Burke, Edmund (1729–1797)

Edmund Burke, an Irish-born British politician and philosopher, served in the House of Commons for almost 30 years and authored an extensive and influential body of speeches and books. Conventionally held to be the “father of conservatism,” Burke was a Whig whose influence on classical liberalism was considerable. Although his rich oeuvre spans four decades, Burke has become most famous for a series of works written in the last 7 years of his life in vehement opposition to the French Revolution, beginning with Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790) and followed by publications with a similar theme, such as An Appeal from the New Whigs to the Old Whigs (1791) and Letters on a Regicide Peace (1796).

Burke never wrote a theoretical treatise systematically spelling ...