Redescriptions of 'the people' in the rise of democratic discourse, 1848

In the wake of the revolutions of 1848, the springtime of the peoples, 'the people' emerged as one of the most important concepts and factors in Europe. This is no less true in Denmark, where a radical opposition in Copenhagen and a powerful and well-organized peasant movement emerged on the political scene. This took the so far- dominant liberal opposition by surprise and caused widespread fear for communism, democracy and mob rule among the middle and upper classes. The sudden change of scene did not only challenge existing liberal claims to represent ‘the core of the people’, it also brought with it new conceptualisations of the people across the political spectrum – conceptualisations that were part of broader changes of the social and political vocabulary. Investigating the Danish case of the mid-19th Century, this paper will analyse the concept of the people in its relation to the concept of democracy in the context of the introduction of what many considered to be ‘the masses’ to the political sphere. The years 1848-49 mark a significant turning point in the history of the Danish concept of democracy, as the concept within a few months in the spring of 1848 gained political actuality, hereby becoming a centrally contested concept in the battle for the first Danish constitution of 1849. An imported concept, the claim for democracy came to unite both the radicals in Copenhagen and the peasant movement in 1848. Both of these movements translated, interpreted and applied the concept to the Danish context. The omnipresent claim for democracy necessitated redescriptions of ‘the people’ and I will argue that these two concepts must be read together. Using theoretical and methodological inspiration from the German conceptual history, Begriffsgeschichte, this paper will analyse how new understandings of the people and democracy were interpreted and used by the radicals and the peasant movement with emphasis on the social programmes of these movements. The paper will also address how liberals and conservatives responded to these redescriptions of the concepts. Central to conceptual struggles on the people and democracy were questions on representation. As both liberals and radicals used an inclusive concept of the people, legitimate representation was often perceived of as a matter of accessing ‘the true’ convictions of ‘the real’ people. In contrast, the peasant movement were the first to insist on establishing political parties that were to represent different class interests. Hence, this paper will touch upon understandings of representation as well. Investigating the concepts of the people and democracy in the context of the rise of a new political culture in 1848, this paper will argue how different interpretations of the concept of the people were essential to the Danish importation and interpretation of democracy.