''Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents'' is a political pamphlet by the Irish politician and philosopher
Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke (; 12 January NS.html"_;"title="New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">NS">New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">NS/nowiki>_1729_–_9_July_1797)_was_an_NS.html"_;"title="New_Style.html"_;"title="/nowiki>New_Style">N ...
, first published on 23 April 1770.
The subject is the
nepotism of
King George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...
and the influence of the Court on the
House of Commons of Great Britain.
The essay was influential in defining
political parties and their roles within government.
In it, Burke argued that parties are "bod
esof men united for promoting by their joint endeavours the national interest upon some particular principle in which they are all agreed".
References
External links
* , from the 3rd edition of 1770
The essay in ''The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. I'' (of 12)
Works by Edmund Burke
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