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201 7 European Interlude 1850–1900 and the American Civil War European history from 1850 to 1900 may be divided arbitrarily into two periods concerning the influence of American constitutionalism. During the first period, 1848 to 1865, Europe was coping with the effects of two momentous events: the 1848 revolutions and the American Civil War. In the second period, from about 1860 to 1900 (with some overlap), Europe witnessed a great burst of nationalism.1 Nationalist movements precipitated by the French Revolution, Napoleon’s domination of Europe, Metternich’s regimes, and the 1848 European revolutions in the first half of the century resulted in the rise of new nation-states in the second half. Various forms of nation building took place in Italy, Germany, and the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary, while in America the national authority refashioned the country after the defeat of the Confederacy. Democracy and federalism, two major principles of American constitutionalism , were involved directly or indirectly in these developments. At home, democracy was challenged as never before when the Confederate states seceded from the Union and sought to establish a new nation-state based on slavery. Federalism suffered a great setback when the United States, the world’s greatest exemplar of that principle, faced its most serious threat with the South’s secession. Throughout the antebellum period, America’s image abroad as a democracy had been damaged by the South’s insistence on slavery. Slavery in many other parts of the world had already been abolished, most notably in British and French colonies in 1833 and 1848, respectively, and in many Spanish-American republics during the first half of the nineteenth century. Steps also had been taken to abolish serfdom in the Hapsburg possessions in 1848 and in Russia in 1861. The American image thus suffered when compared with these democratic movements for greater human freedom. 202 European Interlude and the American Civil War Despite Tocqueville’s prediction that democracy was the wave of the future, the Civil War between the democratic North and less democratic South showed that the issue was still in doubt. America’s role in the worldwide trend toward democracy, therefore, was of the utmost significance. Throughout the first half of the nineteenth century, the United States was viewed as the spearhead in supporting prodemocratic revolutions. “In all the European insurrections of the century—the Greek revolt in 1821, the French constitutional transformation of 1830, [and] the general European insurrections in 1848 . . . the United States was always the first to extend diplomatic recognition to the new revolutionary regimes.”2 Well aware that democracy was on the rise globally, European rulers made serious concessions in the second half of the nineteenth century. Britain broadened the right to vote in the Second Reform Bill in 1882. France maintained the principle of male suffrage in the Third Republic. Germany in 1867 allowed voting on the basis of universal male suffrage (although Bismarck weakened the practice by disregarding parliament). Universal male suffrage was extended elsewhere: Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Italy all broadened their suffrage before 1900. Right after the turn of the century, Spain, Greece, Bulgaria, and Serbia also introduced universal male suffrage. The dilemma that European rulers faced was how to give in to democratic demands, like the right to vote, but not allow enough to the masses so they could gain political control. Both European liberals and conservatives believed that the future of democracy hung in the balance during the Civil War. Despite slavery in the South during the antebellum period, America had still been identified with the cause of democracy abroad. “The need for a model republic during the nineteenth century had become so pressing that it almost seemed as if the United States would have to be invented if it had not existed,” declared one scholar.3 If the Union were shattered, the results would be devastating at home and abroad. Federalism faced similar problems. In Germany, the Frankfurt parliament had found the idea attractive but unsuited to its situation. Although Switzerland had adopted certain features of American-type federalism, the borrowings were far from complete. In Italy, efforts to establish a federal government after 1848 were abandoned. The Austro-Hungarian Empire with its multiple ethnic groups, moreover, refused to even consider federalism as a possible solution in 1849.4 “The period of the Civil War was the nadir of federalism both within and without the United States.”5 [3.142.171.180] Project MUSE (2024-04-19 04:17 GMT...

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