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No Treason · Chapter

XIV explained

The chapter argues that oaths of allegiance extorted from Southern men after the war are invalid because they were coerced, violate natural rights, and were given to a non-existent legitimate corporation—'the United States'—which cannot be

What happens

The chapter argues that oaths of allegiance extorted from Southern men after the war are invalid because they were coerced, violate natural rights, and were given to a non-existent legitimate corporation—'the United States'—which cannot be proven to have any identifiable members or legal existence, thus making the oaths obligations to a secret band of robbers and murderers.

Themes in this chapter

  • Consent and Voluntary Government

    Oaths extorted by force violate the principle that government must rest on voluntary consent.

  • Secret Government and Secret Ballot

    The United States is characterized as a secret band of robbers and murderers, lacking open, authentic corporate existence.

Characters to notice

  • a man

    Any Southern man forced to swear oaths of allegiance under duress.

  • Mr. B

    Hypothetical individual used to question the membership of the United States corporation.

  • Unknown

    The speaker or authorial voice questioning the legitimacy of the United States as a corporation.

Key passages

  • “On general principles of law and reason, all the oaths which, since the war, have been given by Southern men, that they will obey the laws of Congress, support the Union, and the like, are of no validity.”

    According to fundamental legal and rational principles, every oath sworn by Southern men after the war—promising to obey Congress and support the Union—is legally void.

    Opening assertion that post-war loyalty oaths are invalid.

  • “Such oaths are invalid, not only because they were extorted by military power, and threats of confiscation, and because they are in contravention of men’s natural right to do as they please about supporting the government, but also because they were given to nobody.”

    These oaths are void because they were coerced by force and property threats, violate the natural right to choose whether to support the government, and were sworn to no actual entity.

    Threefold reason for invalidity: coercion, natural rights violation, and lack of a legitimate recipient.

  • “The most that can be claimed is that the oaths were given to a secret band of robbers and murderers, who called themselves 'the United States,' and extorted those oaths.”

    At best, the oaths were made to a hidden gang of thieves and killers that used the name 'the United States' to force compliance.

    Characterization of the U.S. government as a criminal secret society.

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