Edmund Burke Quotes
The people are the masters.
See Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Grover Cleveland for a similar view.
Edmund Burke, 1729-1797, Irish Orator & Member of the British Parliament, Debate, House of Commons, February 11, 1780
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
The government relationship to people phrase, although probably Lincoln's most famous, was not totally original. John Adams came close in a 1774 proclamation. As did John Marshall in his McCulloch v. Maryland decision. Daniel Webster's Speech on Foot's Resolution was very close. as was Theodore Parker in 1850 {629578}. There was also Thomas Cooper in 1795. But the earliest appears to be John Wycliffe in 1382 {567292}. It is not known with which of these Lincoln was familiar.
For that, the Church burned him at the stake. Note the phraseology and compare it to Gettysburg Address {458852}. It is not known whether Lincoln was aware of this quotation or others that used similar wording.
Eldest son of Robert Walpole
Some people think that this quotation was partially copied from Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. However, he gave this speech more than a decade earlier. Lincoln might have been familiar with it. His statue is in the U. S. Capitol.
The view was considered so radical at the time that Fox's name was erased from the Privy Council.
Edmund Burke was an Irish statesman, economist, and philosopher. Born in Dublin, Burke served as a member of parliament (MP) between 1766 and 1794 in the House of Commons of Great Britain with the Whig Party after moving to London in 1750.
