Project Gutenberg
2011-05-18
Public domain in the USA.
145
Spooner, Lysander
1808
1887
No Treason, Vol. VI.: The Constitution of No Authority
Wikipedia page about this book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Treason
Produced by Susan Goble, Curtis Weyant, David E. Brown,
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
http://www.pgdp.net
"No Treason, Vol. VI.: The Constitution of No Authority" by Lysander Spooner is a philosophical essay written in the late 19th century. The work critically examines the authority of the United States Constitution, arguing that it lacks legitimacy as a binding contract on future generations. Spooner contends that the Constitution was not agreed upon by the people it ostensibly governs, and therefore cannot justly impose obligations on individuals who were neither consulted nor have consented to its terms. At the start of this treatise, Spooner makes a compelling case against the notion that the Constitution carries any inherent authority. He argues that the founding document was essentially a pact among the people living at the time of its creation, incapable of binding those who came after. The opening chapters delve into the implications of consent, voting, and taxation, asserting that these mechanisms do not constitute genuine agreement or support for the government's actions as delineated in the Constitution. Spooner positions the Constitution as a relic, anchoring his argument in legal principles and calling out the fallacy of a government system that operates under the guise of consent while being maintained through coercion and secrecy. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
Reading ease score: 48.8 (College-level). Difficult to read.
en
Constitutional law -- United States
KF
Text
Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches
Category: American Literature
Category: Philosophy & Ethics
Category: Politics
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