Pros And Cons Of Conservatism

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The nineteenth century was a tumultuous time filled with imbalanced class systems as well as many different political and intellectual views. The three major ideologies during this time were conservatism, liberalism, and nationalism – each consisting of their own types of people, ideas and practices behind them. Conservatism, which consisted of upper class citizens, traditionally held the most power during this time and was well advantaged. During this time there were also waves of revolutions around the world which created new and radical ideas that opposed the traditional views of conservatism. Liberalism, created by the middle class, was an opposition of conservatism that demanded equal rights and liberties for all. Nationalism, the last ideology, was a means of self-identification and acknowledgment of community by the people of a sovereignty who wanted a clearly defined “nation” and means of autonomy.
The first and most traditional ideology was conservatism. Like the name assumes, conservatism consisted of traditional upper class aristocrats who accepted little change and were very
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They strongly believed that political order should be held by those with wealth, power, and status as inherited through their families and nobility. Additionally, power should be kept within those aristocratic elites throughout generations in order to preserve the monarchy and keep traditional institutions. Edmund Burke, in his Reflections on the Revolution in France, wrote that the overthrowing a government is extremely dangerous and should be avoided. They strongly disagreed with the idea of change and the shifting of power to non-aristocratic people. There was also the strong belief in the importance of religion. These dominant ideas from the conservatives strongly conflicted with the fundamental ideas of other political ideologies such as nationalism and