Kevin J. Suess Normal Community High School

One hundred percent voter turnout. No, that was not the number of people who turned out for the most recent election in the United States but the number of supposed people who turned out to reelect Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Although American voter turnout numbers have been around 50 percent in recent elections, American voter turnout was closer to Saddam's supposed 100 percent during the I 9th century. In Glenn C. Altschuler and Stuart M. Blumin's Rude Republic: Americans and Their Politics in the Nineteenth Century, voter behavior is examined during this time period.

In this study of American political history, Altschuler and Blumin critique the idea that the 19th century was a "golden age" of American political involvement. They assert that unlike the commonly held belief that this era was a time when Americans were heavily involved in local governmental affairs and passionate about the issues that were relevant to politics and government, Americans were quite the opposite, being highly uninterested and uninformed about politics. In fact, they often voted for a variety of other, less noble reasons.

Altschuler and Blumin review a variety of resources to deconstruct the "golden age" idea of high political involvement to create a more realistic view of voter turnout during the 19th century. They inspected novels, newspapers, and diaries from this time period and concluded that even though voters were turning out in large numbers, they often knew little about the people they were electing. Additionally, many voters often voted because of pressure that was exerted by party activists who would not stand for voter apathy. In worst case scenarios, people were offered money to vote in certain elections. Altschuler and Blumin also discovered that instead of a large number of Americans being involved in party politics, there was small number of very active organizers. In reality, this time period had high numbers of people voting, but the people were no more informed than today's voters in America.

This book provides great insight into the involvement of Americans in politics during the 19th century. Although voters were turning out in high numbers, they were really lacking the political engagement that so many historians believe they possessed. A more thorough examination of sources, such as diaries from a larger sample of people, as well as organizing data graphically in a chart, may provide more detailed information for readers about who was critically engaged in politics during this time. Overall, the Rude Republic serves as not only a tool to better understand voter turnout in the 19th century but also as a potential indicator for how future scholars may seek to uncover the relationship of Iraq's 100 percent voter turnout.

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