Politically speaking 1863 was a very interesting and important year in Danish politics. To understand what was happening, first you have to know about the Danish unitary state (helstaten). The Danish king ruled 4 different territories which were all legally separated, Denmark proper which also included Iceland, the Faroese and all colonies and the duchies of Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg. Holstein and Lauenburg both had a majority German speaking population, while in Schleswig there was about a 50-50 split of Danish and German speakers.

Why was this important? Several reasons. The 19th century was a time of increased nationalism and liberalism. The Germans of the three duchies wanted independence and to be part of the soon-to-come German nation-state. Denmark on the other hand had wanted to incorporate the duchy of Schleswig into a unified nation state with the same laws and the same government. “Danmark til Ejderen” (Denmark to the Eider) was a common saying within the Danish nationalist party. In 1863 the Danish government wrote a new constitution which included Schleswig as a part of Denmark.

This would turn out catastrophically for the Danish government. After an earlier war in which the Germans of the duchies had revolted in 1848, Denmark had promised the European great powers that the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein would not be separated. On top of that, the Germans of Schleswig weren’t happy with being incorporated and much more importantly neither were Prussia nor Austria, who would end up declaring war the next year and conquering everything except Denmark proper.

Other important political developments happened during the middle of the 19th century. First of all Denmark became a democracy (with suffrage being rather limited as you might imagine, with the king having the power to elect the government without heeding the wishes of the legislature) in the 1840’s. After the war of 1864 the national liberal party disappeared and the new parties that took its place are still some of the most important parties within Denmark today.

Culturally Denmark was going through what’s often called the Danish golden age. Most famously Hans Christian Andersen wrote his famous fairy tales at this time. Countless authors and painters were inspired by the nationalist fervor of the time and found a new appreciation for Danish pre-Christian history. The Viking age as a concept was constructed in the 19th century. This cultural movement also hit the religious scene of Danish society. The Danish priest Grundtvig incorporated many of the ideas of romanticism into Christian theology, creating the movement of Grundtvigianism. This caused a split within Danish Christianity - with the Grundtvigians on one side and the more fundamentalist and conservative pietists or “inner mission” Christians on the other side.

Hope this helps paint a picture. I don’t know much about the economic developments at the time except when it comes to the field of agriculture. If you are interested I could go more in depth with that. My sources are at home so if you want citations it will take a few days.