Edmund Burke, an 18th-century Anglo-Irish statesman who opposed the French Revolution but supported the American Revolution, is credited as one of the forefathers of conservative thought in the 1790s along with Savoyard statesman Joseph de Maistre. The first established use of the term in a political context originated in 1818 with François-René de Chateaubriand during the period of Bourbon Restoration that sought to roll back the policies of the French Revolution and establish social order.
The Independent Women's Forum (IWF) is an Americanconservative, non-profit, non-partisan research and educational institution focused on domestic and foreign policy issues of concern to women. In 2006, the group whose ideology is economic conservative, had 20,337 members and a budget of $1.05 million. The group advocates "equity feminism," a term first used by IWF author Christina Hoff Sommers to distinguish conservative feminism from what she refers to as "gender feminism," which she claims opposes gender roles as well as patriarchy. According to Sommers, the gender feminist view is "the prevailing ideology among contemporary feminist philosophers and leaders" and "thrives on the myth that American women are the oppressed 'second sex.'" Sommers' equity feminism has been described as anti-feminist by critics. As the organization's slogan—"All Issues are Women's Issues"—suggests, IWF members seek to participate in policy discussions not only about issues commonly referred to as "women's rights," but also about such topics as national defense and foreign policy. According to its mission statement, IWF "builds greater respect for limited government, equality under the law, property rights, free markets, strong families, and a powerful and effective national defense and foreign policy."
Now let us look at the ballot. We are told that this is an innovation, an unjust and an un-English measure. Much, I confess, is to be said on both sides, and I have not formed my opinion without deliberation, and I can see in the great constitution of my country a glorious and admirable structure, to which I would fain add two wings. Under the old system of representation I should not have thought ballot necessary,
because that system was anomalous, and ballot could be of little use in a borough that had no electors. But if you will change, if you will give a constituency to every town returning members to Parliament, and if you will give to that constituency the legitimate right which the constitution contemplates, and which is a freeman's claim, you must add to the elective franchise vote by ballot. My gallant opponent, the breath of whose overpowering and convincing eloquence still hovers about the atmosphere of Wycombe, paused long before he indulged in the tirade which lately obtained so much notoriety through the medium of the 'Times' newspaper, I say to the son of the Prime Minister, that if the Whig ministry had not altered the representative system of the country, we should not have called for ballot ; but I now say, that in proportion as the electors increase in number, so does the necessity for the ballot. I am a Conservative to preserve all that is good in our constitution, a Radical to remove all that is bad. I seek to preserve property and to respect order, and I equally decry the appeal to the passions of the many or the prejudices of the few. I alike detest the despotism of an oligarchy and the pre-eminence of a mob. I shall ever seek to confer the greatest happiness upon the greatest numbers, and I conscientiously believe that in advocating triennial Parliaments and vote by ballot, I am labouring to promote this desirable end. As a statesman I should say that it is impossible to refuse popular demands well matured and energetically supported. If so, let the people be fitted to discharge the functions reposed in them ; and, as the means to this great end, I would unflinchingly advocate the repeal of the taxes on knowledge, because, though we admire and enjoy the liberty of the press, yet we feel its tyranny. Now, taxed as it is, it requires a large capital to carry on a newspaper, and its interests once established by a large circle of readers, and by an immense supply of advertisements, it bids defiance to the small capitalists who would embark in an untaxed competition, but are now overwhelmed by the oppressive impost laid on by Government.
— Benjamin Disraeli, speech at High Wycombe, England (27 November 1832)
The Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 is a United States law prohibiting a form of late-term abortion that the Act calls "partial-birth abortion", often referred to in medical literature as intact dilation and extraction. Under this law, "Any physician who, in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, knowingly performs a partial-birth abortion and thereby kills a human fetus shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both." The law was enacted in 2003, and in 2007 its constitutionality was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, in the case of Gonzales v. Carhart. On November 5, 2003, after being passed by both the House and the Senate, the bill was signed by President George W. Bush to become law.
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