to quote rudolf rocker men like josiah warren stephen pearl andrews lysander spooner william greene ezra heywood and benjamin tucker were influenced in their intellectual developments much more by the principles expressed in the declaration of independence than by those of any of the representatives of libertarian socialism in europe they were all hundred per cent american by descent and almost all of them were born in the new england states as a matter of fact this school of thought had found literary expression in america before any modern radical movements were even thought of in europe