Political Science 228                                                                                          Dr. Schaefer

BURKE, REFLECTIONS ON THE REVOLUTION IN FRANCE: OUTLINE
(Page references to the Hackett edition)

Pp. 3-12: Introduction: critique of posture of Revolution Society

Pp. 12-33: English institutions

 12-29: Refutation of 3 claims made about the rights of the English people 
        under their country's constitution asserted by the "Revolution Society":

  12-24: Right "to choose our own governors"
  24-27: Right "to cashier them for misconduct"
  27-29: Right "to frame government for ourselves"

 29-33: Proper mode of reform: link to "ancient institutions"
 
Pp. 33-73: French actions contrasted with English policy

  35-38: Composition of Assembly
  38-59: Proper criteria of just government
  59-73: Horrors perpetrated by the Revolution
 
Pp. 73-90: English institutions/ popular character

  73-79: People's conservatism, attachment to inherited institutions
  79-90: Importance of religion

Pp. 90-216: Critique of policies of the Revolution

  90-108: Critique of confiscation of Church property
  108-22: Defense of old French regime, especially the nobility; aims to 
          show the regime was susceptible of reform without revolution
  122-44: Defense of clergy under old regime
          (139ff.: How Church might have been used as instrument of reform, 
           rather than being destroyed).
  144-51: Proper method of political reform, vs. the French revolutionaries' way

  151-216: Examination of institutions established by the Revolutionaries

    151-67: Legislative assembly
    167-202: 3 kinds of "cement" of the new regime:

            167-72: Confiscations/ compulsory paper currency
            172-3: Dominance of Paris over the nation
 
              [173-84: what's lacking/ defective in governmental institutions established by the                    Assembly:

                A senate (174)
                An adequate executive (174-80)
                An independent judiciary guided by settled law, and having
                 authority over governmental officials themselves (180-84)]

           184-202: Army

    202-16: Revenue/ finance

Pp. 216-18: Conclusion