Edmund Burke's Views On The French Revolution

The French Revolution (1789-1794), worked towards the end of feudalism in France by establishing nationalism and the French nation. The King, Louis XVI established the Estate General which included a lack of representation and un-proportioned Third Estate which included majority of the French Population. With the Enlightenment era at that time, the Third Estate formed the National Assembly and swore the Tennis Court Oath, vowing not to disperse until constitutional reform had been achieved. On August 4, 1789, the National Assembly passed the Declaration of the Rights of Men and Citizen, which resulted in the abolishment of the predominant feudal system in France. With the end of feudalism, there was a rise of liberalism and conservatism. This
He was a founder and supporter of conservatism in England and in Europe. All of his views and ideas present in his “Reflections on the Revolution in France” (1790) are based on his conservative reasoning philosophy. He profoundly disagrees with the rationale presented in the Declaration of the Rights of Men and Citizen because he believes that all the rights are based on an abstract notion of Nation, and that common citizen cannot govern a monarchy. Lualdi aptly says, “He argued the case for tradition, continuity, and gradual reform based on practical experience—what he called “a sure principle of conservation.” Conservatism is based on the idea of monarchical tradition , which opposes the abstract idea of the citizens governing the nation. Conservatism emphasizes on the hereditary acquisition of prestige and command, and establishes that those people had the natural right to rule a “Nation”. The main difference, among some other views, between Burke and the French Revolutionaries is the ongoing conflict between liberalism and conservatism in the
The declaration absolves the hereditary social distinctions that separated France to present all the citizens of France as equal, only to be distinguished based on the “the general good.” The first and most important article presents an enlightened idea, that it is man’s natural right to be free and man was born free, and that all men are equal under the law. It is followed by the next idea that, “The aim of all political association is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man.” This means that the governance of these newly formed rights must be protected by all political entities and it is the government’s duty to look after the put everyone in accordance to it. Burke says, “government is not made in virtue of natural rights, which may and do exist in total independence of it.” He argues that the government is abstractly created on the bases of natural rights set by the respective nation. Thus his argument follows the notion that government should be based on tradition, that is the previous feudal system, as the upper classes, which previously governed under the rule of monarchy, have the means and experience to keep the continuity of the nation over a new inexperienced political class. He says that because he sees the French people destroy themselves as their leadership is filled with liberal and radical ideas, under the leadership of Maximilien