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'''American conservatism''' is a political tradition in the United States that honors the U.S. Constitution, the Founding Fathers, and Christianity. “What is conservatism?” Abraham Lincoln asked in his Cooper Union address. “Is it not preference for the old and tried, over the new and untried?” The modern movement can be traced to Edmund Burke, a British politician who articulated conservative philosophy in ''Reflections on the Revolution in France'' (1790). Burke was a Whig and a supporter the American Revolution. Thus his political position was to the left of the Tories, who supported royal authority and opposed the revolution. Liberals identify conservatism with right-wing views. As this example shows, conservatism is not necessarily the most right-wing position in the political spectrum.
'''American conservatism''' is a political tradition in the United States that honors the U.S. Constitution, the Founding Fathers, and Christianity. Various definitions exist. “What is conservatism?” Abraham Lincoln asked in his Cooper Union address. “Is it not preference for the old and tried, over the new and untried?” In ''The Devil's Dictionary'' (1906), American writer Ambrose Bierce explains that a conservative is, “a statesman who is enamored of existing evils, as distinguished from the Liberal, who wishes to replace them with others.” Conservatives believe that government should act to support existing ways of life; They oppose social engineering programs proposed by liberals and radicals.
Burke was read by the first generation of American conservatives, including Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, and John Randolph.
The modern conservative movement can be traced to Edmund Burke, a British politician who articulated the philosophy in ''Reflections on the Revolution in France'' (1790). Thus conservative ideology originated in opposition to the rationalistic social reforms of the French Revolution. Burke was a Whig and a supporter the American Revolution. His political position was to the left of the Tories, who supported royal authority and opposed the revolution. Liberals identify conservatism with right-wing views. But as this example shows, conservatives are not necessarily the most right-wing group on the political spectrum. According to Burke, "change is the means of our preservation." So the idea that conservatives oppose all change is another liberal caricature.
Burke was read by the first generation of American conservatives, including Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, and John Randolph. Historian Russell Kirk identifies the Citizen Genêt affair of 1793 as the first occasion when American liberals and conservatives squared off. The ideological struggle between Republicans and Federalists ended with the French Revolution. In the nineteenth century, sectional disputes generally overshadowed ideological ones.
The word "conservative" is from ''Le Conservateur'', the name of an ultraroyalist French periodical founded by Chateaubriand in 1818. In the early 1830s, the word was adopted as a self-description by the Tories in Britain and later by John Calhoun in the U.S.
The split between Democrats and Republicans originated in the 1850s over the issue of slavery. Once the slavery issue was resolved, these because became sectional labels, with the Democrats representing the South, and the Republicans representing the North.
The rise labor unions in the late the nineteenth century led to renewed ideological struggle. With the Pullman strike of 1894, the nation was again split into liberal and conservative camps. In the 1896 presidential election, William Jennings Bryan led a "populist" takeover of the previously conservative Democratic Party. Conservatives, meanwhile, fled to the Republican Party to support William McKinley, the gold standard, and business.
==References==
*Kirk, Russell, ''The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Elliot''
[[Category:Conservatism]]
[[Category:Conservatism]]