What the Americans have done is, in their circumstances, truly astonishing; it is, indeed, infinitely more than I expected from them.
Edmund Burke: “What the Americans have done is, in their circumstances, truly astonishing; it is, indeed, infinitely more than I…”
Editor's note · Context
Burke expresses astonishment at the actions taken by the Americans given their circumstances.
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Whatever they are, I wish my countrymen rather to recommend to our neighbors the example of the British Constitution than to take models from them for the improvement of our own.
Let us add, if we please, but let us preserve what they have left; and standing on the firm ground of the British Constitution, let us be satisfied to admire, rather than attempt to follow in their desperate flights, the aëronauts of…
If any of them should happen to propose a scheme of liberty soberly limited, and defined with proper qualifications, he will be immediately outbid by his competitors, who will produce something more splendidly popular.
Not being illuminated with the light of which the gentlemen of France tell us they have got so abundant a share, they acted under a strong impression of the ignorance and fallibility of mankind.





