James Burgh
Encyclopedia
James Burgh was a British Whig politician whose book Political Disquisitions set out an early case for free speech
and universal suffrage
: In it, he writes, "All lawful authority, legislative, and executive, originates from the people." He has been judged "one of England's foremost propagandists for radical reform".
Burgh also ran a dissenting academy
and wrote on subjects such as educational reform. One of his first books was Thoughts on Education (1747). His widow acted as fairy godmother to early feminist Mary Wollstonecraft
, then a young and unpublished schoolmistress, who titled her first book Thoughts on the Education of Daughters
(1787). The title alludes to Burgh's Thoughts on Education which in turn alludes to John Locke
's 1693 work, Some Thoughts Concerning Education
.
, Scotland
. His father was a minister of the parish Church of Scotland
. Burgh was raised a Presbyterian
, which strongly contributed to his fight for moral issues. He attended St. Andrews University
with the intention of studying for the ministry. An illness prevented him from completing his degree and he entered the linen trade. Failure at that sent him to England in the early 1740s. For a short time he was a printer's helper and then in 1746 he became an assistant master in an academy just north of London
. The next year, he became master of his own academy in Stoke Newington
. In 1750, he moved his school to nearby Newington Green
, and ran it there for 19 years.
In 1754, Burgh's The Dignity of Human Nature was published. This is Burgh's first major publication, and one that bears a striking resemblance to Benjamin Franklin
's Poor Richard's Almanac
. In 1761, Burgh wrote The Art of Speaking, an educational book focusing on oratory. In 1766, he wrote the first volume of Crito, a collection of essays on religious toleration
, contemporary politics, and educational theories. The second volume followed a year later. This is his first work that included a strong emphasis on politics.
Burgh became involved in the early 1760s with a group called the Honest Whigs, a club that met on alternate Thursday evenings in a coffeehouse in London. Other members of the group involved Richard Price
, Joseph Priestley
, Benjamin Franklin, James Boswell
and others. In 1774, Burgh wrote his most popular work, Political Disquisitions. The three-volume work was intended by Burgh to be longer, but his deteriorating health caused him to stop after the third volume. Burgh died a year later in 1775.
.
On the consequences of libel: "Punishing libels public or private is foolish, because it does not answer the end, and because the end is a bad one, if it could be answered."
Burgh thought libel was acceptable as long as the accusation was aimed only at the political conduct. Private matters were not to be slandered. He explained this by saying that "we are to take care of the public safety at all adventures." Public libel was not a crime to Burgh, but rather "the unavoidable inconvenience attendant upon a high station, which he who dislikes must avoid, and keep himself private."
On freedom of speech with limitations:
On the possession of firearms: "The possession of arms is the distinction between a free man and a slave."
is his Political Disquisitions. Many of his other writings contributed in other areas such as educational and reform movements, but Political Disquisitions was widely recognized as required reading. Thomas Jefferson
included the work with other writings in a course of recommended reading for James Madison
and James Monroe
. In 1803, while Jefferson was president of the United States, he urged the work on Congress. The book was popular among American colonists and became a source of inspiration for American Revolution
aries. Many critics claim his work is nothing more than a collection of other writer's ideas and propositions. While Burgh does draw extensively from outside theorists and authors, his ideas on Parliamentary reform, free speech, and equal opportunity are novel.
Freedom of speech
Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...
and universal suffrage
Universal suffrage
Universal suffrage consists of the extension of the right to vote to adult citizens as a whole, though it may also mean extending said right to minors and non-citizens...
: In it, he writes, "All lawful authority, legislative, and executive, originates from the people." He has been judged "one of England's foremost propagandists for radical reform".
Burgh also ran a dissenting academy
Dissenting academies
The dissenting academies were schools, colleges and nonconformist seminaries run by dissenters. They formed a significant part of England’s educational systems from the mid-seventeenth to nineteenth centuries....
and wrote on subjects such as educational reform. One of his first books was Thoughts on Education (1747). His widow acted as fairy godmother to early feminist Mary Wollstonecraft
Mary Wollstonecraft
Mary Wollstonecraft was an eighteenth-century British writer, philosopher, and advocate of women's rights. During her brief career, she wrote novels, treatises, a travel narrative, a history of the French Revolution, a conduct book, and a children's book...
, then a young and unpublished schoolmistress, who titled her first book Thoughts on the Education of Daughters
Thoughts on the Education of Daughters
Thoughts on the education of daughters: with reflections on female conduct, in the more important duties of life is the first published work of the British feminist Mary Wollstonecraft. Published in 1787 by her friend Joseph Johnson, Thoughts is a conduct book that offers advice on female education...
(1787). The title alludes to Burgh's Thoughts on Education which in turn alludes to John Locke
John Locke
John Locke FRS , widely known as the Father of Liberalism, was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Francis Bacon, he is equally important to social...
's 1693 work, Some Thoughts Concerning Education
Some Thoughts Concerning Education
Some Thoughts Concerning Education is a 1693 treatise on the education of gentlemen written by the English philosopher John Locke. For over a century, it was the most important philosophical work on education in England...
.
Life and works
Burgh was born and raised in MaddertyMadderty
Madderty is a village in Strathearn, Perth and Kinross. It lies on the former railway line connecting Perth and Crieff. The Gask Ridge and its Roman road lie to the south and the remains of Inchaffray Abbey to the north....
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. His father was a minister of the parish Church of Scotland
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland, known informally by its Scots language name, the Kirk, is a Presbyterian church, decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....
. Burgh was raised a Presbyterian
Presbyterianism
Presbyterianism refers to a number of Christian churches adhering to the Calvinist theological tradition within Protestantism, which are organized according to a characteristic Presbyterian polity. Presbyterian theology typically emphasizes the sovereignty of God, the authority of the Scriptures,...
, which strongly contributed to his fight for moral issues. He attended St. Andrews University
University of St Andrews
The University of St Andrews, informally referred to as "St Andrews", is the oldest university in Scotland and the third oldest in the English-speaking world after Oxford and Cambridge. The university is situated in the town of St Andrews, Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It was founded between...
with the intention of studying for the ministry. An illness prevented him from completing his degree and he entered the linen trade. Failure at that sent him to England in the early 1740s. For a short time he was a printer's helper and then in 1746 he became an assistant master in an academy just north of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. The next year, he became master of his own academy in Stoke Newington
Stoke Newington
Stoke Newington is a district in the London Borough of Hackney. It is north-east of Charing Cross.-Boundaries:In modern terms, Stoke Newington can be roughly defined by the N16 postcode area . Its southern boundary with Dalston is quite ill-defined too...
. In 1750, he moved his school to nearby Newington Green
Newington Green
Newington Green is an open space in north London which straddles the border between Islington and Hackney. It gives its name to the surrounding area, roughly bounded by Ball's Pond Road to the south, Petherton Road to the west, the southern section of Stoke Newington with Green Lanes-Matthias Road...
, and ran it there for 19 years.
In 1754, Burgh's The Dignity of Human Nature was published. This is Burgh's first major publication, and one that bears a striking resemblance to Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin
Dr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
's Poor Richard's Almanac
Poor Richard's Almanac
Poor Richard's Almanack was a yearly almanac published by Benjamin Franklin, who adopted the pseudonym of "Poor Richard" or "Richard Saunders" for this purpose. The publication appeared continually from 1732 to 1758...
. In 1761, Burgh wrote The Art of Speaking, an educational book focusing on oratory. In 1766, he wrote the first volume of Crito, a collection of essays on religious toleration
Religious toleration
Toleration is "the practice of deliberately allowing or permitting a thing of which one disapproves. One can meaningfully speak of tolerating, ie of allowing or permitting, only if one is in a position to disallow”. It has also been defined as "to bear or endure" or "to nourish, sustain or preserve"...
, contemporary politics, and educational theories. The second volume followed a year later. This is his first work that included a strong emphasis on politics.
Burgh became involved in the early 1760s with a group called the Honest Whigs, a club that met on alternate Thursday evenings in a coffeehouse in London. Other members of the group involved Richard Price
Richard Price
Richard Price was a British moral philosopher and preacher in the tradition of English Dissenters, and a political pamphleteer, active in radical, republican, and liberal causes such as the American Revolution. He fostered connections between a large number of people, including writers of the...
, Joseph Priestley
Joseph Priestley
Joseph Priestley, FRS was an 18th-century English theologian, Dissenting clergyman, natural philosopher, chemist, educator, and political theorist who published over 150 works...
, Benjamin Franklin, James Boswell
James Boswell
James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck was a lawyer, diarist, and author born in Edinburgh, Scotland; he is best known for the biography he wrote of one of his contemporaries, the English literary figure Samuel Johnson....
and others. In 1774, Burgh wrote his most popular work, Political Disquisitions. The three-volume work was intended by Burgh to be longer, but his deteriorating health caused him to stop after the third volume. Burgh died a year later in 1775.
Political Disquisitions (1774)
Of the three volumes of Political Disquisitions, the third is the most widely referenced. The book was inspired by the radical reform movement of the time, and includes many of Burgh's feelings on social, religious, political and educational reforms. Burgh also includes many other authors in the book, with the strongest influence being that of John LockeJohn Locke
John Locke FRS , widely known as the Father of Liberalism, was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Francis Bacon, he is equally important to social...
.
Quotes
From chapter 9, "Of the Liberty of Speech and Writing on Political Subjects", on public versus private liberty:- That all history shows the necessity, in order to the preservation of liberty, of every subjects having a watchful eye on the conduct of Kings, Ministers, and Parliament, and of every subjects being not only secured, but encouraged in alarming his fellow subjects on occasion of every attempt upon public liberty.
On the consequences of libel: "Punishing libels public or private is foolish, because it does not answer the end, and because the end is a bad one, if it could be answered."
Burgh thought libel was acceptable as long as the accusation was aimed only at the political conduct. Private matters were not to be slandered. He explained this by saying that "we are to take care of the public safety at all adventures." Public libel was not a crime to Burgh, but rather "the unavoidable inconvenience attendant upon a high station, which he who dislikes must avoid, and keep himself private."
On freedom of speech with limitations:
- No man ought to be hindered saying or writing what he pleases on the conduct of those who undertake the management of national affairs, in which all are concerned, and therefore have the right to inquire, and to publish their suspicions concerning them. For if you punish the slanderer, you deter the fair inquirer.
On the possession of firearms: "The possession of arms is the distinction between a free man and a slave."
Contribution to free speech theory
Burgh's major contribution to free speech theoryFreedom of speech
Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...
is his Political Disquisitions. Many of his other writings contributed in other areas such as educational and reform movements, but Political Disquisitions was widely recognized as required reading. Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
included the work with other writings in a course of recommended reading for James Madison
James Madison
James Madison, Jr. was an American statesman and political theorist. He was the fourth President of the United States and is hailed as the “Father of the Constitution” for being the primary author of the United States Constitution and at first an opponent of, and then a key author of the United...
and James Monroe
James Monroe
James Monroe was the fifth President of the United States . Monroe was the last president who was a Founding Father of the United States, and the last president from the Virginia dynasty and the Republican Generation...
. In 1803, while Jefferson was president of the United States, he urged the work on Congress. The book was popular among American colonists and became a source of inspiration for American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
aries. Many critics claim his work is nothing more than a collection of other writer's ideas and propositions. While Burgh does draw extensively from outside theorists and authors, his ideas on Parliamentary reform, free speech, and equal opportunity are novel.