The early nineteenth century is often referred to as the Age of the Common Man. Evaluate whether that assessment is true or false.

Any
sweeping generalization, such as calling the nineteenth century the Age of the Common Man, is
problematic. Although broad generalizations are useful teaching tools in that they help students
understand that cultures change over time, any general statement is by its very nature too broad
to be more than a starting point for more specific analysis.

A good starting
point for arguing against this would be to note that it is Eurocentricresponding to specific
social, political, and economic changes in Europe and North Americarather than true of the
entire world, including Asia, Africa, and South America. For many places outside Europe, this
was a period of imperialism, colonialism, and oppression of Indigenous populations by a small
minority of foreign oppressors.

In Britain, the Reform bills and other
legislation gave increasing power to a wider section of the population, but the reforms in the
early part of the century benefited the new middle classes and bourgeoisie, and workers and
peasants were often as much victims as beneficiaries of reforms. It wasn't until after the
mid-century mark that universal male suffrage was granted. The French Revolution gave more power
to the "common man" in France, but other countries moved more slowly toward
democracy.

Even more important, while the common man may
have grown in influence in the early part of the century, it was only later that the common
woman began to gain equal rights.