The Public Sphere

The Public Sphere

So many definitions are there of the public sphere. One can

range from a scale as small as a township to a scale as large as a

national government. In the earlier post-revolutionary days of the

United States, just what the United States actually was and what it

meant were still being defined. Now that the revolution was over,

words such as nationalism and patriotism must be redefined. Many

politicians, political groups, and the general public all desired to have

a say in what they believed to be the true nature of this newly formed

country. The best way to do this, of course, is in a public format

where people could listen to the opinions of others, or retort and give

opinions of their own. Parades or processions were an effective way

of a public showing of opinion; they were highly publicized and very

visible. Now, however, they were newer, more advanced ways that

ones ideas could get around to many more people than before. The

printing press was perhaps the greatest manner in which ideas

spread. Events such as the aforementioned parades or processions

could now be reported on, as could public debates between candidates

standing for office, social dinners and the toasts which were proposed,

pamphlets could be printed, and an abundance of other social

happenings. The question of exactly how these parades and print

culture affect American’s views of nationalism yet remains. However,

what is for certain is that these two aspects of early,

post-revolutionary America greatly advanced the bringing forth of

political ideas into the public sphere.

What print actually accomplished was the spreading of ideas to

a greater number of people. Th...

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... politically in different parts of the

country not just their own, or what was said at a toast. The rise of

print culture came at a time when the country truly needed it, at its

birth. Since the country was still in its infant stages, everything was

just being formed such as policy, laws, and governmental structure.

These are things that a citizen of a newly formed country needs to be

aware and well informed of and print helped make that possible.

However, it was only made possible because everything that

happened was now done is public. The subject of this very paper is

“contesting for the public sphere”. If people were to contest for this

public sphere, the only way to do so would be in public! That is

essentially how parades and print culture helped to advance American

nationalism, by bringing everything forth in the limelight for all to

see.