Hilda Sabato explores the conflicts and political bonds generated between the elite and regular people during the 1860s and 1870s. The people of Buenos Aires occupied a special space different from other Argentines in the political experiment of the 1860s and 70s. The Constitution allowed regular people a place in society. It allowed most people to vote and less the gap between many and few.

There were two key dimensions for political relations: Electoral practices and public mobilizations. Mobilization was "a key aspect in the complex relationship established between the political elite and larger sectors of the Buenos Aires population. And they were a central feature in the construction of the public sphere. By materializing the people, meetings and demonstrations operated as the visible incarnation of civil society and public opinion."

The public sphere of Buenos Aires turned into a space of mediation between civil society and the state. The public sphere was unmarred by rifts and tensions in society. Buenos Aires was de-united by the 1880s and the public sphere lost its former characteristic. The public's desire to be unified did not die out though. "The short-lived porteno experiment of the 1860s and 1870s left some original and long-lasting marks in the ways of our democracy."