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Analysis of Edmond Burke’s Speech

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Analysis of Edmond Burke’s Speech
Analysis of Edmond Burke’s Speech on conciliation with America

Edmund Burke was an advocate of reason, order, and peace. Based on his comments in his speech he believed that as families pass down their possessions to their children, the crown and its privileges should also be passed down to the colonies. Although Burke was not a supporter of war but he did have a fondness and empathy for the colonies. He felt that traditional ways of doing things should be preserved and anything to the contrary was going against nature.
Edmund Burke, born in Dublin in 1729 attended Dublin's Trinity College where he received his degree in law. After a time he found himself more interested in literary studies and became a writer. He was secretary to the chief Secretary for Ireland, and later to the same post under Premiere. He entered Parliament in 1765 were he was sympathetic to the plight of English citizens and the colonies. Burke sharply criticized misgovernment and corruption at home. Though, as a Member of Parliament, Burke worked to temper the actions of Parliament and to avert conflict with the colonies but was ultimately unable to do so.

A number of taxes starting in 1651 perpetuated the American Revolution. The first, the Navigation Act required that colonial exports should be shipped to England in American or English vessels. This was followed by a long series of acts, regulating and restricting the American trade. Some measures to enforce the taxes were the suspension of facing your accuser in court, the limiting of freedom of the press and prohibiting elections. A short time later a series of acts were passed, imposing duties on several exports to America. However due to Burke’s hard work the duties on all the exports mentioned in the bill were removed, except that on tea. Further, the Boston Port Bill and the Regulating Act were imposed. This outraged the colonies for as Burke stated in his Speech on Conciliation with the Colonies. “In no country perhaps

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