Samuel Johnson's politics

Samuel Johnson, an 18th century English author, wrote dozens of essays that defined his views on the politics of his time.

Political writings

Johnson was known as either a staunch Tory or was thought not to be active within politics; his political writings were subsequently disregarded and neglected. Part of this is to blame on Boswell's "Life of Samuel Johnson". Boswell did not meet Johnson until later in life, and he was unable to discuss how politics affected Johnson during his early years. Two periods, Walpole's control over British Parliament and the Seven Year's war, were Johnson's most active periods and are the source for much of his early writings. Although Boswell was present with Johnson during the 1770s and describes four major pamphlets written by Johnson, he neglects to discuss them because he is more interested in their travels to Scotland. This is compounded by the fact that Boswell held an opinion contradictory to two of these pamphlets, "The False Alarm" and "Taxation No Tyranny", and so attacks Johnson's views in his biography. [Greene 2000 p. xxi]

Boswell was not the only reason why Johnson was disregarded as a political thinker; Macaulay tried to promote the believe that Johnson's political thoughts were nonsensical and were the writings of a bigot. [Greene 2000 p. xxii] However, Macaulay was also a Whig, and the one who established the philosophical view that Whigs and Tories were polar opposites, a view that Johnson did not hold. [Greene 2000 p. xx] Johnson views on politics constantly changed through his life, and early on he admitted to sympathies for the Jacobite cause but, by the reign of George III, he came to accept the Hanoverian Succession. [Harvnb|Bate|1977|p=537] It was Boswell who gave people the impression that Johnson was an "arch-conservative", and it was Boswell, more than anyone else, who determined how Johnson would be seen by people years later. [Harvnb|Boswell|1986|p=365]

Minor pamphlets

False Alarm

In 1770 he produced "The False Alarm", a political pamphlet attacking John Wilkes. [Harvnb|Bate|1977|p=443]

Thoughts Respecting Falkland's Islands

n 1771, his "Thoughts on the Late Transactions Respecting Falkland's Islands" cautioned against war with Spain. [Harvnb|Bate|1977|p=445]

The Patriot

In 1774 he printed "The Patriot", a critique of what he viewed as false patriotism. On the evening of 7 April 1775, he made the famous statement, "Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel." [Harvnb|Boswell|1996|p=182] This line was not, as widely believed, about patriotism in general, but the false use of the term "patriotism" by John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute (the patriot-minister) and his supporters; Johnson opposed "self-professed Patriots" in general, but valued what he considered "true" patriotism.Harvnb|Griffin|2005|p=21]

Taxation No Tyranny

The last of these pamphlets, "Taxation No Tyranny" (1775), was a defence of the Coercive Acts and a response to the Declaration of Rights of the First Continental Congress of America, which protested against taxation without representation. [Harvnb|Bate|1977|p=446] Johnson argued that in emigrating to America, colonists had "voluntarily resigned the power of voting", but they still had "virtual representation" in Parliament. In a parody of the Declaration of Rights, Johnson suggested that the Americans had no more right to govern themselves than the Cornish people. If the Americans wanted to participate in Parliament, said Johnson, they could move to England and purchase an estate. [Harvnb|Ammerman|1974|p=13] Johnson denounced English supporters of America as "traitors to this country", and hoped that the matter would be settled without bloodshed, but that it would end with "English superiority and American obedience". [Harvnb|Demaria|1994|pp=252–256]

Views

Johnson was a devout, conservative Anglican and believed in a unity between High Church and state. [Bate Achievement p. 36] Although Johnson respected John Milton's poetry, he could not tolerate Milton's Puritan and Republican beliefs. [Harvnb|Bate|1977|p=537]

Colonialism

Johnson had advocated that the English and the French were just "two robbers" who were stealing land from the natives, and that neither deserved to live there. [Harvnb|Bate|1977|p=328] After the signing of the 1783 Peace of Paris treaties, marking the colonists' defeat of the English, Johnson was "deeply disturbed" with the "state of this kingdom". [Harvnb|Griffin|2005|p=15]

cotland

Although Boswell, a Scotsman, was a close companion and friend to Johnson during many important times of his life, Johnson, like many of his fellow Englishmen, had a reputation for depising Scotland and its people. Even during their journey together through Scotland, Johnson "exhibited prejudice and a narrow nationalism". [Harvnb|Rogers|1995|p=192] Hester Thrale, in summarising Johnson's nationalistic views and his anti-Scottish prejudice, said, "We all know how well he loved to abuse the Scotch, & indeed to be abused by them in return". [Harvnb|Piozzi|1951|p=165]

On 6 August 1773, eleven years after first meeting Boswell, Johnson set out to visit his friend in Scotland, to begin "a journey to the western islands of Scotland", as Johnson's 1775 account of their travels would put it. [Harvnb|Bate|1977|p=463] The work was intended to discuss the social problems and struggles that affected the Scottish people, but it also praised many of the unique facets of Scottish society, such as a school in Edinburgh for the deaf and dumb. [Harvnb|Bate|1977|p=471]

lavery

He was an opponent of slavery, and once proposed a toast to the "next rebellion of the negroes in the West Indies". He had a black manservant, Francis Barber (Frank), whom Johnson made his heir. [Boswell Aetat. 75 transcribes Johnson's will]

Notes

References

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