Edmund Burke, Speech on Conciliation with the Colonies, March 1775 (I.1.2)

America is aggrieved by the English government's having deprived it of its self-government, its right to conduct trade, and right to representative and just taxation. Burke, noted for cherishing ordered liberty, understands this and the possibility of violence it implies. He speaks to parliament in effort to mend the rift. It is just a month before the hostilities at Lexington and Concord.

"In this character of Americans, a love of freedom is the predominating factor...," he says. Its English origins account for this predominance, as well as for its being particularly bound up with the issue of taxation rather than other issues germane to freedom. The fact that American government is deeply representative of the populous also accounts for the American penchant for freedom, as do the Protestant religion in the north which loathes government control, and the slavery-based society in the south which harbors a palpable contempt for unfree people. Americans' high level of legal education make them zealous and able advocates of their rights. And the remoteness of America from the English government has also contributed its spirit of freedom.

Burke argues that the English government's position that America may be deprived of its liberty is inconsistent with the English principles of liberty to which it is committed. He points out that, given the vehemence of American's devotion to their liberties, the alternative to reconciliation is likely to be the far less appealing one of violence.