Comments on: Emerson on Anarchy

By: Scott Garner

Scott Garner — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 21:06:23 +0000

May I suggest that the private actors may well have been more proportionate in their response than “the law” as such would have been? Given enforcement costs, many people believe that deals are more likely than shoot-outs, under such circumstances. One other thing I have always found interesting is the relatively decent and humane manner in which most of the settlers dealt with the Indians – not to say they were perfect, of course, but trade, intermarriage, etc. were common during the early settlement – compared to the brutal wars of aggression carried out by the state. (I am fully aware that the state was often carrying out the wars on behalf of the settlers, and that often settlement followed war, but the record is still that the settlers, in their individual capacity, tended to be pretty decent.)

By: Administrator

Administrator — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 16:52:09 +0000

To see what Emerson was talking about, take a look at the two articles that I link to from the words “perfect peace” and “reigned.”

By: Sergio Méndez

Sergio Méndez — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 04:12:10 +0000

“Every man throughout the country was armed with knife and revolver, and it was known that instant justice would be administered to each offence, and perfect peace reigned. ”

Hmmm..this doesnt sound like my ideal of justice in an anarchist society….

By: Dain

Dain — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 02:36:27 +0000

Anon2,

The idea that peace would reign if any minor offense were corrected by a firearm would seem to be counter-inuitive. That is, any society wherein a small, harmless trespass or theft of a loaf of bread resulted in the death penalty would not be the more or less tranquil place that Emerson is describing. The idea of proportionate justice is rich in common law, and informs the ideas we still have today about appropriate punishment.

Without knowing the details of what Emerson is talking about when referring to justice, I doubt he means anything Klingon-esque as you are suggesting.

By: Shawn P. Wilbur

Shawn P. Wilbur — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 02:03:09 +0000

Nice find. This is one of the earliest positive uses of the term in the U. S. that I’m aware of, five years before Eliphalet Kimball’s “Boston Investigator” pieces.

By: Anon2

Anon2 — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 21:08:06 +0000

I can certainly imagine peace reigning if any offense is immediately “corrected” by administering justice with a revolver.