From the constitucional abolitionism to the abolition of the constitution: Lysander Spooner on freedom, slavery and the limits of the social compact

• Wlodzimierz Gogloza ^[1]
  1. [1] Maria Curie-Skłodowska University

     Maria Curie-Skłodowska University

     Lublin, Polonia

     
• Localización: Res Publica: revista de historia de las ideas políticas, ISSN-e 1989-6115, Vol. 19, Nº. 2, 2016, págs. 477-502
• Idioma: inglés
• DOI: 10.5209/RPUB.53876
• Títulos paralelos:
  • Del abolicionismo constitucional a la abolición de la constitución: la posición de Lysander Spooner sobre la libertad, la esclavitud y los límites del pacto socia
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo
• Resumen
  • español

    Lysander Spooner (1808-1887) – un abogado autodidacta cuyas opiniones han sido citadas por la Corte Suprema de los Estados Unidos, un empresario privado que desafió los monopolios del gobierno y un decano del individualismo americano, es principalmente conocido en la actualidad como un incisivo crítico de la Constitución de los Estados Unidos que puso abiertamente en cuestión su legitimidad. Sus primeros trabajos abolicionistas, en los que argumentó sobre la ilegalidad de la esclavitud de acuerdo con la Constitución, son mucho menos conocidos, pero igualmente relevantes y merecedores de reflexión. El propósito de este artículo es analizar la evolución de la posición política de Spooner, evolución en virtud de la cual, de ser el exponente más influyente del constitucionalismo antiesclavista, pasó a convertirse en un anarquista que reclamaba la abolición de la constitución, así como a delinear los límites que pretendía aplicar al pacto social.

  • English

    Lysander Spooner (1808-1887) – a self-taught lawyer whose opinions have been quoted by the Supreme Court of the United States, a private entrepreneur challeng-ing government monopolies, and a doyen of American individualism, is currently known mainly as a trenchant critic of the United States Constitution, who openly contested its legitimacy. His early abolitionist works, in which he argued that slavery was illegal under the Constitution, are far less known but equally thought-provoking and important. The aim of this paper is to analyze the evolution of Spooner’s politi-cal stance from the most influential exponent of the antislavery constitutionalism to an anarchist who demanded the abolition of constitution, as well as to mark out the limits he tried to put on the social compact.

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