How Did Edmund Burke Influence Politics

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Edmund Burke was born on January 12, 1729 in Ireland to a prosperous family. He was raised as an Anglican, the faith of his father. Burke was a man that made ripples in the field of politics. His success in politics would not likely have been without the abundant diversity that he was exposed to in early life which included several different religions and some exposure to the needy. Burke’s father urged him to study law . Burke moved from Dublin to London. The fact that Burke lived in more than one place and had been exposed to different lifestyles would greatly influence his political stance. His political stance was one that consisted of a strong belief in the importance of the opinion of the elected representative and not that of the voter. …show more content…

For example, his seeing how the poor lived in Ireland when he was still very young had to have some effect on his political views. Many of Burke’s political views are very strongly tied to his roots in Dublin. If had been born in England, he would not likely have been introduced to the diversity of lifestyles in which he observed in Dublin. Burke brought his political views into action when he gained a seat on parliament in 1765. After receiving news that he would not be nominated for his previous seat in 1774, Burke began to look elsewhere. It was then that some merchants from Bristol nominated him for a seat in parliament. Lord Clare, the previous holder of the seat, would soon withdraw from the polls because of a promised seat on parliament elsewhere which would later open up an important position in the polls. When Burke heard of the chance for a seat from Bristol, he quickly made his way there. When he arrived, he addressed voters with a speech a few days before the end of voting. When polling ended it was announced that Edmund Burke had won the second seat for parliament. He defeated Matthew Brickdale by a margin of only around 200 votes, a very close race as there were only approximately 5,000

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