Democracy by Petition

Popular Politics in Transformation, 1790-1870

By: Daniel Carpenter

Narrated by: Eric Michael Summerer

Known as the age of democracy, the 19th century witnessed the extension of the franchise and the rise of party politics. As Daniel Carpenter shows, however, democracy in America emerged not merely through elections and parties, but through the transformation of an ancient political tool: the petition. A statement of grievance accompanied by a list of signatures, the petition afforded women and men excluded from formal politics the chance to make their voices heard and to reshape the landscape of political possibility.

Democracy by Petition traces the explosion and expansion of petitioning across the North American continent. Indigenous tribes in Canada, free Blacks from Boston to the British West Indies, Irish canal workers in Indiana, and Hispanic settlers in territorial New Mexico all used petitions to make claims on those in power. Petitions facilitated the extension of suffrage, the decline of feudal land tenure, and advances in liberty for women, African Americans, and Indigenous peoples. Even where petitioners failed in their immediate aims, their campaigns advanced democracy by setting agendas, recruiting people into political causes, and fostering aspirations of equality.

The coming of democracy in America owes much to the unprecedented energy with which the petition was employed in the antebellum period.

©2021 The President and Fellows of Harvard College (P)2021 Tantor

loved it

Great narration! Starting with the history of petitions, and it's place in English parliament, the narrator describes petitions for the international bibliophile.