“It is a natural impossibility for any man to make a binding contract, by which he shall surrender to others a single one of what are commonly called his 'natural, inherent, inalienable rights.'”

American abolitionist, lawyer, and political philosopher

Lysander Spooner was an American abolitionist, entrepreneur, lawyer, essayist, legal theorist, pamphleteer, political philosopher, and writer. He is often associated with the Boston anarchist tradition. Spooner wrote on natural rights and law, and his work placed him among the notable American radical thinkers of the 19th century. He is remembered for his arguments against slavery and for writing in forms that were meant to reach a broad political audience, including essays and pamphlets.