Abstract This article examines criminal court cases about conflicts related to the electoral process at all stages from determining how elections would be administered to disputes about results. It argues that contemporary allegations of fraud, corruption, and misconduct during elections can inform us not only of the anomalies but also of the ways in which elections worked as expected, according to the laws and norms of the time. We can also see how participants defined and defended the democratic ideal. A careful reading of participants' complaints to local authorities about electoral law violations, including incidents that ended in violence, can provide important insights into partisanship, the mechanics of elections, and the formation of political culture. The use of democratic rhetoric in these complaints suggests a consensus around a democratic ideal based on free and fair elections even though that ideal was not yet realized. Through the analysis of criminal court cases, it also introduces a broad range of questions about how nineteenth-century Chileans understood and practiced democracy that suggest avenues for further research.

中文翻译：

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“以民主为荣的国家”：十九世纪智利要求民主

摘要 本文考察了与选举过程相关的刑事法庭案件，从决定如何进行选举到结果争议的各个阶段。它认为，当代关于选举期间欺诈、腐败和不当行为的指控不仅可以让我们了解异常情况，还可以让我们了解根据当时的法律和规范，选举按预期进行的方式。我们还可以看到参与者如何定义和捍卫民主理想。仔细阅读参与者向地方当局提出的关于违反选举法的投诉，包括以暴力告终的事件，可以提供对党派之争、选举机制和政治文化形成的重要见解。在这些投诉中使用民主修辞表明围绕基于自由和公平选举的民主理想达成共识，即使该理想尚未实现。通过对刑事法庭案件的分析，它还介绍了关于 19 世纪智利人如何理解和实践民主的广泛问题，为进一步研究提供了途径。