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Lecture 13 of 20 · No Treason The Constitution of No Authority

Section XIII

Lysander Spooner · 1:37 · Recorded 12 August 2010

Section XIII by Lysander Spooner is a free audio lecture (1:37) at freecapitalists.org, recorded 12 August 2010, part of the 20-lecture series No Treason The Constitution of No Authority.

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0:00section 13 on general principles of law and reason the oaths which foreigners take on coming here and being naturalized as it is called are of no validity they are necessarily given to nobody because there is no open authentic association to which they can join themselves or to whom as individuals they can pledge their faith no such association or organization as As the people of the United States, having ever been formed by any open, written, authentic, or voluntary contract, there is, on general principles of law and reason, no such association or organization in existence. And all oaths that purport to be given to such an association are necessarily given only to the winds.

0:45They cannot be said to be given to any man or any body of men as individuals, because no man or body of men can come forward with any proof that the oaths were given to them as individuals, or to any association of which they are members. To say that there is a tacit understanding among a portion of the male adults of the country that they will call themselves the people of the United States, and that they will act in concert in subjecting the remainder of the people of the United States to their Dominion, but that they will keep themselves personally concealed by doing all their acts secretly, is wholly insufficient on general principles of law and reason to prove the existence of any such association or organization as the people of the United States, or consequently to prove that the oaths of foreigners were given to any such association.

Part of a series

No Treason The Constitution of No Authority

20 lectures, 1.9 hours, recorded 2010. See the full series or subscribe by RSS.

Speakers: Lysander Spooner.

Recording date and topics for this lecture come from the Mises Institute's page for Section XIII, checked 2026-08-04.

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The recording runs 1:37.
Who gave the lecture Section XIII?
Lysander Spooner delivered it, in the series No Treason The Constitution of No Authority.
When was Section XIII recorded?
It was recorded 12 August 2010.
What series is Section XIII part of?
It is lecture 13 of 20 in No Treason The Constitution of No Authority, which is free to stream or download in full.