# Endnotes explained — No Treason

> Chapter companion for No Treason by Lysander Spooner.

## What happens

The endnotes provide critical commentary on the nature of government, the Constitution, and the legal framework of contracts, questioning the legitimacy of majority rule and the binding nature of the Constitution as a contract.

## Themes in this chapter

### Critique of Majority Rule

The endnote questions the value of an individual's vote when it is only one among millions, undermining the legitimacy of majority rule.

### Constitution as Dead Contract

The endnotes argue that the Constitution was never signed as a binding contract by its drafters, and thus cannot be considered a valid contract.

## Character check-ins

### a man

The individual whose voice is one of millions in choosing public masters, questioning the value of that voice.

### Unknown

The narrator or authorial voice examining statutes and the Constitution.

## Key lines

> The very men who drafted it, never signed it in any way to bind themselves by it, as a contract . And not one of them probably ever would have signed it in any way to bind himself by it, as a contract .

The framers of the Constitution never signed it as a binding contract, and likely would never have done so.

_Highlights the argument that the Constitution lacks contractual validity._

> Of what appreciable value is it to any man, as an individual, that he is allowed a voice in choosing these public masters? His voice is only one of several millions.

What real value does an individual's vote have when it is just one among millions?

_Questions the significance of individual participation in a large democracy._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/no_treason_se/chapters/endnotes
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/no_treason_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/no_treason_se/chapters