Graduate Students

Green, Jennifer - M.A

Political Culture And Its Manifestations In Guelph In the 1880s - Dr. James Snell, advisor

         This thesis is an investigation of political culture and its manifestations in one municipality, Guelph, in the 1880s. The major contention of the work is that as the seat of power is removed from the people, the less power those people hold in regard to that governmental structure. When the electorate and citizenry dealt with the municipal government, they were very powerful and very active throughout the year, both in their commentary on the actions of the civic government and their attempts to influence that body. That power and activity lessened somewhat when the electorate attempted to influence the provincial government, and was weakened even more when the federal government was the object of the electorate's attention. Thus, the political culture was participatory at the municipal level, a limited participant culture at the provincial level, and a subject political culture at the federal level.