Customer Reviews

The Lysander Spooner Reader

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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.

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?

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.

The previous reviewer claims Spooner's argument against the authority of the Constitution is invalid, since contract law is only possible in the context of a government. However, the reviewer has it reversed: though a valid contract may be *enforced* by a government, the government's authority must be *justified* in the first place. A contract's validity comes not from government, but rather from Lockean natural law.

Statists attempt to justify government sovereignty via social contract theory, which states that taxation and government authority can be justified according to a supposed "contract" among the citizens, as manifested by the Constitution. In _No Treason_, Spooner brilliantly and forcefully demolishes this argument by demonstrating this "contract" is not valid in any meaningful sense, according to "principles of law and reason."

As other reviewers have stated, Lysander Spooner's essays will make you never look at the legitimacy of the government, voting, and taxes the same way again, even if you don't agree with his arguments.

It is a wonder that this man is not more commonly mentioned or taught in schools. I found out about him at a conference I was attending the summer after my 12th grade year (5 years ago now) hosted by none other than Tom G Palmer, whose review can be read above...

...And I must say that few times have I read words that so accurately reflect a feeling that I already had intrinsically -- "Constitution of No Authority" speaks to the illusory nature of government in a way that very few tracts have been bold enough to probe since.

Whether you're a leftist, libertarian, or a conservative, this deserves a thorough look.

Few describe it or understand it (liberty and the lie that is government) better than Lysander.

Lysander Spooner, the fiery american anarchst, offers a great counterpoint to the collectivist anarchist of the same era, Emma Goldman. Like Goldman, Spooner's rhetoric is explosive, lively and (very unlike Goldman) right on the money. Well, at least most of the time.

This is a very good collection featuring Natural Law, Vices Are Not Crimes, No Treason, Letter to Thomas F. Bayard, and Trial by Jury. Of course, the last article takes up a good portion of the book. In addition, we are treated to an obituary written by an equally fiery anarchist, Ben Tucker.

So why the 3 stars? Well, as much fire as Spooner has, therer are many holes in his arguments. Much of No Treason, for instance, is spent on the constitution as violation of contract law, but Spooner doesn't seem to realize (or maybe assumes it as natural law) that contract law doesn't exist without government. You pick one or the other...not both! In Natural Law, we find Spooner repeating himself in each paragraph, appealing to what at best can be described as overarching faith; at worst, a chimera. And this is what Spooners anarcho-individualism is supposed to be based on?

It must be said that No Treason's part iv and Letter to Thomas Bayard are astute in Spooners criticism of government as thievery and it would be hard to argue with the arguments in Vices are Not Crimes. Trial by Jury is interesting but dissapointing especially when we realize that Spooner, who often criticizes government for being inconsistent and, indeed, arbitrary, couldn't be much happier if the 12 individuals could mend any law at will post facto. I'm just not convinced that Spooner thought it through.

For all of that, if you are interested in anarchism (respectable anarchism, not Kropotkin and Goldman) then Spooner is one of the only games in town. For a different (and less reverent) take on anarcho-individualism, I'd suggest reading Max Stirner's The Ego and His Own.