Political Participation in the Nineteenth-Century Atlantic World

Abstract

Political participation in the 19th-century Atlantic world is related to a process that encompasses the development of political consciousness and practices among peoples in Europe and America. European and American political historiographies of the 19th century have used different concepts to characterize processes leading to the political participation of the masses. In the United States, the concept has been described as the era of “democratization”; in Europe, scholars described it as a “politicization” process, whereas Latin America has long been considered apart from these expressions of “modernity.” These different characterizations all encompass the study of the expansion of suffrage rights and the constitution of party politics, but they also include the development of “public spheres” through sociability structures and associations, the development of the press, and the expression of civic cultures through demonstrations and collective mobilizations. First, the Atlantic dimension of these phenomena includes the comparison among the evolutions of political systems, in which similar trends—development of political parties, debates on the expansion of the right of suffrage, and development of education and information—led to different results, in a transatlantic perspective. The founding influence of Alexis de Tocqueville’s analysis is still perceptible and discussed in this field. Beyond assessing the level of democracy and modernity of political practices of each society, the examination of common patterns in public life and civil society offers important insights into the development of political consciousness, through sociability structures as well as conflicting processes. Next, the Atlantic perspective also suggests the reading of 19th-century revolutionary episodes in the Caribbean, Latin America, and Europe as opportunities for direct involvement in political action with a global impact on the Atlantic world. Finally, structural transformations of 19th-century societies sharpened the issue of political participation for those not included in white men’s democracy—whether because of their race, gender, class, or ethnicity—an issue that affected the Atlantic space as a whole and challenged its stability.