Why did Edmund Burke believe widespread colonial resistance showed that Britain had governed badly?

Edmund Burke argued that widespread colonial resistance was a clear indicator of serious misgovernment by Britain. He believed that British policy toward the American colonies had become imprudent, inconsistent, and overly reliant on legalistic, intransigent assertions of imperial rights.1

For Burke, authority could only be successfully exercised if it respected the temper and circumstances of those subject to it; otherwise, a collision between power and opinion was inevitable. He maintained that it was absurd to treat the universal disobedience of an entire people as merely criminal, as such a revolt inherently signaled that the governing power had failed in its duties.1

Instead of relying on coercion and repression, which he strongly opposed, Burke advocated for a pragmatic policy that considered utility, moral principle, and the specific realities of the colonies. He believed that government should function as a cooperative, mutually restraining relationship between rulers and subjects, and he urged Parliament to adopt a conciliatory attitude to restore the colonies' confidence in imperial authority.1