March 22: Edmund Burke’s Speech on Conciliation (1775)
Prayer Idea
Pray for people who are seeking to negotiate ways to end conflicts.
History Note
Edmund Burke (1729-1797) was a British political thinker and statesman. He was a member of Parliament before and during the American Revolutionary War.
On March 22, 1775, Edmund Burke argued in a speech in Parliament that the British government should pursue a path of conciliation with the American colonies. He shared his thoughts on why devotion to an ideal of liberty had grown in the colonies and concluded:
For, in order to prove that the Americans have no right to their liberties, we are every day endeavouring to subvert the maxims which preserve the whole spirit of our own. To prove that the Americans ought not to be free, we are obliged to depreciate the value of freedom itself; and we never seem to gain a paltry advantage over them in debate, without attacking some of those principles, or deriding some of those feelings, for which our ancestors have shed their blood.
A month after this speech, British and American soldiers fought the battles of Lexington and Concord. These initial battles led to years of war.
Edmund Burke was also interested in how the British managed affairs in Ireland and India, and he opposed the French Revolution. Aligning Burke with a modern political perspective is difficult. He recognized that human nature and how humans work together in society are complicated.
Whether we are talking about relations between nations or between individuals, once fighting starts, stopping it is hard. The emotions that contributed to the conflict grow even stronger. Let us try to understand those who are different from us and seek ways to resolve conflict without violence.
19th-century illustration of Edmund Burke.
Learn More
In this video, author Richard Bourke provides a brief introduction to Edmund Burke’s career.
Find out more about Edmund Burke and the British Parliament at Homeschool History.
