On the recordJanuary 1, 1790
The engagement and pact of society, which generally goes by the name of the Constitution, forbids such invasion and such surrender.
Said by
Edmund Burke
Source
gutenberg.orgEditor's note · Context
In his reflections on the French Revolution, Burke describes the constitution as a societal pact that prevents the arbitrary dissolution or surrender of governmental authority.
Share
More from Edmund Burke
Jan 1, 1790
When such an unwarrantable maxim is once established, that no throne is lawful but the elective, no one act of the princes who preceded this era of fictitious election can be valid.
Jan 1, 1790
The House of Lords, for instance, is not morally competent to dissolve the House of Commons,--no, nor even to dissolve itself, nor to abdicate, if it would, its portion in the legislature of the kingdom.
Jan 1, 1790
But supposing they had ranked as they ought to do, and as with us they do actually, the sides of sick-beds are not the academies for forming statesmen and legislators.
Jan 1, 1790
All your sophisters cannot produce anything better adapted to preserve a rational and manly freedom than the course that we have pursued, who have chosen our nature rather than our speculations, our breasts rather than our inventions, for…
Other voices in this conversation
