ABSTRACT
Henry George was born in Philadelphia on September 2, 1839, the second of ten children. Although George was able to improve his condition somewhat after 1865, and at times even lived in relative comfort, he never forgot the dreadful months of utter despair. He regarded the doctrines of natural law and natural rights as sacrosanct and argued that even if these rights had no actual historical basis, they were so obviously the higher goal of human striving that one should work for their realization as a matter of simple justice. He wanted to relate the science of political economy to all human activity, to make clear the principles deriving from nature and affecting the life of man. The experience gave George the proper impetus to express his views on land monopoly and its consequences. The grievous depression of 1877 with its widespread suffering and sporadic labor strikes impelled George to begin the writing of Progress and Poverty.
