Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents

Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents is a political pamphlet by the Irish politician and philosopher Edmund Burke, first published on 23 April 1770.^[1] The subject is the nepotism of King George III and the influence of the Court on the House of Commons of Great Britain.^[2] The essay was influential in defining political parties and their roles within government.^[3] In it, Burke argued that parties are "bod[ies] of men united for promoting by their joint endeavours the national interest upon some particular principle in which they are all agreed. . . . When bad men combine, the good must associate."^[3]