THE CALVINIST ORIGINS OF LOCKEAN POLITICAL ECONOMY! Richard Boyd Abst sms of John Locke as a ‘bourgeois’ or ‘possessive individualist’ have been hotly contested since their appearance in the 19503 and 1960s. Locke's defenders have countered that his econamic thought was governed by doctrines of charity. community and the public good. This project of recovering a kinder, gentler Locke has brought with it an emphasis on the centrality of Grotius and Pufendort to seventeenth-century discussions of natural law. Still, the emergence of the 'Grotius- Pufendorf thesis’ may have eclipsed other sources of Locke's political economy. E will suggest that Locke's writings an trade and economic accumulation are better under- stood in light of a seventeenth-century economic discourse of pamphlets, tracts and sermons rooted in the practical theology of Calvinism, Introduction: Beyond the Grotius-Pufendorf Thesis? John Locke's economic views have always been at the heart of interpretive controversies. Some have criticized Locke for instigating a ‘possessive indi- vidualist’ or ‘bourgeois’ capitalist order that signifies the triumph of economy over polity.’ Others celebrate him for liberating economic science from the traditional dictates of morality and natural law.’ Yet even for seminal critics like Strauss and Macpherson, Locke's “bourgeois revolution’ was as much philosophical — advocating economic justice and recognizably modern ways of conceiving the individual’ s relationship to the natural and moral order — as. it was narrowly economic, Based ostensibly on his rejection of Christian and T Conversations with Gordon Schochet first inspired this paper. Subsequent drafts benefited from the sympathetic criticisms of Deborah Boucoyannis, Steven Grosby, Iain Hampsher-Moak, Nathan Tarcov, participants in the Political Theory Workshop at the University of Chicago, and this journal's anonymous readers. 2 Dept. of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania, 214 Stiteler Hall, Philadel- phia, PA 19104-6215, USA. Email: raboyd@ ss upenn edu 3 C.B, Macpherson, The Political Theory of Possessive Individeatism: Hobbes to Locke (Oxford, 1962): Leo Strauss, Natural Right and History (Chicago, 1953). Richard Cox, ‘John Locke’, in History of Political Philosopy, ed. Leo Stranss and Joseph Cropsey (Chicago, 1987); Sheldon Wolin, Politics and Vision (Boston, 1960), 4 William Letwin, The Origins of Scientific Economics (Garden City, 1965), pp. 147-8; Karen Vaughan, John Locke, Economist and Social Scientist (Chicago, 1980); Karen Vaughan, “The Economic Background to Locke's Two Treatises',in John Locke's Two Treatises of Government, ed. Edward J. Harpham (Lawrence, KS, 1992); EJ. Hurpham, ‘Natural Law and Early Liberal Economic Thought: A Reconsideration of Locke's Theories of Value’ Social Science Quarterly, 65 (December, 1984), pp. 966-74; EJ. Harpham, ‘Class, Commerce and the State: Economic Discourse and Lockean Liber- alism in the Seventeenth Century’, Western Political Quarterly, ¥8 (December, 1985), pp. 565-82.LOCKEAN POLITICAL ECONOMY aL classical prohibitions against economic accumulation, Locke's economism was only the most conspicuous part of his broader attack on the distributive ‘concerns of classical natural law, Since then Olivecrona, Skinner, Tuck and other imerpreters have clarified Locke's position in seventeenth-century reformulations of natural law.’ It now seems undeniable that the natural-law jurisprudence of Grotius and Pufendorf shaped Locke's thoughts on justice, charity, communal obligation and property; and rather than a narrative of dramatic subversion, the story that has emerged is one of continuity, or at least of successive and incremental changes in natural-law thinking throughout the early modern period. None- theless, the Grotius-Pufendorf thesis cannot capture the full range of Locke". influences. Those like Tully, Hont and Ignatieff, and Buckle who have most persuasively tied Locke to this tradition of natural-law jurisprudence may have overshadowed another major source of Locke's thinking. We will see that his notions of charity, the public good and the moral dimensions of eco- nomic exchange share much with both Calvinist economic thinking of an ear- jer century and the mainstream economic discourse af Locke's own day. At minimum, this article will demonstrate that Calvin's doctrines of both the legitimacy and limits of trade were widely disseminated by a seven- teenth-century economic discourse of pamphlets and sermons known to- Locke and his contemporaries. At maximum, it will argue that the substantial ‘convergence between the moral language of seventeenth-century economic discourse and Locke's own writings on money and trade is strongly sugges tive of their Calvinist provenance. It is likely that the intellectual origins of Locke's economic thinking will never be fully untangied. But considering Locke's writings on commerce and ‘rade in light of the pamphlet literature of his day sharpens our sense of both ‘his traditionalism and his novelty. First, we will see that Locke's economic theory is best characterized by a shift — evident at least since the Protestant Reformation — away from theories of distributive or commutative justice and towards the procedural justice of the marketplace. Second, notwithstanding this innovation, Locke's economism remains circumscribed by recognizably Chris- tian precepts of charity, honesty, frugality, industry and fair dealings that he shares with the pamphlet discourse of his time. Lastly, Locke’s economic § Karl Olivecrona, “Locke's Theory of Appropriation’, Philosophical Quarterly, 4 (1974), pp. 220-34; Karl Olivecrona, "Appropriation inthe State of Nature: Locke onthe Origin of Property’, Journal of the History af Ideas, 35 (1974), pp. 221-30, Quentin Skinner. Foundations of Modern Political Though (Cambridge. 1978): Richatd Tuck, ‘Natural Rights Theories: Their Origin and Development (Cambridge, 1979). James Tully, A Discourse on Property: John Locke and kis Adversaries (Cam: bridge. 1980}; Istvan Hont and Michael Ignatieff, ‘Needs and Justice in the Wealth of Nations’, in Wealth and Virtue: The Shaping of Political Economy in the Seontsh Enlightenment,ed.{. Hont and M. Ignatieff (Cambridge, 1983); Stephen Buckle, Naturala R. BOYD ‘writings clearly demonstrate that he did not yet conceive of ‘civil society’ asan autonomous economic sphere divorced from superintending moral and political concerns. In all these respects Locke's continuity with older, recognizably Cat- vinist understandings of natural law merits renewed attention. Economie Justice and Seventeenth-Century Economie Discourse Locke's writings on banking, trade and currency may seem a curious point of departure for an argument placing Locke within a tradition of Calvinist social thought. For Karen Vaughan and others, Locke's account of human nature, his neoclassical theory of price, the doctrine of unintended consequences, market equilibrium and other directly economic doctrines contained in these writings all testify to his thoroughgoing econamism.’ Conversely, advocates of Locke's Calvinism have largely ignored these writings.’ Much of course hinges on putting them in their proper context. Patrick Kelly's edition of Locke's monetary writings demonstrates them to be unin- telligible without reference to debates over usury, monetary policy and reeoinage carried on by Josiah Childs, Thomas Manley, William Lowndes, ‘Thomas Culpeper, Jr., and others.” Likewise, Neal Wood has suggested Locke's intellectual debts to the Baconian agrarian reformers." It also seems. plausible that Carew Reynel’s work The True English Interest: or an account of the chief national improvements (1674) may have influenced Locke's carly fragment on trade.'' Reynel’s thoughts on the evils of faction, the benign con- sequences of the policy of toleration for the economy, the need for free matu- alization, and the practicality of education certainly anticipated if not influenced many of Locke's later concerns. These ideas were hardly original to Reynel, but were shared by Roger Coke, whose A Discourse of Trade strikes many of the same notes. '? 7 Vaughan, “The Economic Background to Locke's Two Treatises’. ® Forexample, Alan Ryan, “Locke and the Dictatorship of the Bourgeoisie’. in Life. Liberty and Property: Essays on Locke's Political Thought, ed. Gordon Schochet (Belmont, CA, 1971), p. 87; and John Dunn, The Political Thought of John Locke: An Historical Account of the Argument of the ‘Two Treatises of Government (Cambridge, 1969), who makes Locke's Calvinist heritage exhaustive in order to overshadow his alleged economism, Conversely, although James Tully does much to fill out the intellec tual contest of Locke's theory of property, he makes litle or no mention of potential affinities between Locke and Calvin (Tully, A Discourse on Property). By way of con- trast, the approach taken here will be to consider even the most economistic elements of Locke's thought in light of both Calvin's teachings and the economic discourse of bis ‘contemporaries ° Patrick Kelly, ‘General Introductic 1991), esp. pp. 7-39, 67-8, 96-100. 10 Neal Wood, John Locke and Agrarian Capitalism (Berkeley, 1984), "1 Seventeenth-Century Economic Documents, ed. Joan Thirsk and .P. Cooper (0 reford, 1972. 0.960. toJehn Locke on Morey (2 vols., Oxtord,LOCKEAN POLITICAL ECONOMY 33 This plurality of influences cautions against any monolithic view of ‘scventcenth-century economic discourse’. Set against those who have sug- gestively treated Locke in light of the monetary debates of the late 1660s and 1690s, or the Baconian agrarian reform movement, Locke's debt to the eco- nomic thought of his time may prove deeper still, Debates over usury coin-clipping or agricultural improvement are only part of a broader eco- nomiie discourse which insisted that merchants use honest systems of weights and measures, lauded the virtues of honesty. frugality, industry and thrift on the part of small tradesmen, and castigated the vices of idleness, prodigality and fraud." The Restoration years are flooded with moralizing tracts admon- ishing shopkeepers and other small merchants to deal fairly with others. These are generally more ‘bourgeois’ than “agrarian, and their animating spi often Calvinist as Baconian. Though more sermonizing than most, Gilbert Latye’s 1660 tract is otherwise typical of the genre: ‘Take heed of how you, or any of you do evill, or deceive, cozen or cheat anyone, for the Lord beholds it in you all.""* The author decries the practice of selling stolen gaods and ‘vain foolishe toyes and fancies not like to sober men and women’.'* Despite its pious tone the tract nonetheless distinguishes between the activity of trade itself, which is presumably beneficial, and the ‘evil used in your employ- ments, which you daily are exercised in’.'° ‘Tracts such as this one criticized the means of trade rather than seriously questioning its ultimate good. Even the Puritan Richard Baxter, who casti- gates the rich for their worldliness, sensuality, vanity and dissolution seems never to have seriously entertained the possibility that the life of trade should be abandoned, Baxter is unusual for the time in citing Gospel passages on the discrepancy between Christ's exemplary poverty and the life of the wealthy ‘man, but he intends moral reform rather than the wholesale repudiation of Examples will be treated below, For a more general discussion of this discourse and its assumptions, sce Richard Grasshy. The Business Community of Seventeenth- Century England (Cambridge, 1995),esp.ch. 9. Incontrast1o Kelly's treatment of Locke in light of immediate debates over recoinage and Wood's reconstruction of the agrarian discourse of Baconian reform, this article situates Locke within a broader, largely Cal- vinist economic discourse that marshalled Christianity both to justify and (where appro. priate) to qualify economic accumulation. Implicit inthis project is the assumption that the subsets of economic writers treated by Kelly and Wood do aot exhaust the economic thought of the time. Bringing this discourse to light further suggests that the late seven: teenth century was much more ineipiently “bourgeois” and less conclusively ‘agrarian’ than Wood allows. 4 Gilbert Latye, To all you taylors and brokers, who Ives in wickedness: and to alt you sradesmen of what trade, implayment or affice soever. This is 10 you afl from the Lord, that you may return fromall your evil waves, wards and works: that yoiamtay be hid in the day of his fierce wrath (London, 1660). "3 Dhid a 6M R, BOYD trade,"” The wealthy have special duties to God and their community, which they must realize by following Baxter's list of useful charities." Assessing Locke’s economic thought without reference to the mass of his contemporaries is likely to exaggerate the novelty of his preoccupation with procedural justice and to obscure his reasons for turning his back on more classical conceptions of distributive justice. Readers inclined to see the radi calism of Locke's Second Treatise must be shocked that the following defini tion of justice was written in 1684 by a dissenting divine i [Justice] supposes that there is a Property which every Man hath in these outward things, and that the World lies not in common. And that an inter- course is necessary among Men for their mutual well-being: that no Man can so subsist of himself, but that he hath use or need of others. Then steps in Justice to regulate all such negotiations, and teaches, and disposes the honest Tradesman to render to every one what of right belongeth to him.” Itis unclear why Locke should have veiled his modern sympathies when they were so widely and directly expressed by even the most pious of his predeces- sors and contemporaries.” This mischaracterization is at the heart of seminal criticisms that the ‘bourgeois’ Locke subverted classical and Christian prohi- bitions against unlimited accumulation that remained influential in his own time and under which his more pious contemporaries laboured.” Reference to historical comlext challenges this interpretation, Even the most pious writers of the late seventeenth century had moved well beyond a classical or Christian emphasis on distributive justice.” Virtually all saw that vestigial aristocratic prejudices and classical misconceptions of trade must be overcome, as Aristotle and other classical sources did not fully appreciate the Richard Baxter, The Crucifving of the world hy the Crass of Christ, Witha Preface to the Nobles, Geralemen, and all the Rich, directing thers how they may be richer (Lon- don, 1658). 18 /pid,, "Preface"; Baxter, Compassionate Counsel 10 all young men (London, 1681). ch. 13. Richard Steele, The Trades-man's ealling. Being a discourse concerning the nature, necessity dc. of ecalling in general: and directions for the right managing of the tradesman’ calling in particular (London, 1684), pp. 95-7, 20 As Patrick Kelly has suggested to the contrary. it was discussions of distributional ‘matters that were suspect in the Restoration years.P, Kelly, ‘All things richly to enjoy Economics and Politics in Locke's Two Treatises of Government’, Political Studies, 36 (1988), p. 281; Richard Schlatter, The Social ideas of Religious Leaders: 1660-1688 (London, 1940), p. 96, 21 Strauss, Natural Right and History, pp. 202-51 2 For example, the Quaker George Fox, The Line of righteousness and justice stretched forth over all merchants, &c, and an exhortation unto all Friends and people whatsoever, who are merchants, tradesmen, husbandmen, or seamen, who deal in merchandize, trade in buving and selling... that ye all da that which is just, equal and Habeemet in the sieht of Cod andman and that vou use iust weights and just measuresLOCKEAN POLITICAL ECONOMY 35 dignity and utility of commerce.” Classical and Christian sources were rein- terpreted to stress both the legitimacy of economic accumulation and the evils of force, fraud and connivance. Published a year before Locke's early frag- ment on trade, The Citizen's Companion: or the Trades-man's Mirrows. Wherein most parts of a trading life are accomodated to the judgments and examples of the ancients (1674), stands out as perhaps the most theoretically interesting contemporaneous work. Secking to reconcile the modern life of the trade with examples drawn from antiquity and Christian proverbs, the author refers to the evils of raising prices ‘above measure’, including the same example Locke uses of selling com in a famine and similar complaints about the dangers of prodigality.™ The author also comes very close to describing a theory of price in terms of supply and demand,”* Locke's historical account of the institution of money also looks much less radical in light of other Restoration thought. Like Locke, the author of The Use and abuses of money, and the improvements of it (1671) describes the institu- tion of money as a matter of convention: “That money is of a publick, or politi- cal, not a natural use, is casily maintained, if you admit it had an origin by Invention, not by Creation." In fairness, the author does not offer such a detailed anthropological explanation of the origins of money as Locke does his Second Treatise, but he does suggest several obvious reasons — such as its superiority to barter and its flexibility in exchange — that would have recom mended its adoption as a common medium of exchange” *N.H., Merchant in the ‘City of London’ ventures similar thoughts on the conventional origins of money.” Despite these secular preoccupations, the cause and advancement of the Christian religion figured prominently in the economic discourse of the late seventeenth century. After praising the cosmopolitan and civilizing aspects of commerce, the remarkable 1686 tract Character and qualifications of an kon- est loyal merchantalso propounds its Chri stianizing potential. The merchant is the true Orpheus that charms the Savages and spreads Civility amongst Barbarians; he communicates Arts and Sciences, and all useful Inventions both for Necessity and Ormament . . . Nay further, there seems yet a more sublime and mysterious designment of Providence attending his pains; for by establishing an intercourse with Infidels for civil Traffick, a door is not seldom open'd taadvance the Divine Interest; so that he may propogate our most Holy Faith.” ® The Character and qualifications of an honest loyal mecchant (London, 1686), pp. 9-13; compare Nicholas Barbon, A Discourse of Trade (London, 1690), ‘Preface’ 2 Citizen's Companion, pp. 37-9, 103-11, 126, 132; Locke, “Venditio' (1695), in John Locke on Money, Vol. 2, p. 499, 25 Citizen's Companion, pp. 37-9. 26 Use and abuses of rioney, pp. 4, » bid, 2 The cement ri croma bin tha terr ines Art ian36 R, BOYD Christianity dictates treating the heathens with ‘Fidelity’ and ‘Justice’ lest asa result of deceit the ‘honest Musulman’ will “revile both the cheating Christian and his Religion’.” Whether religious, nationalistic or political, these claims testify to the wide range of arguments marshalled on behalf of ‘capitalism before its triumph’. The ‘Public Good’ and Lockean Liberalism: Critics as diverse as C.B, Macpherson, Neal Wood and Richard Ashcraft have acknowledged the centrality of property to Locke's political teachings.”' Most often, however, this observation has been developed in a critical direction. To Sheldon Wolin, for example, in Locke's hands “the political’ surrenders its autonomy to an economistic version of the ‘social’. For Macpherson, there can be no superintending notion of the political sufficient to qualify the ‘rela- tive autonomy of the market from society and traditional socially imposed norms*. Any account of Locke's political economy must struggle with criti- cisms that foreclose any regulative conception of the common good. Only by understanding the telationship between the “public good’ and the views of, economic justice propounded by Locke and his contemporaries can we cap- ture the essence of his economic theory. Locke and his contemporaries have little difficulty envi jing a general harmony between individual interest and the ‘publick good’, In a metaphor that anticipates Mandeville's celebrated fable of decades later, the merchant is described as ‘A diligent Bee, ever busie in Bringing Honey to the Publick Hive’* Nonetheless, seventeenth-century writers — Locke included — presumed that in situations of conflict, the public good should take prece- dence.” Witness complaints about monopolistic combination or ruthless and exploitative business practices, where the individual's gain clearly diverges fromthe ‘publick interest’. The life of an ‘industrious bee’ is preferable to that of ‘wasps and homets’, who ‘by their rapine, bring to their nests more honcy ...and yet, forall this, they usually die for want in the winter’. As the author +p. +! Macpherson, Possessive Individual: jeal Wood, The Politics of Locke's Phi losophy: A Social Study of ‘An Exsay Concerning Human Understanding’ (Berkeley, 1983); Wood, John Locke and Agrariari Capizalism; Richard Asheraft, Revolutionary Politics and Lacke’s Two Treatises of Government (Princeton, 1986). ® Wolin, Politics and Vision, esp. pp. 304-5. CB. Macpherson, The Rise and Fall! of Economic Justice and Other Essays (Oxford, 1985), pp.9, 13. For a contrary view denying the emergence ofa distinctive economic sphere, see Keith Tribe, Land, Labour and Economic Discourse (London, 1978), ch. 3 ™ Character and qualifications, p. 1 38 Steele, The Trades-man's calling, pp. 10-11, 38-9, 109. 3 The Art of Good Husbandry, or the Improvement of Time; Being a sure Way 10 get and keep Money. In a Letier 1o Mr. R. A. by R. T. (1675), in Seventeenth Century Eco-36 R, BOYD Christianity dictates treating the heathens with ‘Fidelity’ and ‘Justice’ lest asa result of deceit the ‘honest Musulman’ will “revile both the cheating Christian and his Religion’.” Whether religious, nationalistic or political, these claims testify to the wide range of arguments marshalled on behalf of ‘capitalism before its triumph’. The ‘Public Good’ and Lockean Liberalism: Critics as diverse as C.B, Macpherson, Neal Wood and Richard Ashcraft have acknowledged the centrality of property to Locke's political teachings.”' Most often, however, this observation has been developed in a critical direction. To Sheldon Wolin, for example, in Locke's hands “the political’ surrenders its autonomy to an economistic version of the ‘social’. For Macpherson, there can be no superintending notion of the political sufficient to qualify the ‘rela- tive autonomy of the market from society and traditional socially imposed norms*. Any account of Locke's political economy must struggle with criti- cisms that foreclose any regulative conception of the common good. Only by understanding the telationship between the “public good’ and the views of, economic justice propounded by Locke and his contemporaries can we cap- ture the essence of his economic theory. Locke and his contemporaries have little difficulty envi jing a general harmony between individual interest and the ‘publick good’, In a metaphor that anticipates Mandeville's celebrated fable of decades later, the merchant is described as ‘A diligent Bee, ever busie in Bringing Honey to the Publick Hive’* Nonetheless, seventeenth-century writers — Locke included — presumed that in situations of conflict, the public good should take prece- dence.” Witness complaints about monopolistic combination or ruthless and exploitative business practices, where the individual's gain clearly diverges fromthe ‘publick interest’. The life of an ‘industrious bee’ is preferable to that of ‘wasps and homets’, who ‘by their rapine, bring to their nests more honcy ...and yet, forall this, they usually die for want in the winter’. As the author +p. +! Macpherson, Possessive Individual: jeal Wood, The Politics of Locke's Phi losophy: A Social Study of ‘An Exsay Concerning Human Understanding’ (Berkeley, 1983); Wood, John Locke and Agrariari Capizalism; Richard Asheraft, Revolutionary Politics and Lacke’s Two Treatises of Government (Princeton, 1986). ® Wolin, Politics and Vision, esp. pp. 304-5. CB. Macpherson, The Rise and Fall! of Economic Justice and Other Essays (Oxford, 1985), pp.9, 13. For a contrary view denying the emergence ofa distinctive economic sphere, see Keith Tribe, Land, Labour and Economic Discourse (London, 1978), ch. 3 ™ Character and qualifications, p. 1 38 Steele, The Trades-man's calling, pp. 10-11, 38-9, 109. 3 The Art of Good Husbandry, or the Improvement of Time; Being a sure Way 10 get and keep Money. In a Letier 1o Mr. R. A. by R. T. (1675), in Seventeenth Century Eco-36 R, BOYD Christianity dictates treating the heathens with ‘Fidelity’ and ‘Justice’ lest asa result of deceit the ‘honest Musulman’ will “revile both the cheating Christian and his Religion’.” Whether religious, nationalistic or political, these claims testify to the wide range of arguments marshalled on behalf of ‘capitalism before its triumph’. The ‘Public Good’ and Lockean Liberalism: Critics as diverse as C.B, Macpherson, Neal Wood and Richard Ashcraft have acknowledged the centrality of property to Locke's political teachings.”' Most often, however, this observation has been developed in a critical direction. To Sheldon Wolin, for example, in Locke's hands “the political’ surrenders its autonomy to an economistic version of the ‘social’. For Macpherson, there can be no superintending notion of the political sufficient to qualify the ‘rela- tive autonomy of the market from society and traditional socially imposed norms*. Any account of Locke's political economy must struggle with criti- cisms that foreclose any regulative conception of the common good. Only by understanding the telationship between the “public good’ and the views of, economic justice propounded by Locke and his contemporaries can we cap- ture the essence of his economic theory. Locke and his contemporaries have little difficulty envi jing a general harmony between individual interest and the ‘publick good’, In a metaphor that anticipates Mandeville's celebrated fable of decades later, the merchant is described as ‘A diligent Bee, ever busie in Bringing Honey to the Publick Hive’* Nonetheless, seventeenth-century writers — Locke included — presumed that in situations of conflict, the public good should take prece- dence.” Witness complaints about monopolistic combination or ruthless and exploitative business practices, where the individual's gain clearly diverges fromthe ‘publick interest’. The life of an ‘industrious bee’ is preferable to that of ‘wasps and homets’, who ‘by their rapine, bring to their nests more honcy ...and yet, forall this, they usually die for want in the winter’. As the author +p. +! Macpherson, Possessive Individual: jeal Wood, The Politics of Locke's Phi losophy: A Social Study of ‘An Exsay Concerning Human Understanding’ (Berkeley, 1983); Wood, John Locke and Agrariari Capizalism; Richard Asheraft, Revolutionary Politics and Lacke’s Two Treatises of Government (Princeton, 1986). ® Wolin, Politics and Vision, esp. pp. 304-5. CB. Macpherson, The Rise and Fall! of Economic Justice and Other Essays (Oxford, 1985), pp.9, 13. For a contrary view denying the emergence ofa distinctive economic sphere, see Keith Tribe, Land, Labour and Economic Discourse (London, 1978), ch. 3 ™ Character and qualifications, p. 1 38 Steele, The Trades-man's calling, pp. 10-11, 38-9, 109. 3 The Art of Good Husbandry, or the Improvement of Time; Being a sure Way 10 get and keep Money. In a Letier 1o Mr. R. A. by R. T. (1675), in Seventeenth Century Eco-