Civic Continuities in an Age of Revolutionary Change, c.1750–1850: Europe and the Americas

Description

This open access book explores the role of continuity in political processes and practices during the Age of Revolutions. It argues that the changes that took place in the years around 1800 were enabled by different types of continuities across Europe and in the Americas. With historians of modernity tending to emphasise the rise of the new, scholarship has leaned towards an assumption that existing modes of action, thought and practice simply became extinct, irrelevant or at least subordinate to new modes. In contrast, this collection examines continuities between early modern and modern political cultures and organization in Europe and the Americas. Shifting the focus from political modernization, the authors examine the continued relevance of older, often local, practices in (post)revolutionary politics. By doing so, they aim to highlight the role of local political traditions and practices in forging and enabling political change. The book argues that while political change was in fact at the centre of both the old and new polities that emerged in the Age of Revolutions, it coexisted with, and was indeed enabled by, continuities at other levels. Contents List of Contributors 1 Civic Continuities in an Age of Revolutionary Change: Europe and the Americas, c.1750–1850 Introduction ‘Residual Powers’ The Power of Practice Experiencing and Domesticating Change Part I Residual Powers 2 Distance and Proximity. Parliamentary Representation and the Persistence of Local Ties in Britain, France and the Netherlands, C. 1780s–1850 Edmund Burke: (In)dependence of the MP French Representatives: Austere Independence (In Theory) and Mutual Deference (In Practice) Local Self-Government, Corruption and Representation in Britain The Local Dimension of Politics: Parochialism, Oligarchy, Private Interestand Democracy Public vs. Private Law and Interest in the Netherlands Conclusion 3 Post-revolutionary France: The Ultimate Test Case? Local Politics Sociability Pays. The Politics of Place Repertoires of Contention 4 Regional Resilience in the Age of Revolutions: The Persistence of the Dutch Provinces, 1748–1848 Concordia Res Parvae Crescunt The One and Indivisible Republic Unity or Diversity? The Many-Faced Nation The Old Times Will Revive Conclusion 5 Order, War and Religion: The Chilean Republic Between Tradition and Change The Possibility of the Republic Order Religion War Rituals Concluding Remarks Part II The Power of Practice 6 The ‘Sanction of Precedent’: Publishers and Political Dissent in Central Europe During the Age of Revolution Censorship and the Repertoire of Circumvention A Decentralized Publishing Landscape Bookshops and Local Civic Practice Conclusion 7 Maintaining Order in Revolutionary Times—The Political Practices of a Mercantile Elite in the Rhineland, 1770–1830 Ruling and Squabbling in Stable Times Looking for Stability: The Wupper Valley During the Revolutionary Wars Rupture Above, Stability on the Ground—The Wupper Valley as French Territory 1806–1813 The Continuous Effects of Political Tradition: The Wupper Valley as Part of Prussia The Maintenance of Order in Ever-Changing Times 8 Indigenous Citizens and Black Republicans: Continuities and Evolutions of Subalterns’ Political Visions and Repertoires in Post-independence Colombia and Mexico 9 Restoring the Moral Order of the Community: The Symbolic Repertoire of Collective Action in the Dutch Age of Revolutions The Narrative of the Dutch Revolution The Patriot Era The Orangist Restoration and the Batavian Revolution Blurred Boundaries Conclusion Part III Experiencing and Domesticating Change 10 The Experience of ‘Reform’ in English Local Governance in the Era of the ‘Reform Ministry’ (1830–1841) The ‘Age of Reform’ Reforming English Local Governance Reform Remembered An Experiential Perspective 11 ‘The Free Action of the Collective Power of Individuals’: Vernacular Democracy and the Sovereign People From Nothing to Start, into Being Declaring Interdependence We the People Mobs in Myriad 12 The Spirit of the Belltower: Chronicling Urban Time in an Age of Revolution Accelerated Time and the Benefits of Hindsight Domesticating the New Public Space and Local Change Chronicling Change The Return of the Golden Age Conclusion Bibliography Index