Portal:Libertarianism/Spooner

Lysander Spooner was a libertarian, individualist anarchist, entrepreneur, political philosopher, abolitionist, supporter of the labor movement and legal theorist of the 19th century.

Spooner is also known for competing with the United States Post Office Department with his American Letter Mail Company, which was forced out of business by the United States government. He has been identified by some contemporary writers as an anarcho-capitalist while other writers and activists believe he was anti-capitalist for vocalizing opposition to wage labor.

Later known as an early individualist anarchist, Spooner advocated what he called "Natural Law"—or the "Science of Justice"—wherein acts of initiatory coercion against individuals and their property were considered "illegal", but the so-called criminal acts that violated only man-made legislation were not. He believed that the price of borrowing capital could be brought down by competition of lenders if the government de-regulated banking and money as he believed this would stimulate entrepreneurship. In his Letter to Cleveland, Spooner argued: "All the great establishments, of every kind, now in the hands of a few proprietors, but employing a great number of wage labourers, would be broken up; for few or no persons, who could hire capital and do business for themselves would consent to labour for wages for another". Spooner took his own advice and started his own business called American Letter Mail Company which competed with the Post Office.