colonies of North America evolved differently than English or other European cultures. When the common gardens in Jamestown and Plymouth were divided and given to the colonists to work, this became their property, and those who worked them were the ones who benefitted from them. This released initiative to many more people and a devotion to innovation soon followed.
As productivity soared because of this, many of these plots of ground given to individuals and families grew into large estates. To secure the extra labor needed to run them, the owners would pay the passage of those who would come to work for them a specified amount of time, usually seven years after the example of Jacob in The Bible. These were called “indentured servants.” After these had worked off the cost of their passage, they were given their own land to work, and so they in turn built their own estates.
This freedom, and the ability to acquire property by initiative and hard work, drew those with initiative and diligence to the colonies. This caused hard work and initiative to become the culture of the colonies. The Pilgrims and Puritans had already become known for their diligence and hard work. Because of this, every place they had settled prospered, but they were also constantly being persecuted because of their faith. So, to find a place where they were free to practice their faith was essential to them. With the discovery of “the new world,” they believed this was an answer to their prayers. As they brought their diligence along with their faith to the new world, they brought prosperity as well.
The American Revolution was more than a political revolution—it was a religious and economic revolution as well. As Solomon wrote that “a cord of three strands is not easily broken” (see Ecclesiastes 4:12), it was the combining of these three major strands—the religious, the economic, and the political—into one that gave America great strength. To weaken any one of them is to weaken the whole.
In these times, all three of these are under relentless assault, just as they have been from the beginning. To date, every challenge has ultimately ended up strengthening them. Will this continue in our time? We will decide, but we have an unfair advantage. We cannot lose if we do not quit.
Were we directed from Washington [city] when to sow, and when to reap, we should soon want bread. – Thomas Jefferson
The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind. – Thomas Paine
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© 2020 by Rick Joyner. All rights reserved.
