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Heroes From History — Edmund Burke (1729–1797)
Considered one of England’s greatest political philosophers and orators, Burke was a leading spokesman for the rights of American colonists in Parliament.
A native of Ireland, Burke entered Parliament in 1765 and soon became an outspoken critic of the colonial policies of George III.
In 1774, he urged repeal of the tea tax, warning Parliament not to make American colonists the“ pack-horses of every tax you choose to impose, without the least share in granting them.”
The tax, he said, “yields no revenue; it yields nothing but discontent, disorder, disobedience…”
The following year, in his speech “ Conciliation with America,” Burke argued for a more liberal approach to the colonists once more.
After the Revolution began, he condemned the use of Indians in fighting the Americans.
Before his retirement from Parliament in 1794, Burke supported efforts to abolish the slave trade. Although a champion of many liberal reforms, Burke was a conservative in matters of political change.
His condemnation of the French Revolution in 1790 prompted Thomas Paine to write The Rights of Man.
