British Reponses to French Revolution

• Richard Price, a Welsh dissenting minister in 1789, published "Discourse on the Love of our Country", arguing that the revolution of 1789 represented an improvement on the 1689 settlement by matters of the liberty of conscience, the right to resist abuses of power, and the right to choose and dismiss governments.
• Edmund Burke, the son of an Irish protestant lawyer and his roman catholic wife, studied law and became a politician.
• Edmund Burke's work "An Enquiry into the Origins of the Sublime and Beautiful" was extremely influential in forming the aesthetic taste of the natural world.
• Edmund Burke argued against how the House of Commons was dominated by the king and his supporters.
• Edmund Burke spoke and wrote on behalf of the roman catholic emancipation.
• Edmund Burke supported the American Revolution.
• The French Revolution horrified Edmund Burke, who refuted Richard Price's argument that people had the right to dismiss governments and form new ones in "Reflections on the Revolution in France" (1790).
• Edmund Burke believed that society was an organist rather than solely administrative.
• Edmund Burke believed the revolutionaries in France were atheists offending history by overthrowing monarch.
• Thomas Paine, born in Norfork to a Quaker and an Anglican, emigrated to America in 1774 after being dismissed from his job for seeking a pay increase.
• Thomas Paine worked on american independence and served in Washington's army against British troops.
• Thomas Paine returned to England and published "The Rights of Man" in 1790 and 1792 in a direct response to Edmund Burke's "Reflections".
• Thomas Paine advocated the idea of fundamental rights that should be enjoyed by all.
• Thomas Paine challenged Edmund Burke's notion and argued that for society to progress towards greater freedom and justice it was vital to break away from the past.
• The excitement brought by the French Revolution quickly turned to disillusion when with the execution of Louis XVI in 1793 the 'reign of terror began'.
• Different groups fought for supremacy and thousands of people from all parties were executed during the 'reign of terror'.