Americans have long esteemed private property and economic opportunity. Well before the formation of the United States, the colonists enjoyed widespread ownership of land and were increasingly receptive to an emerging free-market economy based on private contracts. The framers of the Constitution treated the private property as the cornerstone of a free society. “Perhaps the most important value of the Founding Fathers of the American constitutional period,” a prominent scholar cogently observed, “was their belief in the necessity of securing property rights.” As is well known, the Constitution and Bill of Rights contain numerous provisions relating to economic interests.

As a threshold matter, we must recognize that property can be a source of conflict. What, for example, constitutes a property interest in which one can claim ownership? The Constitution does not define property, and courts have usually looked to state law or custom to ascertain what interests should be designated as property.

Source: https://www.hillsdale.edu/educational-outreach/free-market-forum/2008-archive/property-rights-in-american-history/