Nichols 1 Ashley Nichols
Third edition
AMH2010-02 Ms. Tarah Luke 9 February 2012 Analysis of Document 6-5 (essay #3) In this document Edmund Burke, a member of the British Parliament, is urging the British leaders to take lead in reconciling with the American colonies so that they can keep a steady control on them, even though they’re overseas. This speech is a formal plea for the leaders to not ruin relations with the American colonies due to their pride and feeling of superiority. Burke’s proposition is peace; he strongly believes that it must be Great Britain who makes the first move towards reconciliation. This document is important because it relays the utter urgency for GB and America to make amends; their endeavor for peace is a selfish desire for GB to remain the leader of power, as opposed to allowing America to be a free land. Up until 1775, when this proposition was made, GB had put America through a rough time, urging them to strongly seek freedom. In the 18th century there was a big commercial boom in which GB took advantage of America’s prosperity through the Navigation Acts, requiring them to send their goods to GB instead of conducting independent trade. In 1763 King George III was overwhelmed by a mass of war debt and put it on the colonists to pay it off by taxes through the Treaty of Paris. The colonists were exasperated at the way GB forced them to do things like puppets and the idea of liberty and detachment began to seem like a possibility. During GB’s “unifying experience,” America was awakened to the fact that they held a lot power.
Nichols 2 Burke recognized how easily the colonists could break off into their own nation, and so did they; colonists knew that GB had power over the seas and that they had power on land. Burke is persuading the GB leaders, through this document, to see this so that they can calmly and delicately find a way to make amends with America. The sole purpose of this document, Burke’s proposal, was to persuade the GB leaders to delicately seek reconciliation with America so that they wouldn’t seek entire freedom from the British government.
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