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THE SEARCH FOR DEMOCRACY IN THE WESTERN WORLD DEMOCRACY IN 19TH BRITAIN EUROPEAN REVOLUTION OF 1848 UNIVERSAL MANHOOD SUFFRAGE AND WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE THE AMERICAN STRUGGLE WITHIN THE STRUGGLE FOR DEMOCRACY BRITAIN • IN EARLY 19TH CENTURY BRITAIN VERY FEW PEOPLE HAD THE RIGHT TO VOTE. MEANING THAT THE PEOPLE HAD VIRTUALLY NO VOICE. • DURING THE LATE 18TH CENTURY & EARLY 19TH CENTURY, PRESSURE FOR PARLIAMENTARY REFORM GREW RAPIDLY. • THE ISSUE OF PARLIMENTARY REFORM WOULD REACH A WIDER AUDIENCE, PARTICULARLY AFTER THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. • INFLUENCED BY WORKS OF THOMAS PAINE’S RIGHTS OF MAN, RADICAL REFORMERS DEMANDED THAT ALL MEN BE GIVEN THE RIGHT TO VOTE. • REFORM GROUPS-SHEFFIELD CORRESPONDING SOCIETY & LONDON CORRESPONDING SOCIETY WERE COMMITTED TO UNIVERSAL MANHOOD SUFFRAGE. THE REFORM ACTS • THREE PARLIAMENTARY REFORM ACTS WERE INTRODUCED IN 19TH CENTURY BRITAIN (1832, 1867 & 1884). • PRIME MINISTER LORD GREY SUPPORTED REFORM TO PREVENT THE NECESSITY OF A REVOLUTION AND WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE FIRST ACT IN 1832. • THIS ACT GAVE THE VOTE IN TOWNS ONLY TO MEN WHO OWNED PROPERTY WITH AN ANNUAL VALUE OF 10 POUNDS, WHICH EXCLUDED 6 OUT OF 7 MEN FROM THE VOTING PROCESS. • TORY POLITICIAN LORD DERBY SAID THE SECOND REFORM ACT (1867) AS A “LEAP IN THE DARK”, GIVING TWO OUT OF FIVE ENGLISHMEN THE RIGHT TO VOTE IN 1870. • THE SECOND REFORM ACT GAVE THE RIGHT TO VOTE TO ALL MALE HOUSE OWNERS IN URBAN & RURAL AREAS & ADDED 6 MILLION PEOPLE TO THE VOTING REGISTERS BUT STILL FELL SHORT OF INTRODUCING UNIVERSAL MANHOOD SUFFRAGE. • RADICAL REFORMERS WOULD CONTINUE TO PRESS FOR EXTENSIVE PARLIAMENTARY REFORM THROUGHOUT THE 19TH CENTURY. UNIVERSAL MANHOOD SUFFRAGE & WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE • FOR MANY PEOPLE, 19TH CENTURY REFORM WAS A DISAPPOINTMENT BECAUSE POLITICAL POWER REMAINED IN THE HANDS OF THE ARISTOCRACY. • UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE, WITH VOTING RIGHTS FOR WOMEN (NOT THOSE UNDER 30), DID NOT ARRIVE IN BRITAIN UNTIL FEBRUARY 1918. • BY THE TIME OF THE THIRD REFORM ACT IN 1884, BRITAIN WAS LESS DEMOCRATIC THAN MANY OTHER EUROPEAN COUNTRIES. • THE CHANGES IN BRITAIN BETWEEN 1832 & 1884 WERE IMPORTANT. • ELECTORATE INCREASED SUBSTANTIALLY. • PARLIAMENTARY SEATS WERE REDISTRIBUTED GIVING GREATER WEIGHT TO LARGER CITIES. • THE BALLOT ACT OF 1872 THAT INTRODUCED SECRET BALLOTS & MADE IT MORE DIFFICULT FOR VOTERS TO BE BRIBED OR INTIMIDATED. • BRITAIN, UNLIKE MUCH OF CONTINENTAL EUROPE IN THE 19TH CENTURY MANAGED TO INTRODUCE REFORM WITHOUT REVOLUTION. SECRET BALLOT VOTING THE EUROPEAN REVOLUTION OF 1848 • IN 1846, EUROPE WAS ENDURING A SEVERE FAMINE. • LACK OF GRAIN DROVE UP FOOD AND OTHER PRICES, WHILE WAGES REMAINED STAGNANT, THUS REDUCING CONSUMER DEMAND. • CONSUMERS BOUGHT LESS-PROFITS FELL-INDUSTRIAL JOBS WERE LOST. • ALL OF THESE FACTORS WOULD LEAD TO THE EVENTS OF FEBRUARY 1848 IN FRANCE-THE EUROPEAN REVOLUTION. UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE • MODERATE LIBERALS (LAWYERS, DOCTORS,MERCHANTS) BEGAN PUSHING FOR EXTENSION OF SUFFRAGE THROUGH THEIR BANQUET CAMPAIGN. • ON FEBRUARY 22, 1848 PARIS OFFICIALS CANCELLED THE BANQUET, FEARING PROTESTS. • CITIZENS BEGAN DEMONSTRATING AGAINST THE REPRESSION. • THE NATIONAL GUARD, A CITIZEN MILITIA OF BOURGEOIS PARISIANS DEFECTED FROM KING LOUISPHILIPPE & THE ARMY GARRISON IN PARIS JOINED THE REVOLUTIONARY PROTESTORS AS WELL. • KING LOUIS-PHILIPPE ATTEMPTED REFORM BUT WORKERS REJECTED. • THE KING FLED & DEMONSTRATORS PROCLAIMED THE SECOND REPUBLIC ON FEBRUARY 24TH. CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM OR COMPLETE GOVERNMENT CHANGE • THE OVERTHROW LED TO A WAVE OF PROTESTS THROUGHOUT EAST & CENTRAL EUROPE. • IN MARCH, PROTESTS IN GERMANY LED TO SWIFT REFORMS. • IN AUSTRIA, PEOPLE REVOLTED SETTING UP A CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY. • REVOLTS WERE HAPPENING THROUGHOUT EUROPE. A TURNING POINT IN MODERN HISTORY • THE REVOLUTIONS WHICH WERE DEMOCRATIC IN NATURE, WERE NOT WHAT YOU WOULD CALL SUCCESSFUL. • THEIR AIM WAS TO REMOVE THE OLD FEUDAL SYSTEM & CREATE INDEPENDENT NATIONAL STATES. • THE LACK OF UNITY AMONG THE REVOLUTIONARIES ON THE QUESTION OF FUTURE GOVERNMENTS LED TO THE COLLAPSE IN MOST ALL COUNTRIES; HOWEVER THEY DID ACCOMPLISH SOMETHING: 1. SPREAD OF PARLIMENTARY GOVERNMENTS 2. THE EXTENSION OF MANHOOD SUFFRAGE 3. THE ABOLITION OF MANORIALISM IN CENTRAL EUROPE 4. THE BEGINNINGS OF THE GERMAN & ITALIAN UNIFICATION MOVEMENTS. 5. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF HUNGARY AS AN EQUAL PARTNER WITH AUSTRIA THE REVOLUTIONS OF 1848, THOUGH NOT COMPLETELY TRIUMPHANT IN ESTABLISHING DEMOCRACY IN THE EUROPEAN COUNTRIES DID SERVE AS BUILDING BLOCKS FOR FUTURE GOVERNMENTS. AMERICA’S STRUGGLE WITHIN • BY THE 1830s, A FLOURISHING DEMOCRATIC SYSTEM HAD EMERGED BASED ON POPULAR CONTROL OF LOCAL GOVERNMENTS AND DISTRUSTFUL OF THE FARAWAY NATIONAL STATE. • THE RIGHT TO VOTE BECAME AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF AMERICAN FREEDOM. SUFFRAGE WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE • SUFFRAGE EXPANDED FOR WHITE MEN, IT RETREATED FOR OTHERS. • IT LARGELY EXCLUDED WOMEN. • IN SOME STATES WOMEN WHO MET THE PROPERTY QUALIFICATION ENJOYED THE SUFFRAGE IN NEW JERSEY BEGINNING IN 1776, BUT IT WAS TAKEN AWAY IN 1807. LEADERS OF THE MOVEMENT FOR WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE, SUCH AS SUSAN B. ANTHONY AND ELIZABETH CADY STANTON, AROSE OUT OF THE ABOLITIONIST MOVEMENT. “THE BEST PROTECTION ANY WOMAN CAN HAVE IS COURAGE.” ELIZABETH CADY STANTON THE ABOLITIONISTS MOVEMENT • THE ABOLITIONIST MOVEMENT ALSO INSPIRED OTHER GROUPS, ESPECIALLY WOMEN, TO STAKE THEIR OWN CLAIMS TO GREATER FREEDOM IN THE YOUNG REPUBLIC. • THE LONG CONTEST OVER SLAVERY GAVE NEW MEANING TO PERSONAL LIBERTY, POLITICAL COMMUNITY & THE RIGHTS ATTACHED TO AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP. • THE STRUGGLE BY THE ABOLITIONISTS, THE SLAVES, & FREE BLACKS THEMSELVES— REINVIGORATED THE NOTION OF FREEDOM AS A UNIVERSAL BIRTHRIGHT, A TRULY HUMAN IDEAL. • THE ANTISLAVERY CRUSADE INSISTED ON THE “AMERICANESS" OF BOTH ENSLAVED & FREE BLACKS & REPUDIATED NOT ONLY SLAVERY BUT THE RACIAL BOUNDARIES THAT CONFINED FREE BLACKS TO SECOND-CLASS STATUS. THE ABOLITIONISTS PRINCLIPLES OF BIRTHRIGHT, CITIZENSHIP & EQUAL PROTECTION OF THE LAW WITHOUT REGARD TO RACE WERE WRITTEN INTO THE CONSTITUTION—AN ATTEMPT TO STRIP AMERICAN FREEDOM OF ITS IDENTIFICATION WITH WHITENESS. GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE, AND FOR THE PEOPLE (ABRAHAM LINCOLN) • WHO CONSTITUES THE PEOPLE IN THIS QUOTE? • THE REVOLUTION HAD GIVEN BIRTH TO A REPUBLIC RHETORICALLY FOUNDED ON LIBERTY BUT RESTING ECONOMICALLY IN LARGE MEASURE ON SLAVERY. • SLAVERY HAD BEEN CENTRAL TO COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT, AND SLAVERY HELPED TO DEFINE AMERICAN UNDERSTANDING OF FREEDOM IN THE COLONIAL ERA AND THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. SUFFRAGE AFRICAN-AMERICANS • IN PENNSYLVANIA, AFRICAN AMERICAN MEN SAW THEMSELVES STRIPPED OF THE RIGHT TO VOTE WHEN A NEW STATE CONSTITUTION WAS ADOPTED IN 1838. • IN NEW YORK STATE, THE SAME CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF 1821 THAT ELIMINATED PROPERTY QUALIFICATIONS FOR WHITE MEN IMPOSED SO HIGH A QUALIFICATION FOR AFRICAN-AMERICAN MEN THAT ALMOST ALL WERE STRIPPED OF THE FRANCHISE. OVERALL, FOR AMERICAN MEN, RACE REPLACED CLASS AS THE DIVIDING LINE BETWEEN THOSE WHO COULD VOTE AND THOSE WHO COULD NOT. THE FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT, PASSED IN 1869 WOULD ABOLISH THIS PREJUDICE. POST- CIVIL WAR • AFTER THE CIVIL WAR, CONGRESS (INCLUDING RADICAL REPUBLICANS) WHO HAD SUPPORTED WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE) MOVED TO ENFRANCHISE AFRICAN-AMERICAN MEN, BUT NOT WOMEN, WHITE OR AFRICAN-AMERICAN, MANY WOMEN’S SUFFRAGISTS CONCLUDED THAT WOMEN COULD NOT PLACE THEIR TRUST IN MALE-DOMINATED POLITICAL MOVEMENTS. • THE WOMEN, STANTON & ANTHONY NOW INSISTED, MUST FORM THEIR OWN ORGANIZATIONS TO PRESS THE CASE FOR EQUAL RIGHTS. • IT WOULD TAKE ANOTHER HALF CENTURY OF STRUGGLE FOR WOMEN TO WIN THE RIGHT TO VOTE. THE THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT • THE THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION DECLAFRED THAT “NEITHER SLAVERY OR INVOLUNTARY SERVITUDE, EXCEPT AS A PUNISHMENT FOR CRIME WHEREOF THE PARTY SHALL HAVE BEEN DULY CONVICTED, SHALL EXIST WITHIN THE UNITED STATES, OR ANY PLACE SUBJECT TO THEIR JURISDICTION." FORMALLY ABOLISHING SLAVERY IN THE U.S., THE 13TH AMENDMENT WAS PASSED BY THE CONGRESS ON JANUARY 31, 1865, & RATIFIED BY THE STATES ON DECEMBER 6, 1865. THE FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT THE FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT MADE THE CONSTITUTION WHAT IT HAD NEVER BEEN BEFORE—A VEHICLE THROUGH WHICH AGGRIEVED GROUPS CAN TAKE THEIR CLAIMS THAT THEY LACK EQUALITY & FREEDOM TO COURT. RECONSTRUCTION FAILED TO SECURE AFRICAN-AMERICAN FREEDOM & WAS FOLLOWED BY A LONG PERIOD OF INEQUALITY FOR AFRICAN-AMERICANS. THE FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT The 15th Amendment to the Constitution granted African American men the right to vote by declaring that the "right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." Although ratified on February 3, 1870, the promise of the 15th Amendment would not be fully realized for almost a century.