When Edmund Burke wrote “Reflections on the Revolution in France,” France had overturned its monarchy only 13 years after the North American colonies declared the establishment of the United States, rejecting British royal rule. Burke joined many other English people who feared that the revolutionary currents would sweep Britain as well. Burke pointed out many ways in which the French revolutionaries had erred. One of the key themes he develops is the unsuitability of republicanism as a basis for governance. The other side of this thematic coin is his support for the British monarchy, especially the constitutional monarchy as the most desirable system. One reason he criticized the French revolutionaries was that they attacked the church as well as the secular elites. A third theme he develops is the intrinsic connection between church and state, the legitimacy of both being incorporated in the monarch.

Burke’s advocacy of reform over revolution was clearly connected with the threats to the British way of life that emanated from the success of the American Revolution. Britain continued to hold considerable territory in its American colonies; although they were greatly reduced by the removal of the new United States, vast amounts of land still comprised the Canadian territories. All three themes just mentioned connect to the fragile state of political affairs in Canada at the turn of the eighteenth century. The French political situation had greatly increased the threat to British control. The potential revolutionaries in Canada now had two possible models to emulate, and if the French provinces became independent as a result of the French revolution, many feared that the British provinces would follow suit.