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The Political Writings of the 1790s: The French Revolution Debate in Britain
The Political Writings of the 1790s The French Revolution Debate in Britain Author:Gregory Claeys The French Revolution provoked one of the fiercest political debates in British history. Largely instigated by Edmund Burke's "Reflections on the Revolution in France" (1790), the pamphlet war between reformers and those seeking to resist the application of "French principles" to Britain resulted in at least 700 publications, concentrated in the... more » period from 1791 until the "Two Acts" of 1795 prohibited nearly all reform activity. The debate brought about the founding of British conservatism and socialism and the redefinition of Whiggism and liberalism. This collection reprints over 100 of the most important contributions of this debate, including 15 responses to Burke's "Reflections", and as many to Burke's most famous respondent, Thomas Paine. The volumes include discussions about: natural rights, the state of nature, and social equality and inequality; the definition and virtues of the British constitution and the definition of sovereignty and political consent; the value of an Established Church and plight of the Dissenters; the development of Parliamentary corruption, patriotism and public virtue; the worth of an aristocracy and hereditary monarchy; the political capacities and rights of the labouring classes; the development and conduct of the war with France (from 1793); growing British poverty and social distress; the progress of the revolution in France itself from despotism through constitutional monarchy and democracy to dictatorship. Divided equally between reform and loyalist literature, this collection includes many rare works not contained in existing bibliographies. All of the texts are annotated, and an extensive introduction includes a chronology of events in both French and British history.« less