Of our Founding Principles Part II

Article V Blog ^ | January 18th 2018 | Rodney Dodsworth

[Jacquerie]

In a speech to the House of Commons on March 22nd 1775, Edmund Burke didn’t exaggerate when he warned that his majesty’s North American colonists “augur misgovernment at a distance, and snuff the approach of tyranny in every tainted breeze.” Burke understood colonial resistance to Parliamentary rule and monarchal abuse was not a recent development, but rather the predictable outcome of radical concepts developed since the late 17th century. ¹

For most of the 17th century, the English government restricted the free flow of ideas in theater plays and print media. This ended when parliament allowed the Licensing Act to expire in 1695. Newspaper and political pamphlet publication exploded, not only in England, but in America as well. ²The genie was out of the bottle and wouldn’t return.

Previously insular English government suddenly had to deal with public exposure of corruption at the highest levels. Few political scandals can match the South Sea Bubble of 1720, in which insider trading of public debt, lubricated with generous bribes to leading politicians, nearly brought down the English economy. The scandal exposed an unsavory fact; unless the public is sufficiently vigilant, those in power will readily line their pockets at the public expense. The danger accelerates as government grows. English newspapers described a constitution gone bad. ³ Despite the reforms of the Glorious Revolution, English monarchs still wielded enormous and corrupting influence over Parliament. To bend legislation to their will, kings offered lucrative administrative jobs to key members of parliament and funded their elections. A young John Dickinson studying law in London in 1754 was shocked at the callous disregard of free government. Over £1,000,000 he said, was spent on efforts to manipulate recent elections. “Bribery,” he wrote, “is so common that it is thought there is not a borough in