"It would take from the people all the security afforded by their constitutions"

"This constitutional right of men to enter into all obligatory contracts, is a natural, inherent, inalienable right, It exists antecedently to, and independently of, any positive or municipal law. It may be recognized, acknowledged, guarantied, and secured, by the municipal law, but it is not derived from it--nor can the municipal law rightfully take it away. It is an original right of human nature, like the right speech--the right to enjoy life, liberty, and religion--the right to keep and bear arms--and the right of self-protection. And it is as an original right, existing prior to the constitution, that the clause quoted from the constitution, recognizes and guaranties it. . . ."[Pg. 4]

". . . The right of men, then, to enter into obligatory contracts, and to have the benefit of them, is guarantied, not only by the national constitution, but also by many, if not all, of the state constitutions. It is, in short, a fundamental principle in our systems of government--as much so, as the right of speech, or the right to life and liberty, or the free exercise of religion, or the right to keep and bear arms, or the right to acquire property."[Pg. 5]

". . . If it be said that the word "contract," in the phrase "obligation of contracts," is to be understood in technical sense, and to mean nothing more than legislatures may please to allow it to mean, it may just as well be said that the terms freedom of speech, free exercise of religion, right to keep and bear arms, right to acquire property, and right to enjoy life and liberty, are all to be taken in a technical and limited sense, and to mean nothing more than such a legal freedom of speech, such a legal free exercise of religion, such a legal right to keep and bear arms, such a legal right to acquire property, and such a legal right to enjoy life and liberty, as legislatures may see fit to establish. Such constructions would abolish every bill of rights in the union. It would take from the people all the security afforded by their constitutions for the enjoyment of their natural rights. It would abolish all restraints upon the legislative power, and place every right of the individual at its disposal."[Pg. 15]

- [CONSTITUTIONAL LAW, RELATIVE TO CREDIT, CURRENCY, AND BANKING, BY LYSANDER SPOONER. PRINTED BY JOS. B. RIPLEY, WORCESTER, MASS. Sold by M.D. Phillips, Worcester, Mass. 1843.]