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This essay argues that modern political theory can be divided into two groups that are distinguished by their treatment of property rights. One group, property first theories, argue that the right to private property is conceptually prior to political obligations. The other, property second theories, contend that property claims follow from politics and the political community. While these two conceptions of property frame much of contemporary political theory, the fundamental role of property within these theories is often neglected. Property first theories fail because they misunderstand the obligations that property claims place on others. Property second theories provide the only defensible starting point for political theory. This should cause us to reject political theories that conceive of property as a pre-social institution. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]