Sweden was transformed to a democratic industrial society in the late 19th century. Political influence had been bound to the four estates, nobles, clergy, burghers and farmers. The reforms of the 1860s moved Sweden towards political democracy with universal suffrage. At the national level a two-chamber parliament was established in 1866. Political power should now be a function of economic status. The right to vote was seen as a right for those who paid taxes and contributed to the community. There were even significant changes at the local level. The right to participate in town governance expanded to new groups in the society. This development was, however, not equal in al towns. A new municipal civic concept was issued in 1862 with the local Government reform. Citizenship in the towns used to be a right for the bourgeoisie. The reform created a connection between civil rights and fiscal performance. The right to vote was graduated according to income and wealth. The purpose with the local Government reform in 1862 was to build an independent local board against the State. It was also decided that city council was mandatory for towns with more than 3,000 citizens. For those towns that had less than 3000 citizens were the choices of retaining public town hall or establish a city council. Uppsala had more than 3,000 inhabitants in 1862. Enköping introduced city council in 1887 when the population reached the limit. This study examines the consequences of this decision for Uppsala and Enköping. This study examines local Government reform of 1862 from a new perspective. The reform has often been studied from a local perspective and the development of one town or municipality. What is missing is that the degree of political influence could be a product of where people lived.

Regeringen och Kungliga Maj:t drev en linje om att Sverige behövde reformera kommunernaså att de kunde bli ekonomiskt och socialt starkare, resultatet blev en riksomfattande reformsom avgjordes i flera steg. I min studie så har jag tittat på min hembygd och hur den senastekommunsammanläggningens motsättningar gav sig till känna i de kvarlevor som finns ikommunarkivet.Kommunsammanläggningen skapade motsättningar på lokal nivå. Mindre orter som skulle gåsamman med en större ort kände sig i flera frågor överkörda av stat och myndigheter sommotade dessa små kommuner samman, resultatet blev att de mindre kommunerna i respektivekommunblock förlorade sin suveränitet som kommun. Vägen från mindrelandsbygdskommun för att gå upp i en storkommun var snårig. – Vilket min studie lyft fram idetta geografiska område.Huruvida den lokala identiteten fick sig en törn så kan protokollen spegla detta till viss delmellan raderna. Då extra tid och sammanträden krävdes för att uppnå en fullgodkommunsammanläggning 1974.De faktorer som skapade motsättningarna i den här kommunsammanläggningen härhör delsfrån det att frågan väcktes från regeringen och som senare mynnade ut i en konflikt kringvilken ort som allmän service och kommunal makt skulle utgå ifrån och dels ifrån enlokalpatriotisk anda som ledamöterna i kommunfullmäktige var tvungna att värdera gentemotvad som egentligen skulle gagna kommuninvånarna på lång sikt. En form avlokalidentitetskris som var tvungen att bearbetas för att nå över tröskeln.Vad som är klart tydligt i arkivmaterialet är att det inte tydligt anför att det har med denlokala identiteten att göra att motsättningarna finns. Men det finns å andra sidan ingaargument till varför det finns ett motstånd till en sammanläggning. Vi kan egentligen baraanta att det rent teoretiskt utifrån källmaterialet fanns en motsättning och att den har sin grundi ledamöternas egna uppfattning kring sitt eget bästa och vad de ansåg var kommunens bästa. / The Government and the Royal Majesty held a line that Sweden needed to reform themunicipalities so that they could become financially and socially stronger, to get the result anationwide reform was needed.In my study, I have looked at my hometown and how the latest municipal association'scontradictions made themselves felt in the remains that exist in the municipal archive.The municipal assembly created contradictions at the local level. Smaller places that wouldmerge with a larger city was in several issues crossed over by the state and authorities thatmerged these small municipalities together, the result was that the smaller municipalities ineach municipalityblock lost their sovereignty as a municipality. The road from smaller ruralmunicipality to merge up in a big municipality was tricky.Whether or not the local identity got a thorn, the protocols can reflect this to some extentbetween the lines. Extra time and meetings were required to achieve a satisfactory municipalassembly in 1974.The factors that created the contradictions in this municipal assembly belong partly from theissue being raised by the government and which later resulted in a conflict around which citythat general service and municipal power would be based on and partly from a local patrioticspirit that the members of the city council had to to value against what would really benefitthe local residents in the long term.A form of local identity crisis that had to be processed to reach the threshold.What´s really clear in the archive material is that it does not clearly indicate that it has to dowith the local identity that the contradictions exist. But there are, on the other hand, noargument why there is a resistance to a merger. We can only assume that it was, theoretically,based on the source material there was a contradiction and that it was based on the leader´sown perception of their own good and what they considered for the municipality's best.