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Quote by Lysander Spooner

“But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain - that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case, it is unfit to exist.”

Quote by Lysander Spooner

Book:The collected works of Lysander Spooner

Work

The collected works of Lysander Spooner

The works encompass a range of topics including philosophy, law, and social issues, reflecting Spooner's advocacy for individual rights and his criticism of the institution of slavery. more

Author

Lysander Spooner

Lysander Spooner was an American philosopher, abolitionist, and legal theorist who lived from January 19, 1808, to May 14, 1887. He is recognized for his contributions to the philosophy of individual rights and his advocacy for the abolition of slavery. Spooner's work has had a profound impact on the fields of law and philosophy. more

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“A man is no less a slave because he is allowed to choose a new master once in a term of years.”

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Source: No Treason and a Letter to Thomas F. Bayard

“The only security men can have for their political liberty, consists in keeping their money in their own pockets.”

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Source: No Treason and a Letter to Thomas F. Bayard

“That no government, so called, can reasonably be trusted, or reasonably be supposed to have honest purposes in view, any longer than it depends wholly upon voluntary support.”

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Book:The collected works of Lysander Spooner

Source: The collected works of Lysander Spooner

“If the jury have no right to judge of the justice of a law of the government, they plainly can do nothing to protect the people against the oppressions of the government; for there are no oppressions which the government may not authorize by law.”

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Book:An Essay on the Trial by Jury

Source: An Essay on the Trial by Jury

“A government that can at pleasure accuse, shoot, and hang men, as traitors, for the one general offence of refusing to surrender themselves and their property unreservedly to its arbitrary will, can practice any and all special and particular oppressions it pleases.”

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Book:No Treason: No. 1-

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“A man who is without capital, and who, by prohibitions upon banking, is practically forbidden to hire any, is in a condition elevated but one degree above that of a chattel slave. He may live; but he can live only as the servant of others; compelled to perform such labor, and to perform it at such prices, as they may see fit to dictate.”

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Author:Lysander Spooner

“The secret ballot makes a secret government; and a secret government is a secret band of robbers and murderers.”

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Book:The collected works of Lysander Spooner

Source: The collected works of Lysander Spooner

“All legitimate government is a mutual insurance company, voluntarily agreed upon by the parties to it, for the protection of their rights against wrong-doers. In its voluntary character it is precisely similar to an association for mutual protection against fire or shipwreck.”

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Book:An Essay on the Trial by Jury

Source: An Essay on the Trial by Jury

“Any government, that is its own judge of, and determines authoritatively for the people, what are its own powers over the people, is an absolute government of course. It has all the powers that it chooses to exercise. There is no other or at least no more accurate definition of a despotism than this.”

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Book:The Collected Works of Lysander Spooner: Legal writings

Source: The Collected Works of Lysander Spooner: Legal writings

“All governments, the worst on earth, and the most tyrannical on earth, are free governments to that portion of the people who voluntarily support them.”

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Author:Lysander Spooner