Our Constitution does not profess to have been established simply by the majority, but by 'the people' - the minority as much as the majority.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes that the Constitution represents all people, not just the majority.
Lysander Spooner's quote highlights the foundational principle of democracy that governs the United States: the Constitution is not merely a reflection of the majority's will but is an embodiment of the rights and voices of all citizens, including minorities. It asserts that the legitimacy of the Constitution derives from its commitment to the collective principles of 'the people,' ensuring that every individual's rights are acknowledged and protected, regardless of their numerical strength.
In practice
This quote can be used during discussions on constitutional rights in a classroom setting.
The principle that the majority have a right to rule the minority, practically resolves all government into a mere contest between two bodies of men, as to which of them shall be masters, and which of them slaves; a contest, that-however bloody-can, in the nature of things, never be finally closed, so long as man refuses to be a slave.
For a government to declare a vice to be a crime, and to punish it as such, is an attempt to falsify the very nature of things. It is as absurd as it would be to declare truth to be falsehood, or falsehood truth.
And the men who loan money to governments, so called, for the purpose of enabling the latter to rob, enslave, and murder their people, are among the greatest villains that the world has ever seen. And they as much deserve to be hunted and killed (if they cannot otherwise be got rid of) as any slave traders, robbers, or pirates that ever lived.
A married woman has the same natural right to acquire and hold property, and to make all contracts that she is mentally competent to make reasonably, as has a married man, or any other man.
Slavery, if it can be legalized at all, can be legalized only by positive legislation. Natural law gives it no aid. Custom imparts to it no legal sanction.
Those who deny the right of a jury to protect an individual in resisting an unjust law of the government, deny him all defence whatsoever against oppression.
I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare.
Vanity is a static thing. It puts it faith in what it has, and is easily wounded. Pride is active, and satisfied only with what it can do, hence accustomed not to feel small stings.
It may be in the cultural particularities of people β in their oddities β that some of the most instructive revelations of what it is to be generically human are to be found.
I used to believe in God. The Christian one, that is (There are a few thousand to choose from. But I was born in a country where the dominant religion was Christianity so I believed in that one. Isn't it weird how that always happens?). Luckily I was also interested in science and nature. And reason and logic. And honesty and truth. And equality and fairness. By the age of eight I was an atheist.
Anger and hatred are the real enemies that we must confront and defeat, not the 'enemies' who appear from time to time in our lives.
The orgasm has replaced the Cross as the focus of longing and the image of fulfillment.
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