title: Speech on Conciliation with America
author:  Edmund Burke 
description: With extensive knowledge of political affairs, Edmund Burke possessed a glowing imagination and passionate sympathies expressed in his landmark speeches, which continue to captivate contemporary readers. The best of Burke's writings and speeches uphold his position on the need for rigorous constitutional statesmanship against widespread abuse of authority in government. He remains one of the foremost political thinkers of eighteenth-century England.
zlib_text: # PREFACE
  
  The introduction to this edition of Burke's speech on Conciliation with
  America is intended to supply the needs of those students who do not have
  access to a well-stocked library, or who, for any reason, are unable to do the
  collateral reading necessary for a complete understanding of the text.
  
  The sources from which information has been drawn in preparing this edition
  are mentioned under "Bibliography." The editor wishes to acknowledge
  indebtedness to many of the excellent older editions of the speech, and also
  to Mr. A. P. Winston, of the Manual Training High School, for valuable
  suggestions.
  
  ## CONTENTS
  
  ##### POLITICAL SITUATION
  
  ##### EDMUND BURKE
  
  ##### BURKE AS A STATESMAN
  
  ##### BURKE IN LITERATURE
  
  ##### TOPICS FOR SPECIAL REPORTS
  
  ##### BIBLIOGRAPHY
  
  ##### SPEECH ON CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA
  
  ##### NOTES
  
  ##### INDEX
  
  ## INTRODUCTION
  
  ##### POLITICAL SITUATION
  
  In 1651 originated the policy which caused the American Revolution. That
  policy was one of taxation, in