On the recordJanuary 1, 1790
In denying their false claims of right, I do not mean to injure those which are real, and are such as their pretended rights would totally destroy.
Said by
Edmund Burke
Source
gutenberg.orgEdmund Burke: “In denying their false claims of right, I do not mean to injure those which are real, and are such as their pretended…”
Editor's note · Context
Burke explains that his rejection of abstract "rights of men" is intended to protect actual, concrete rights that these false claims would undermine.
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Jan 1, 1790
They look upon the legal hereditary succession of their crown as among their rights, not as among their wrongs,--as a benefit, not as a grievance,--as a security for their liberty, not as a badge of servitude.
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Do they mean to attaint and disable backwards all the kings that have reigned before the Revolution, and consequently to stain the throne of England with the blot of a continual usurpation?
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A few years ago I should be ashamed to overload a matter so capable of supporting itself by the then unnecessary support of any argument; but this seditious, unconstitutional doctrine is now publicly taught, avowed, and printed.
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This is the spirit of our Constitution, not only in its settled course, but in all its revolutions.
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