On American Taxation

"On American Taxation" was a speech given by Edmund Burke in the British House of Commons on April 19, 1774, advocating the full repeal of the Townshend Revenue Act of 1767.

According to historian Robert Middlekauff, "The speech is memorable for its wit and its brilliant reconstruction of the government's dismal efforts to bring order into colonial affairs without the advantage of a coherent policy.

In general terms, Burke argued throughout these years that the resistance was a consequence of the inflexibility of British policy towards its colonies.

He argued that these acts had not significantly infringed upon the rights of the colonists to tax themselves, since the majority of this authority was still retained in the colonial assemblies.

[4] Burke argued that Parliament did have the right to tax the colonies, but only as a last resort when it was necessary to preserve the empire, what he called a reserve power.

But Burke's most fundamental point as expressed in both his opening and closing was the practical idea that the British government should do whatever it took to restore relations with the American colonies.

Historians have recognized On American Taxation as the more typical of Burke's oratory, being extemporaneous, more energetic, and wittier.

It is also more hopeful, having been delivered a year before Conciliation in America, when Burke apparently still believed that there was a chance to alter British policy towards the colonies.

[6] Could anything be a subject of more just alarm to America, than to see you go out of the plain high road of finance, and give up your most certain revenues and your clearest interests, merely for the sake of insulting your Colonies?