Irish Philosopher Edmund Burke Predicted the American Colonies Would Rebel Against British Sovereignty
Statue of Edmund Burke in Washington, DC On April 19, 1774, a full year before the Battle of Concord and Lexington erupted, Irish MP Edmund Burke of Dublin (1729–97) made a compelling speech in the British House of Commons in London, supporting a motion to repeal the Townsend Revenue Act, which taxed tea in the American colonies. Burke warned his colleagues that taxing the American colonies ‘three pence per pound weight upon tea, payable in all his Majesty’s dominions in America,’ was a recipe for rebellion from the colonists. This type of taxation called into question the very concept of liberty the Americans cherished, and made the British appear as tyrants. “Your scheme yields no revenue; it yields nothing but discontent, disorder, disobedience,” he said, asking his colleagues to “reflect how you are to govern a people, who think they ought to be free, and think they are not. “When you drive him hard, the boar will surely turn upon the hunters," Burke said. "If that so