way the political, social, educational, religious, and economic
institutions of America were left virtually intact after indepen
dence.
The French Revolution was quite another matter for Burke.
There he saw a revolution in the most frightening sense possible.
A group of political theorists and sloganeers sought to overthrow
the existing order, destroy it, and replace it with untried, untested
political experiments. The attempt to destroy the historic, reli
gious, cultural, economic, and social fabric which had been
intricately woven over the centuries horrified Burke. To him, not
only did the experiment fly in the face of history, and therefore
was doomed, it set the stage for the “man on the white horse,”
which Burke predicted. Violent upheavals produce a social
vacuum, and no one can predict what will fill that void. Those
who sat down and wrote the theories and planned the political,
religious, educational, economic, and social programs that were
to be instituted after the revolution, were dreamers, according to
Burke. Theoretical and abstract notions about men and institu
tions are nothing compared to the realities inherent in the
evolution of both.
Thus Burke attacked the French Revolution, because it was a
revolution and, by definition an evil. But Burke was not a
reactionary, against change and reform. He was, in his writings
and in his actions, a reformer. But he saw reform as a means to
conserve. Change is a reality, and as such requires that men act
accordingly; failure to act in response to real change jeopardizes
the stability of society. Conversely, Burke would agree that
“when it is not necessary to change, it is necessary not to
change.” The heritage of the past should not be lightly discarded,
the wisdom of the ages should not be supplanted in favor of novel
theories, and we should not experiment with the lives of the
people who make up the nation.
Edmund Burke’s legacy then, is one of conservative but
steady progress, based on a respect for human rights as a
practical necessity, not theoretical principle. He saw society as
an evolutionary process based on religion, tradition, law, and
representative government. He believed in a natural aristocracy,
equality under the law, and political stability. He deplored
abstract slogans and theories as they relate to men and institu
tions, and was the foremost opponent of revolution in modem
history.
178 Political Theory: The Relationship of Man and the State