Produced by Katie Hernandez, Susan Goble, Curtis Weyant and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net A LETTER TO THOMAS F. BAYARD CHALLENGING HIS RIGHT--AND THAT OF ALL THE OTHER SO-CALLED SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES IN CONGRESS-- TO EXERCISE ANY LEGISLATIVE POWER WHATEVER OVER THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES. BY LYSANDER SPOONER. BOSTON, MASS.: PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR. 1882. A Letter to Thomas F. Bayard "_Challenging his right--and that of all the other so-called senators and representatives in Congress--to exercise any legislative power whatever over the people of the United States._" by Lysander Spooner To Thomas F. Bayard, of Delaware: Sir--I have read your letter to Rev. Lyman Abbott, in which you express the opinion that it is at least possible for a man to be a legislator (under the Constitution of the United States) and yet be an honest man. This proposition implies that you hold it to be at least possible that some four hundred men should, by some process or other, become invested with the right to make laws of their own--that is, _laws wholly of their own device_, and therefore necessarily distinct from the law of nature, or the principles of natural justice; and that these laws of their own making shall be really and truly obligatory upon the people of the United States; and that, therefore, the people may rightfully be compelled to obey them. All this implies that you are of the opinion that the Congress of the United States, of which you are a member, has, by some process or other, become possessed of some right _of arbitrary dominion_ over the people of the United States; which right of arbitrary dominion is not given by, and is, therefore, necessarily in conflict with, the law of nature, the principles of natural justice, and the natural rights of men, as individuals. All this is necessarily implied in the idea that the Congress now possesses any right whatever to make any laws whatever, _of its own device_--that is, any laws that shall be either more, less, or other than that natural law, which it can neither make, unmake, nor alter--and cause them to be enforced upon the people of the United States, or any of them, against their will. You assume that the right of arbitrary dominion--that is, the right of making laws of their own device, and compelling obedience to them--is a "trust" that has been delegated to those who now exercise that power. You call it "the trust of public power." But, Sir, you are mistaken in supposing that any such power has ever been delegated, or ever can be delegated, by any body, to any body. Any such delegation of power is naturally impossible, for these reasons, viz: