Suffrage and Electoral Practices in Nineteenth-Century Latin America

Abstract Nineteenth-century Latin America was part of the political transformation in the “age of revolution.” Faced with the problem of how to create, validate, and reproduce legitimate power and political authority based on popular sovereignty, the former colonies resorted to the available options: the constitutional monarchy and the republic. Brazil remained monarchical until 1889, while Spanish Americans followed the republican way. There was no single republican model, and the label applied to very different actual regimes. This diversity notwithstanding, the problems faced by the new polities were often similar. Elections happened, and they were politically consequential. They were the only mechanism to select the few carrying the representation of the many, to embody the national will, and to exercise political authority. They were a crucial instance for the “sovereign people,” as the right to choose and to be chosen constituted the core of political rights enjoyed by the citizens.