The Age of Classical Electoral Governance

Abstract This chapter compares the revolutionary elections studied in this volume—hotly contested elections with far-reaching consequences in the Americas during the nineteenth century—to assess the classical theory of electoral governance. Under this approach, common to all eighteenth and nineteenth century constitutions, executives organized elections and legislatures certified their results. Even when controlling for economic and social conditions, this chapter finds that divided government—when the party that holds the presidency differs from those that control the legislature—allowed the classical approach to produce results that stabilized nineteenth century constitutional systems. In contrast, unified government neutralized the legislature’s ability to check the executive. These findings suggest that institutions—like the bundle that comprise the classical theory of electoral governance—unwittingly reinforced the monopolization of power that sank many nineteenth century republican experiments in the Americas.