Reflections on the French Revolution

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While on the flip sides there were people, such as Mary Wollstonecraft, whom argued against Burkes ideals but who also agreed with the ideal of conservatism. Mary Wollstonecraft said that Burke was corrupted by the English establishment and thought that while the past is an important stepping stone to a greater time, it is not the ideal situation for the majority people, especially for women. She was an advocator for women’s rights and wasn’t shy to challenging people’s thoughts on the present state, but did however believe that the French Revolution may have caused more damage than to help initially. Conservatism, again was believed to be the most logical choice by her as well as Burke, and education of the separated publics was the best way to create the best change.

There was another revolutionary writer named Thomas Paine whom was raised in a very similar household to Burke, but had the complete opposite beliefs to Burke. “Paine countered in Rights of Man that the revolution was the natural continuation of a markedly new era of human history, one in which men applied newly discovered Enlightenment values to their systems of government” (Edmund Burke vs Thomas Paine). Similarly, to Mary Wollstonecraft, Paine understood that change was a part of creating new history and marking the new way of the world, but he unlike Mary was in support in how the revolution took place and all the consequent loss of life and bloodshed. Conservatism in this case is a great idea but realistically the follow through with the path of conservatism, in this case, would have led to no real change, the French people needed to completely change their government which had been in place for generations and no small change would have been able to erase that kind of history which I think Paine understood unlike Edmund Burke.

In conclusion, when looking at all sides of the French Revolution and the effects it had I believe it was a necessary battle to be had. While Edmund Burke may have disagreed, I think his higher societal standing led his position to be clouded and he refused to see the good change along with the violence. Such as the decline of the monarchy, the decline of religious power and a sense of French nationalism amongst its majority people that had band together to fight in the revolution and believe that a better life existed.

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Works Cited

Brown, Nat. “Edmund Burke vs. Thomas Paine.” http://www.nationalreview.com/

article/365296/edmund-burke-v-thomas-paine-nat-brown. Accessed 28 Oct. 2017.

Burke, Edmund. “Reflections on the French Revolution.” https://www.web.archive.org/

web/19981206201151/http:/pluto.clinch.edu/history/wciv2/civ2ref/burke.html. Accessed 22 Oct. 2017.

“The Counter Enlightenment.” http://counterenlightenment.blogspot.com/2011/07/review-of-

reflections-on-revolution-in.html. Accessed 24 Oct. 2017.

“Edmund Burke.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Burke. Accessed 24 Oct. 2017.

“French Revolution.” History.com. http://www.history.com/topics/french-revolution. Accessed

22 Oct. 2017.

kmj23. "What was the main purpose of the French Revolution?" eNotes, 6 Dec. 2015,

https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-was-main-purpose-french-revolution-

568317. Accessed 29 Oct. 2017.

Levak

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