The History and Meaning of the Election Night Bonfire.

The paper examines a practice commonly associated with American political elections in the nineteenth century—the building of large bonfires by gangs of young boys on the night of the vote—in order to make a larger point about the meaning that an election ritual communicates to a voting public. I argue that the ritual message that elections send to public is more fluid, even contradictory, than is often acknowledged. The election night bonfire operated as a symbol of the polysemic nature of the election ritual for nineteenth century urban publics. Its disappearance can be associated with a more general attempt on the part of American political elites to control the meaning of politics in American democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]