LYSANDER SPOONER 1808-1887

By John Bailey

 

Lysander Spooner was an American original. He was an anarchist, although not of the bomb throwing variety. He was a staunch believer in individual liberty, a prolific writer, a brilliant legal scholar and a thorn in the side to those in power. His writings are considered so subversive that they are banned in China.

Spooner was born near Athot, Massachusetts on January 19, 1808. From ages 16 through 25, his father put him under contract to work on his farm in order to pay for his food, rearing and education. Upon release from servitude Spooner went to nearby Worcester to work as a clerk and as a registrar of deeds. In 1833 he began to study law, but because he had not graduated from college, he was required to study for five years. Had he been a college graduate he would only have been required to study for three years. Spooner publicly challenged the five-year requirement on the basis that it unfairly catered to the wealthy. The state legislature agreed and the law was changed.

While studying law, Spooner also studied religion and philosophy, and published three pamphlets criticizing organized religion in general and Christianity in particular. The pamphlets did little to endear him to the local population. Consequently, his first year of practice did not bring in enough money to live on.

In 1836 Spooner took a job as a bank clerk and after a few months, quit and went to Ohio to become a land speculator. Because of financial panic in 1837, Lysander was unable to make the fortune he dreamed of and returned to his father’s farm.

In 1847, Lysander founded a private post office, delivering mail for three cents while the government run post office was charging twelve to twenty-five cents. The fledgling American Letter Mail Company was promptly put out of business, but through the efforts of Spooner and others, the postal rates were sharply reduced.

In the two decades before the War Between the States, Spooner published several pamphlets questioning the constitutionality of slavery and the fugitive slave acts. While he was against war to free the slaves, Lysander advocated slave rebellion so that the slaves could free themselves. He defended an escaped slave who killed a New York farmer who was attempting to recapture the slave, but before the case went to trial, the slave escaped to Canada.

During the war years Lysander opposed Lincoln because he perceived that Lincoln was pursuing the war to further the interests of Northern industrialists and to protect the system of taxation which was unfairly directed toward the South. Spooner also said that in fighting for independence rather than in defense of slavery, the South took the moral high ground.

In 1861 Lysander published “A New System of Currency” which advocated backing the money with land rather than with silver and gold. Silver and gold could be withdrawn from circulation, thus manipulating the value and quantity of available money. Real estate could rise and fall based on what it was used for. Following the war, Spooner saw that the former slaves had been abandoned by their liberators and that the South was hopelessly impoverished. He published his financial plan in several Southern publications and it was favorably received by many. The reasoning was that by using the land to back the currency, the land would be put to good use and the unemployed former slaves would be needed for labor. However, because of the vested interest in the greenback system, the idea was never tried and the rural South languished in a quasi feudal system until the advent of mechanized farm equipment.

Spooner died on May 14, 1887 in the Boston boarding house where he lived for most of his adult life. While he is largely forgotten, Spooner was one of the most brilliant political thinkers of the 19th century. He was all for the freedom of the individual and he despised those who became wealthy by manipulating the laws. Many of his writings are available on the internet. While some of the articles are dated and only of historical interest, many are timeless. It would behoove anyone who has been called to jury duty to read his “Essay on the Trial By Jury,” and “Vices Are Not Crimes.”

History’s currents or current history? You decide!