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Front Page > Reading Lists > The Works of Lysander Spooner

The Works of Lysander Spooner

This List Is By:

Liberty Fund Staff

Liberty Fund, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

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The Online Library of Liberty’s collection of the works of Lysander Spooner (1808-1887) - some 36 in number - are scattered over many individual books, pamphlets, essays, and broadsides spanning the period from 1834 to 1886. This Reading List gathers them together in chronological order of date of publication so that readers may see the development of his thinking over time. We have also gathered them together in a 5 volume collection of facsimile PDFs: The Collected Works of Lysander Spooner (1834-1886), facsimile PDF in 5 volumes in chronological order of year of publication (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2010).

For additional reading see Lysander Spooner (1808-1887).

The titles in the reading list below are listed in chronological order of year of publication. Here we also provide a thematic list. The numbers refer to the work’s place in the chronological order.

Religion

[1.] The Deist’s Immortality, and an Essay on Man’s Accountability for his Belief (Boston, 1834).

[3.] The Deist’s Reply to the Alleged Supernatural Evidences of Christianity (Boston, 1836).

Economics, Money, and Banking

[7.] Poverty: its Illegal Causes and Legal Cure. Part First. (Boston: Bela Marsh, 1846).

[17.] A New System of Paper Currency. (Boston: Stacy and Richardson, 1861).

[18.] Our Mechanical Industry, as Affected by our Present Currency System: An Argument for the Author’s “New System of Paper Currency” (Boston: Stacy & Richardson, 1862).

[20.] Considerations for Bankers, and Holders of United States Bonds (Boston: A. Williams & Co., 1864).

[26.] A New Banking System: The Needful Capital for Rebuilding the Burnt District (Boston: A. Williams % Co., 1873).

[28.] Our Financiers: Their Ignorance, Usurpations, and Frauds. Reprinted from “The Radical Review” (Boston: A. Williams & Co., 1877).

[29.] The Law of Prices: A Demonstration of the Necessity for an Indefinite Increase of Money. Reprinted from “The Radical Review” (Boston: A. Williams & Co., 1877).

[30.] Gold and Silver as Standards of Value: The Flagrant Cheat in Regard to Them. Reprinted from “The Radical Review” (Boston: A. Williams & Co., 1878).

[31.] Universal Wealth shown to be Easily Attainable (Boston: A. Williams & Co., 1879).

Slavery and Abolition

[10.] A Defence for Fugitive Slaves (Boston: Bela Marsh, 1850).

[13.] To the Non-Slaveholders of the South (1858).

[14.] Address of the Free Constitutionalists to the People of the United States (Boston: Thayer & Eldridge, 1860).

[15.] The Unconstitutionality of Slavery (Boston: Bela Marsh, 1860).

[16.] The Unconstitutionality of Slavery: Part Second (Boston: Bela Marsh, 1860).

[21.] A Letter to Charles Sumner (1864).

Law & the Constitution

[2.] “To the Members of the Legislature of Massachusetts.” Worcester Republican. - Extra. August 26, 1835.

[4.] Supreme Court of United States, January Term, 1839. Spooner vs. M’Connell, et al.

[5.] Constitutional Law, relative to Credit, Currency, and Banking (Worcester, Mass.: Jos. B. Ripley, 1843).

[6.] The Unconstitutionality of the Laws of Congress, Prohibiting Private Mails (New York: Tribune Printing Establishment, 1844).

[8.] Who caused the Reduction of Postage? Ought he to be Paid? (Boston: Wright and Hasty’s Press, 1850).

[9.] Illegality of the Trial of John W. Webster. (Boston: Bela Marsh, 1850).

[11.] An Essay on the Trial by Jury (Boston: John P. Jewett and Co., 1852).

[12.] The Law of Intellectual Property; or An Essay on the Right of Authors and Inventors to a Perpetual Property in their Ideas, Vol. 1 (Boston: Bela Marsh, 1855).

[19.] Articles of Association of the Spooner Copyright Company for Massachusetts (1863).

[24.] Senate-No. 824. Thomas Drew vs. John M. Clark (1869).

[35.] A Letter to Scientist and Inventors, on the Science of Justice, and their Right of Perpetual Property in their Discoveries and Inventions (Boston: Cupples, Upham & Co., 1884).

Political Thought

[22.] No Treason, No. 1 (Boston: Published by the Author, 1867).

[23.] No Treason. No II.The Constitution (Boston: Published by the Author, 1867).

[25.] No Treason. No VI. The Constitution of No Authority (Boston: Published by the Author, 1870).

[27.] Vices are Not Crimes: A Vindication of Moral Liberty (1875).

[32.] No. 1. Revolution: The only Remedy for the Oppressed Classes of Ireland, England, and Other Parts of the British Empire. A Reply to “Dunraven” (Second Edition, 1880).

[33.] Natural Law; or the Science of Justice: A Treatise on Natural Law, Natural Justice, Natural Rights, Natural Liberty, and Natural Society; showing that all Legislation whatsoever is an Absurdity, a Usurpation, and a Crime. Part First. (Boston: A. Williams & Co., 1882).

[34.] A Letter to Thomas F. Bayard: Challenging his Right - and that of all the Other So-called Senators and Representatives in Congress - to Exercise any Legislative Power whatever over the People of the United States (Boston: Published by the Author, 1882).

[36.] A Letter to Grover Cleveland, on his False Inaugural Address, the Usurpations and Crimes of Lawmakers and Judges, and the Consequent Poverty, Ignorance, and Servitude of the People (Boston: Benj. R. Tucker, Publisher, 1886).