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

Name: 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
Author: Lysander Spooner

The author delivers a forceful critique of a presidential inaugural statement, arguing that justice is an immutable natural science that cannot be created or altered by human legislation. He asserts that statutes conflicting with natural justice are usurpations lacking legitimate authority, either criminal when they command injustice or needless when they merely duplicate it. The letter links such legal usurpations to concentrated power and wealth and to resulting poverty, ignorance, and servitude among the people, and it presses the president to clarify and meaningfully commit to administering equal and exact justice rather than perpetuating entrenched injustice.

By Lysander Spooner

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About the Author

Lysander Spooner

Lysander Spooner was an American legal theorist, abolitionist, and political activist known for his radical views on individual liberty and government authority. He is particularly recognized for his critique of the U.S. Constitution in works like "No Treason, Vol. VI.: The Constitution of No Authority," where he argues against the legitimacy of government power. Spooner also wrote extensively on issues of justice and law, as seen in his influential essays such as "An Essay on the Trial By Jury." His writings advocate for a society based on voluntary cooperation and challenge the moral foundations of slavery and state authority.