From the Constitutional Abolitionism to the Abolition of the Constitution: Lysander Spooner on Freedom, Slavery and the Limits of the Social Compact

  • Włodzimierz Gogłoza Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, Poland
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5209/RPUB.53876
Keywords: Lysander Spooner, antislavery constitutionalism, anarchism.

Abstract

Lysander Spooner (1808-1887) – a self-taught lawyer whose opinions have been quoted by the Supreme Court of the United States, a private entrepreneur challenging government monopolies, and a doyen of American individualism, is currently known mainly as a trenchant critic of the United States Constitution, who openly contested its legitimacy. His early abolitionist works, in which he argued that slavery was illegal under the Constitution, are far less known but equally thought-provoking and important. The aim of this paper is to analyze the evolution of Spooner’s political stance from the most influential exponent of the antislavery constitutionalism to an anarchist who demanded the abolition of constitution, as well as to mark out the limits he tried to put on the social compact.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Article download

Crossmark

Metrics

Published
2016-10-13
How to Cite
Gogłoza W. (2016). From the Constitutional Abolitionism to the Abolition of the Constitution: Lysander Spooner on Freedom, Slavery and the Limits of the Social Compact. Res Publica. Revista de Historia de las Ideas Políticas, 19(2), 477-502. https://doi.org/10.5209/RPUB.53876
Issue
Vol. 19 No. 2 (2016): Libertarianism. Various Aspects of History, Theory and Strategy
Section
Artículos

License

In order to support the global exchange of knowledge, the journal Res Publica. Revista de Historia de las Ideas Políticas is allowing unrestricted access to its content as from its publication in this electronic edition, and as such it is an open-access journal. The originals published in this journal are the property of the Complutense University of Madrid and any reproduction thereof in full or in part must cite the source. All content is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 use and distribution licence (CC BY 4.0). This circumstance must be expressly stated in these terms where necessary. You can view the summary and the complete legal text of the licence.