Political Quotes

Edmund Burke: “So far is it from being true, that we acquired a right by the Revolution to elect our kings, that if we had possessed it…”

On the record
So far is it from being true, that we acquired a right by the Revolution to elect our kings, that if we had possessed it before, the English nation did at that time most solemnly renounce and abdicate it, for themselves, and for all their posterity for ever.
Said by
Edmund Burke

Editor's note · Context

Burke asserts that the English nation renounced the right to elect kings during the Revolution, binding future generations.

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Jan 1, 1790

But when the leaders choose to make themselves bidders at an auction of popularity, their talents, in the construction of the state, will be of no service.

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Let us imitate their caution, if we wish to deserve their fortune or to retain their bequests.

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I think our happy situation owing to our Constitution,--but owing to the whole of it, and not to any part singly,--owing in a great measure to what we have left standing in our several reviews and reformations, as well as to what we have…

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Jan 1, 1790

Our people will find employment enough for a truly patriotic, free, and independent spirit, in guarding what they possess from violation.

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