Lysander Spooner

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

— Lysander Spooner

No government knows any limits to its power except the endurance of the people.

— Lysander Spooner

No man can delegate,... any right of arbitrary dominion over a 3rd person; for that would imply a right in the 1st…

— Lysander Spooner

But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain - that it has either authorized such a…

— Lysander Spooner

All restraints upon man's natural liberty, not necessary for the simple maintenance of justice, are of the nature of slavery, and differ…

— Lysander Spooner

Any number of scoundrels, having money enough to start with, can establish themselves as a 'government'; because, with money, they can hire…

— Lysander Spooner

The law does not require a man to cease to be a man, and act without regard to consequences, when he becomes…

— Lysander Spooner

It cannot be said that the Constitution formed 'the people of the United States,' for all time, into a corporation. It does…

— Lysander Spooner

The imaginations of believers have dressed up and exaggerated the excellence of the style and matter of the New Testament generally, in…

— Lysander Spooner

Justice is the object of government, and those who support the government, must be agreed as to the justice to be executed…

— Lysander Spooner

The principle that the majority have a right to rule the minority, practically resolves all government into a mere contest between two…

— Lysander Spooner

The right and the physical power of the people to resist injustice, are really the only securities that any people ever can…

— Lysander Spooner

If our fathers, in 1776, had acknowledged the principle that a majority had the right to rule the minority, we should never…

— Lysander Spooner

One essential of a free government is that it rest wholly on voluntary support. And one certain proof that a government is…

— Lysander Spooner

Legislators and judges are necessarily exposed to all the temptations of money, fame, and power, to induce them to disregard justice between…

— Lysander Spooner

For a government to declare a vice to be a crime, and to punish it as such, is an attempt to falsify…

— Lysander Spooner

All legitimate government is a mutual insurance company, voluntarily agreed upon by the parties to it, for the protection of their rights…

— Lysander Spooner

But for their right to judge of the law, and the justice of the law, juries would be no protection to an…

— Lysander Spooner

“...only those who have the will and the power to shoot down their fellow men, are the real rulers in this, as…

— Lysander Spooner

The trial by jury is a trial by 'the country,' in contradistinction to a trial by the government. The jurors are drawn…

— Lysander Spooner

Legally speaking, the term 'public rights' is as vague and indefinite as are the terms 'public health,' 'public good,' 'public welfare,' and…

— Lysander Spooner

Those who are capable of tyranny are capable of perjury to sustain it.

— Lysander Spooner

The right of absolute and irresponsible dominion is the right of property, and the right of property is the right of absolute,…

— Lysander Spooner

The number who actually consented to the Constitution of the United States, at the first, was very small. Considered as the act…

— Lysander Spooner

The purpose and effect of [land titles] have been to maintain, in the hands of robber, or slave holding class, a monopoly…

— Lysander Spooner