[ProgressingAmerica]

I can just see this coming - Yes, France shipped plenty of slaves. But not to the colonies.(See Haiti) Yes, Portugal, the same. But not to the colonies.(See Brazil)

[ProgressingAmerica]

Ping

[rintintin]

Sorry, but I believe Johnson and Burke were making the same point - ie the mere fact you keep slaves doesn’t diminish your own jealousy for your own liberty

Johnson was arguing against those who said that England’s commitment to (jealousy for) its own liberties would be weakened if England kept treating the colonists as, in effect, slaves. He said this wasn’t so, and he pointed out that the colonists were keeping slaves without weakening their commitment to their own liberties

[dangus]

I don’t in any way see how Burke was saying that the spirit of liberty was strongest in the old South; he’s saying that the slave-owners value their liberty the most. But slave-owners were a terribly small minority.

[Savage Beast]

To paraphrase:

The more one witnesses the absence of liberty, the more one values liberty.

or:

The love of liberty is directly proportional to the comprehension of tyranny.

Maybe someone else can do better than that.

[loveliberty2]

Thank you for reminding us of Burke's "Speech on Conciliation. . . ."--a document which reminds us of many important facts about America's early history, one of which is that, even before our 1776 Declaration, Americans, with their firm "spirit of liberty," already, were feeding the Old World!

Liberty, after all is what tyrants fear the most, for a people devoted to liberty will not tolerate those, who like Far Left political presidential clowns of today, wish to rule, censor, limit freedom, and control the speech of those with whom they disagree.

Democrat Party 2020 political candidates, are you reading this?