The Lysander Spooner Reader [Paperback]

Lysander Spooner (Author), George H. Smith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1992

Lawyer, abolitionist, radical; Spooner was one of the most fascinating figures in American history and a champion of individualism. This selection includes "Vices Are Not Crimes," "Natural Law," "Trial by Jury," "No Treason, the Constitution of No Authority," "Letter to Thomas Bayard," and Benjamin Tucker's eulogy.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

It has been nearly 20 years since I read Spooner in high school, and my life has not been the same since. After wrestling with Spooner's tightly reasoned arguments against the state in "No Treason: The Constitution of No Authority," you'll never look at the government the same way again.

Lawyer, abolitionist, radical, friend of liberty, one of the most fascinating figures in American history: that was Spooner. A ferocious opponent of slavery, he supported the right of secession. An ardent enemy of statist legislation, he was a brilliant jurist who put his faith in the law. An eloquent foe of prohibition of alcohol or drugs, he offered a moral defense of liberty.

Includes "Vices Are Not Crimes," "Natural Law," "Trial by Jury," "Letter to Thomas Bayard," "No Treason," and the eulogy for Spooner by American individualist-anarchist publisher Benjamin Tucker. -- Tom G. Palmer --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

from the Introduction by George H. Smith

Somewhere, sometime a person will open this book not knowing what to expect, but curious about a man with the curious name of Lysander Spooner. I envy that reader, for that was me nearly twenty-five years ago when I encountered No Treason: The Constitution of No Authority.

I could scarcely believe my eyes. Here were ideas radical yet commensensical, subversive yet quintessentially American. Spooner challenged and excited me. Such experiences are rare because truly original thinkers are rare, and you can discover them but once. Alas, my days of innocent discovery are over, the casualty of too much reading. I have read libertarian writers so obscure that even obscure libertarians have never heard of them. I doubt if my future holds many surprises, but it does hold many pleasures. This is one of them: introducing others to Lysander Spooner.

Product Details

• Paperback: 343 pages
• Publisher: Fox & Wilkes; 1 edition (May 1, 1992)
• ISBN-10: 0930073266
• ISBN-13: 978-0930073268
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #662,141 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good (but not exhaustive) collection of Spooner's work, February 6, 2001

By 

James M. Apple "memoryhole" (Greensboro, NC USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Lysander Spooner Reader (Paperback)

This edition contains:

1. A short introduction by George Smith that includes a thumbnail biographical sketch of Spooner's life. It's a good bio but a better one can be found in THE COLLECTED WORKS OF LYSANDER SPOONER, a more complete but hugely more expensive collection of Spooner's work.

2. OUR NESTOR- Benjamin Tucker's eulogy for Spooner, written in 1887. A short, touching farewell to a friend and fellow anarchist.

3. NATURAL LAW- Spooner says: "Natural Law [...] is naturally applicable and adequate to the rightful settlement of every possible controversy that can arise among men." Spooner envisions a stateless society built on natural law and voluntary associations. He has plenty of venom for 'legislators', calling all governments "a band of robbers who have associated for purposes of plunder, conquest, and the enslavement of their fellow men."

4. VICES ARE NOT CRIMES: A VINDICATION OF MORAL LIBERTY- An amazingly forward looking critique of consensual or victimless crime laws(keep in mind this was written in 1875!). As Spooner says, "Vices are those acts by which a man harms himself or his property. Crimes are those acts by which one man harms the person or property of another."

5. & 6. NO TREASON No. I & II- "No Treason" is a series of pamphlets that Spooner published shortly after the Civil War. He was a staunch abolitionist but also believed that the south had the right to secede from the union and authored this series to prove that confederates were not traitors to the union because they never owed it any allegiance. Numbers 3, 4, and 5 were never published and the manuscripts(if they ever existed) were destroyed in a fire.

7. NO TREASON No. VI: THE CONSTITUTION OF NO AUTHORITY- By far the longest essay in the "No Treason" series and Spooner's most well known work. Spooner takes the idea of the "social contract" literally and applies principles of contract law to the Constitution of the United States.

8. LETTER TO THOMAS F. BAYARD- The subtitle is "Challenging his right and that of all the other so-called senators and representatives in Congress to exercise any legislative power whatever over the people of the United States". Spooner was inspired to write this letter when he read that Senator Bayard had expressed the opinion that "it is at least possible for a man to be a legislator and yet be an honest man", lets just say Spooner disagrees.

9. TRIAL BY JURY- This is the longest essay in the book by far. Spooner was a lawyer and defended several people in court who were being tried for assisting escaping slaves ie violating the Fugitive Slave Act(many juries took a moral stand against slavery and refused to convict anyone of this crime even when there was no doubt that the accused was guilty). A fascinating and unique look through 19th century eyes at the right to trial by jury as embodied in the Magna Carta, the US Constitution and english common law. It's also one of the earliest texts on jury nullification(though Spooner doesn't use the term), he calls the jury system the "palladium of liberty" and "a barrier against the tyranny and oppression of the government". The doctrine of jury nullification asserts that in addition to judging the facts in a case it is the jury's "right and their paramount duty to judge of the justice of the law and to hold all laws invalid that are, in their opinion, unjust or oppressive, and all persons guiltless of violating, or resisting the execution of, such laws."

Spooner was a fascinating man that doesn't get nearly the attention he deserves from both historians and political philosophers. This edition contains a good sampling of his work but hardcore Spooner junkies with a lot of disposable income will want to upgrade to THE COLLECTED WORKS OF LYSANDER SPOONER.

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Civics 101, September 17, 2002

By 

Andrew S. Rogers (Stamford, Connecticut) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Lysander Spooner Reader (Hardcover)

It just so happens that the day I write this review is not only Constitution Day (the anniversary of the US Constitution being sent to the states for ratification), but also primary election day here in Seattle. That means there's no better day to re-read the works of Lysander Spooner -- a writer who, perhaps more than any other, can single-handedly change the way you look at both the Constitution and voting. This collection is the place to do that, including as it does nearly all of Spooner's most important work: "No Treason" (with "The Constitution of No Authority"), "Vices are not Crimes," "Trial by Jury," and his "Letter to Thomas F. Bayard."

Lysander Spooner was a fascinating man in his own right, as both the Introduction by editor George Smith and the first chapter, "Our Nestor Taken From Us," an obituary by Benjamin Tucker, make clear. Individualist anarchist, abolitionist, scholar, pamphleteer, radical -- it's a shame this Forgotten Hero is so obscure today. But given the skill and passion with which he slaughtered, barbecued, and served up America's most sacred cows, it's hardly surprising. It's a rare, almost forbidden, treat to find an original thinker any more. As Smith notes in his introduction, it's easy to envy someone reading Spooner for the first time the thought-provoking challenge she's about to experience.

Doctrinaires of the left and the right will be horrified by what they read between these pages. And those who still parrot the Received Wisdom of their junior-high "social studies" teachers (it's your duty to vote ... if you don't vote, you can't complain ... in a democracy, the people govern themselves ... "taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society" ... ad infinitum, ad nauseam) will find themselves forced to defend many of their most cherished illusions. To quote Smith again, the ideas are both commonsensical, and very recognizably American. Anyone who gives them the respect they deserve -- thinking about them instead of ignoring them -- will find their view of politics and law fundamentally altered.

America would be a very different place if more people burned with Spooner's passionate love of liberty and justice. Of course, that's why you'll never see Lysander Spooner on a public school civics reading list. But don't let that stop you. Are you up to the challenge?

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Refreshing Radicalism, May 3, 2000

By 

eunomius (St. Louis, MO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Lysander Spooner Reader (Hardcover)

There are only a few major minds that every libertarian should be familiar with, and Lysander Spooner is one of them. Without a doubt, he was one of the most radical, consistent, and eccentric libertarians in all of history. Although he never explicitly identified himself as an anarchist, his works leave no doubt about his stance. Fortunately for the reading public, his most important works have been gathered in this fine, affordable edition. The pieces featured here include his wonderful "No Treason," in which he demonstrates the complete absurdity of popular conceptions and justifications of government, particularly those associated with the United States and its Constitution. His critique of government is further expanded upon in his brilliant "Natural Law." While the seasoned radical libertarian will be overjoyed and delighted by the force and eloquence of his writing, those of a more moderate bent may be startled by his conclusions. This however, is a good thing. In addition to several smaller pieces, this collection also features the work that perhaps should be considered as his magnum opus, viz. his "Trial By Jury." Here Spooner employs a massive amount of knowledge and erudition in order to defend what is commonly known as jury nullification, i.e. the theory that proposes that juries should have the right to judge the justness of the law as well as the facts of the individual case. This is especially significant for those anarcho-capitalists wishing to investigate the potentialities for a purely voluntary social order. Spooner's work suggests a system of decentralized law founded upon the right to trial by jury, and indeed, his ideas deserve serious consideration.