Editing Conservatism (section)

== Historical background ==
Anglo-Irish statesman [[Edmund Burke]] has been widely regarded as the philosophical founder of modern conservatism.<ref>{{cite book |author-last=Heywood |author-first=Andrew |title=Political Ideologies: An Introduction |edition=3 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2003 |page=74 |isbn=978-0-333-96178-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DtSlJAAACAAJ}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author-last=Lock |author-first=F. P. |title=Edmund Burke. Volume II: 1784–1797 |publisher=Clarendon |year=2006 |page=585}}</ref> He served as the private secretary to the [[Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham|Marquis of Rockingham]] and as official pamphleteer to the [[Rockingham Whigs|Rockingham branch of the Whig party]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Edmund Burke: Selected Writings and Speeches |last=Stanlis |first=Peter J. |publisher=Transaction |year=2009 |page=18}}</ref> Together with the Tories, they were the conservatives in the late 18th century United Kingdom.{{sfn|Auerbach|1959|p=33}}

[[File:Edmund Burke by James Northcote.JPG|thumb|[[Edmund Burke]], widely regarded as the philosophical founder of modern conservatism]]

Burke's views were a mixture of conservatism and republicanism. He supported the [[American Revolution]] of 1775–1783 but abhorred the violence of the [[French Revolution]] of 1789–1799. He accepted the conservative ideals of [[private property]] and the economics of [[Adam Smith]], but he thought that [[capitalism]] should remain subordinate to the conservative social ethic and that the business class should be subordinate to aristocracy.<ref>{{cite book |title=In Defense of Edmund Burke's Aristocratic Order |author-last=Kopalyan |author-first=Nerses |isbn=9783843375436 |publisher=Lambert Academic Publishing |year=2010}}</ref> He insisted on standards of [[honor]] derived from the medieval aristocratic tradition and saw the aristocracy as the nation's natural leaders.{{sfn|Auerbach|1959|pp=37–40}} That meant limits on the powers of the Crown, since he found the institutions of Parliament to be better informed than commissions appointed by the executive. He favored an established church, but allowed for a degree of [[religious toleration]].{{sfn|Auerbach|1959|pp=52–54}} Burke ultimately justified the social order on the basis of tradition: tradition represented the wisdom of the species, and he valued community and social harmony over social reforms.{{sfn|Auerbach|1959|p=41}}

[[File:Cogordan - Joseph de Maistre, 1894 (page 12 crop).jpg|thumb|[[Joseph de Maistre]], a French philosopher and proponent of the [[Counter-Enlightenment]]]]

Another form of conservatism developed in France in parallel to conservatism in Britain. It was influenced by [[Counter-Enlightenment]] works by philosophers such as [[Joseph de Maistre]] and [[Louis de Bonald]].{{sfn|Neill|2021|pp=38–43}} Many continental conservatives do not support [[separation of church and state]], with most supporting state cooperation with the [[Catholic Church in France|Catholic Church]], such as had existed in France before the Revolution. Conservatives were also early to embrace [[nationalism]], which was previously associated with liberalism and the Revolution in France.<ref>{{cite book |author-last=Adams |author-first=Ian |title=Political Ideology Today |edition=2 |publisher=Manchester University Press |year=2002 |page=46}}</ref> Another early French conservative, [[François-René de Chateaubriand]], espoused a [[Romanticism|romantic]] opposition to modernity, contrasting its emptiness with the 'full heart' of traditional faith and loyalty.{{sfn|Fawcett|2020|p=20}} Elsewhere on the continent, German thinkers [[Justus Möser]] and [[Friedrich von Gentz]] criticized the [[Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen]] that came of the Revolution. Opposition was also expressed by [[German idealism|German idealists]] such as [[Adam Müller]] and [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel]], the latter inspiring both leftist and rightist followers.{{sfn|Fawcett|2020|pp=25–30}}

Both Burke and Maistre were critical of [[democracy]] in general, though their reasons differed. Maistre was pessimistic about humans being able to follow rules, while Burke was skeptical about humans' innate ability to make rules. For Maistre, rules had a divine origin, while Burke believed they arose from custom. The lack of custom for Burke, and the lack of divine guidance for Maistre, meant that people would act in terrible ways. Both also believed that liberty of the wrong kind led to bewilderment and political breakdown. Their ideas would together flow into a stream of anti-rationalist, romantic conservatism, but would still stay separate. Burke was more open to argumentation and disagreement, while Maistre sought faith and authority, leading to a more illiberal strain of thought.{{sfn|Fawcett|2020|pp=5–7}}