On April 1, 1850, a planning meeting took place in Santiago, Chile, to organize a new political association that sought to democratize the thirty-year-old republic. The attendees were all male, and included master and journeymen tailors and shoemakers, two young men recently returned from a European sojourn, the conductor of the city's orchestra, a law professor, and a few "liberals" from the opposition party in Congress. The attendees believed the Society of Reform, the city's outmoded club for reformists, was inadequate, and they wanted to replace it with a group that reflected the more...
On April 1, 1850, a planning meeting took place in Santiago, Chile, to organize a new political association that sought to democratize the thirty-y...
