# Primary Sources on Copyright - Record Viewer
Letter from Noah Webster to Daniel Webster, New Haven (1826)

Source: Morristown National Historic Park, Lloyd W. Smith Archival Collection

Citation:
Letter from Noah Webster to Daniel Webster, New Haven (1826), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org

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            Chapter 1 Page 3 of 4 total

No Translation available.

a purchaser has obtained; for the copy-right in the author's
soil, which the purchaser cannot legally occupy.
      Upon what principle, let me ask, can my fellow-
citizens declare that the productions of the farmer & the
artisan shall be protected by common law, or [XX] the
principles of natural or social right, without a special
statute, & without paying a premium for the enjoyment
of their property; while they declare that I have only a
temporary right to the fruits of my labor & even this
cannot be enjoyed without a premium? Are such
principles as these consistent with the established doc-
trines of property & of moral right & wrong among an en-
lightened people? Are such principles consistent with
the high & honorable notions of justice & equal privi-
leges, which our citizens claim to entertain & to cher-
ish, as characteristic of modern improvements in
civil society? How can the recent origin of a particular
species of property vary the principles of ownership?
I say nothing of the inexpedience of such a policy,
as it regards the discouragement of literary exertions.
Indeed I can [probably] say nothing on this subject that you
have not said or thought - at least I presume you
have often contemplated the subject in all its
bearings.
      The British Parliament, about ten or twelve years ago,
passed a new act on this subject, giving to authors &
proprietors of new works an absolute right to the
exclusive use of the copy-right for 20 years, with some
other provisions which I do not recollect. But the act
makes or continues the condition that the author or

    

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Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900) is co-published by Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge, 10 West Road, Cambridge CB3 9DZ, UK and CREATe, School of Law, University of Glasgow, 10 The Square, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK