# a man — No Treason character guide > a man in No Treason by Lysander Spooner. **Role:** major **Also known as:** a man, your, himself **First appearance:** 0000-introductory ## Snapshot The reasoning everyman whose consent—or refusal—Spooner treats as the only legitimate foundation for political authority, and whose liberty the whole argument is built to defend. ## Who they are He stands in for any person asked to prove he has bound himself to a government he never personally agreed to obey. His central tension is between the safety of silent compliance and the dangerous honesty of withholding consent, since Spooner insists no man may be injured in person or property without his own agreement. That refusal becomes the hinge on which the book's case for liberty turns. ## Relationships ### [D](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se/characters/d) _friendship_ A man appears to be an ally or companion who interacts frequently with D. ### [these men](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se/characters/these_men) _rivalry_ A man is opposed to these men, likely siding with D against them. ### [Unknown](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se/characters/unknown) _psychological_ A man is also entangled with the unknown, sharing D's suspicion or concern. ### [Unknown](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se/characters/unknown) _psychological_ A man is also entangled with the unknown, sharing D's suspicion or concern. ### [D](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se/characters/d) _friendship_ A man appears to be an ally or companion who interacts frequently with D. ## In the story ### [Introductory](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se/chapters/introductory) The individual subjected to a government he does not want, described as a slave. ### [No Treason](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se/chapters/no-treason) Represents the individual who originally consented to the Constitution and whose rights are violated by the government's actions. ### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se/chapters/i) The individual who voluntarily consented to the Constitution and whose consent died with him. ### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se/chapters/i) Implied as the individual subject to government coercion and the object of the North's war to compel submission. ### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se/chapters/ii) The individual whose natural rights are inviolable against any majority or minority. ### [Chapter III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se/chapters/iii) Represents the individual stripped of natural rights and subjected to government control without consent. ### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se/chapters/iv) Used as a generic individual to illustrate the necessity of individual consent and the right to withdraw from government. ### [II: The Constitution](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se/chapters/ii-the-constitution) Discussed as an individual who can only be guilty of treason if he has voluntarily pledged faith to the government; his consent cannot be presumed. ### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se/chapters/i) Represented as an individual who may consent or refuse the Constitution; later described as forced into a ballot contest analogous to battle, using the ballot in self-defense. ### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se/chapters/ii) The hypothetical individual who may become an enemy after fair warning, not a traitor. ### [Chapter III: Treason, Allegiance, and the Constitution](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se/chapters/iii) The individual who alone can bind himself to support a government, as no one else can impose allegiance. ### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se/chapters/iv) Discussed as the only entity capable of committing treason as an individual. ### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se/chapters/v) Implied as the reader or any individual assessing the meaning of treason under the Constitution. ### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se/chapters/vi) Represents the individual whose voluntary support defines a free government. ### [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se/chapters/vii) Represents any individual who has not consented to taxation and thus retains the natural right to defend property. ### [VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se/chapters/viii) Discussed as being under no involuntary allegiance to any government ### [IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se/chapters/ix) The weaker party that is oppressed and must be protected by political liberty. ### [The Treason Swindle and the War for Slavery](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se/chapters/x) The individual who is at risk of being accused, shot, and hanged as a traitor for refusing to surrender to arbitrary will. ### [XI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se/chapters/xi) The individual whose consent is presumed by the government, treated as a victim of usurpation. ### [VI: The Constitution of No Authority](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se/chapters/vi-the-constitution-of-no-authority) The individual taxpayer who cannot know who composes 'the government' and is forced to pay taxes under threat of violence. ### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se/chapters/i) Used in analogies about building a house or planting a tree for posterity, illustrating the lack of binding obligation. ### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se/chapters/ii) Used as a hypothetical individual forced to vote in self-defense, analogous to a soldier forced into battle. ### [Chapter III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se/chapters/iii) The individual taxpayer who is compelled to pay taxes under threat of force, compared to a victim of a highwayman. ### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se/chapters/iv) Used as a hypothetical example of a party who must sign a contract to be bound. ### [Chapter V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se/chapters/v) Represented as any individual who would be careful to have contracts written and signed, even for small amounts. ### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se/chapters/vi) Represented as an individual who may be injured by Congress's acts and has the right to resist. ### [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se/chapters/vii) Any sensible and honest man who would not sign the Constitution as interpreted. ### [VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se/chapters/viii) The individual whose property, liberty, or life is threatened by the government's agents. ### [IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se/chapters/ix) Described as being considered a slave without the ballot privilege, but a free man with it, having equal power to secretly procure robbery, enslavement, and murder. ### [Chapter X](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se/chapters/x) The individual who resists exactions and restraints imposed by the government. ### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se/chapters/ii) The hypothetical individual who takes an oath on Boston Common before a crowd, illustrating the lack of privity. ### [XII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se/chapters/xii) The hypothetical tax-gatherer who refuses to pay over the money, asserting he never knew the secret band as individuals. ### [XII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se/chapters/xii) Implied as any individual who might claim membership in the supposed association, but cannot prove the oath was given to them. ### [XIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se/chapters/xiv) Any Southern man forced to swear oaths of allegiance under duress. ### [XV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se/chapters/xv) The soldier who takes the oath, whose judgment and conscience are overridden by the command to kill. ### [Chapter XVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se/chapters/xvi) The individual who is supposedly bound by treaties made without his consent. ### [XVII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se/chapters/xvii) Implied as the individual citizen who never contracted to pay the national debt. ### [XVIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se/chapters/xviii) The individual who is robbed, enslaved, and murdered by the secret government. ### [XIX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se/chapters/xix) The chief murderer of the war, acting as the organ of the blood-money lenders, calling for peace on their terms. ### [Appendix](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se/chapters/appendix) The writer, expressing personal opinion on the Constitution's validity. ### [Endnotes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se/chapters/endnotes) The individual whose voice is one of millions in choosing public masters, questioning the value of that voice. ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se/characters/a_man - Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se - All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/no_treason_se/characters