Today marks the birthday of the great 19th-century American philosopher Lysander Spooner, who committed his life to advancing the cause of liberty. Born in Athol, Massachusetts on Jan. 19, 1808, Spooner was an American original.
Consistent with his skepticism of government power, Spooner practiced law without a license, believing that licensing laws were unjustifiably discriminatory, and even launched a competitor to the United States Postal Service, the American Letter Mail Company, successfully if temporarily causing the Postal Service to lower the cost of its services.
Not having had much success as a lawyer and having his mail service shut down by the federal government, Spooner made his mark as a writer.
In 1845, Spooner published “The Unconstitutionality of Slavery,” in which he argued the Constitution was fundamentally an anti-slavery document predicated on the defense of natural rights. Slavery, Spooner argued, was inherently incompatible with natural law and therefore incompatible with the Constitution. “The constitution of the United States recognizes the principle that all men are born free; for it recognizes the principle that natural birth in the country gives citizenship — which of course implies freedom,” he wrote. “And no exception is made to the rule.”
Though Spooner generally preferred a peaceful end to slavery, he was a supporter of John Brown’s doomed raid on Harper’s Ferry in a bid to trigger an anti-slavery uprising. Spooner even plotted to kidnap the governor of Virginia so an exchange could be made to free Brown, which ultimately didn’t happen.
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Agree or not with Spooner’s expansive view of liberty and the limits of state power, Spooner challenged Americans to cherish, defend and understand the value of liberty. For that, we remember him.
A version of this editorial was first published in 2024.
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