767-781

Slavery and serfdom fell with the rise of nationalism because they were essentially aristocratic, feudal institutions. They couldn't match the potential of industrial labor and capitalism, and in both the United States and Russia they ended by state fiat. Reform voices, of course, came from the same vocal liberal bloc that opposed antiquated institutions like the Corn Laws. In keeping with the anti-liberal thinking of the time, however, these reforms were largely symbolic--in the U.S., for example, sharecropping replaced slave labor. However, the did signal the close of a previous era. Liberalism at the level of the state had become a negative rather than a positive force, an instrument for sweeping away old economic and social vestiges.

The advent of 'realpolitik' and the decline of romanticism also gave way to a new artistic and cultural sensibility of realism. Reporting on the Crimean War, for example, sought objectivity over style and flourish. As states became more calculating and centralized, perhaps, so did the populace create parallel institutions by which to monitor and scrutinize the state's activities. Realism, combined with a political agenda, was a far more pragmatic program than romanticism and sought to hit the target audience in the gut rather than the heart.