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Candace King

Euro. Hr.3
Study Guide

France 1848 Revolution, Empire and Republic

Summary:
Basic Background-
The 1848 Revolution in France was one of a wave of revolutions in 1848 in Europe. In
France, the February revolution ended the Orleans Monarchy (1830-1848) and led to the
creation of the French Second Republic. The June days were a bloody but unsuccessful
rebellion by the Paris workers against a conservative turn in the Republic's course. On
December 2, 1848, Louis Napoleon was elected President of the Second Republic, largely
on peasant support. Exactly three years later he suspended the elected assembly,
establishing the Second French Empire, which lasted until 1871.
The February revolution established the principle of the "right to work” (droit au travail),
and its newly-established government created "National Workshops" for the unemployed.
At the same time a sort of industrial parliament was established at the Luxembourg
Palace, under the presidency of Louis Blanc, with the object of preparing a scheme for
the organization of labor. These tensions between liberal Orleanist and Radical
Republicans and Socialists led to the June Days Uprising.

1848 Revolution:
At the close of the French revolutionary and Napoleonic wars (1789-1815) the Bourbon
dynasty was restored in France in the person of a brother of the King who had been sent
to the guillotine during the revolution. This restoration King, Louis XVIII, alienated
opinion due to his absolutist tendencies and his 'legitimate' monarchy was usurped in
1830 with a junior, Orleanist, branch of the dynasty being recognized as Kings of the
French rather than as Kings of France. The King installed in 1830, Louis Phillipe, was
himself a son of Phillipe, Duke of Orleans, a Bourbon prince who had offered some
support to the revolution of 1879 and who had become known as Philip Egalite.

Notably disagreeable weather across much of Europe in 1845-6 affected agricultural


production leading to rising food prices and to generally depressed economic conditions
of widespread unemployment. Such sufferings as this brought to those badly affected led,
in turn, to a radicalization of political attitudes.
During these times France was yet a monarchy under Louis Phillipe but with his
"Liberal" monarchy having few real supporters. Elections were held on the basis of quite
limited suffrage, many felt excluded from any possibility of gaining wealth, and others
felt that his "Bourgeois and Liberal" monarchy compared unfavorably with earlier,
"Glorious", eras of French Monarchy or Empire.

On 14th January 1848 the authorities banned a "banquet", one of a series that had
intermittently been held by 'liberal' interests after July 1847 in Paris, and subsequently
widely across France, in protest at such things as limitations on the right of assembly and
the narrow scope of the political franchise, with the result that the it was postponed by its
organizers. Although the banquet, now set for the 22nd February, was cancelled at the last
minute there were some serious disturbances on the Paris streets on the 22nd and on 23rd
February where a number of fatalities and serious injuries ensued. The were instances of
units of the National Guard that had been deployed by the authorities refusing to act to
contain the protest. Faced with such unrest Louis Phillipe dismissed Guizot, his
unpopular Prime Minister on the 23rd and himself, reluctantly, abdicated on the 24th.
The French Chamber of Deputies accepted that the Crown would now pass to a youthful
grandson of Louis Phillipe, the Comte de Paris, with powers of regency being vested in
his mother.

In the wake of these dramatic developments what had effectively become a French
revolution of 1848 continued with the Chamber of Deputies being invaded and replaced
with the establishment of a Provisional Government of a French Republic. This
government was formed in a climate where power needed to be exercised by a central
authority but where there was also a divergence of opinion as to the desirable political
and social outlook of that government. Although Louis Phillippe had abdicated in favor
of his grandson this was disregarded given the popular mood in favor of a republican
form of government. Monarchy was pronounced to be abolished in France "without
possibility of return". Important figures in the Provisional Government administration
included established moderate, liberal, middle-class, "reformers - now become
republicans", such as Lamartine. A campaign sponsored by a newspaper named Réforme
culminated in some more radical persons being accepted into the new government. These
included the prominent French socialist Louis Blanc and a "working man" named Albert
Martin who was popularly known as "Albert" and addressed by this forename all the
while he was involved in the government.
It was accepted that elections based on universal adult (male) suffrage would return
delegates who would more fully decide the future direction of the governance of France.

By this time some twelve thousand muskets formerly held within government arsenals
had fallen into the hands of radicalized protestors. On the 25th February socialists in
Paris secured a decree which proclaimed that the newly formed Provisional Government
would undertake to provide opportunities for paid work for all citizens and would also
recognize workers rights to "combine in order to enjoy the legitimate benefits of their
labor." A system of "National Workshops" was instituted in relation to this guarantee of
"labor to every citizen".

These revolutionary developments were perhaps more Parisian than French, they were
orchestrated by a radical section of the population of Paris but they did not generally
receive the support of the French provinces. The socialistic radicals of Paris urged the
adoption of the red flag of socialism whilst those supportive of constitutional
republicanism preferred to re-adopt the red, white, and blue, "Tricolor" flag that had been
adopted in the early days of the French Revolution of 1789. The stresses incidental to this
divergence of aspiration and outlook between Republicans and Socialists resulted in a
compromise where a red rosette was added to the standard of the Tricolor.
Lamartine, who was something of a poet and orator later self-flatteringly recorded his
own refusal, as a prominent member of the new government whilst faced with a
radicalized crowd outside the City Hall of Paris in the earliest days of the new republic,
to accept the red flag as being a turning point in this debate.

Alphonse de Lamartine held considerable power in the new government and was
appointed Foreign Minister. He shortly thereafter, March 7, 1848, wrote to French
diplomatic representatives abroad instructing them as to the ways in which they were to
present the French Revolutionary developments to foreign governments who might be
somewhat concerned that the France of 1848 might emulate the earlier revolutionary
France, after 1789, in seeking to forcefully export its revolutionary principles abroad
Elections were put in train, on the basis of an Universal Suffrage which recognized some
nine million persons as being competent electors (compared to the 250,000 previously
recognized voters under the previously more restrictive suffrage), towards the forming of
a National Assembly which was to deal with important constitutional issues.

The National Workshops system set out to offer constant work and did this at a relatively
high rate of pay such that it soon attracted the services of all the casual labor of Paris and
also began to draw in a large influx of other casual labor from the provinces. Within two
or three months there were some 66,000 persons on the payroll. The unsettled times
tended to contribute to a fall off in expenditure by the rich, many of whom left Paris for
the countryside. As there proved to be insufficient work provided by the National
Workshops for all the facility was rationed in that those involved reported to the
workplace on two days of the week but were recognized as being entitled to a 'salary of
inactivity' payment of one franc per day for other days. The main initial task tackled
being a public works scheme leveling a small hill - a scenario that did not involve the
receipt of revenues to offset the expense to the public purse. Other tasks included planting
trees, building roads, and building railway stations - the authorities even oversaw the
performance of "the same tasks" over and over to provide sufficient paid occupation.
They did not want to sponsor economic activities that might seem to be in competition
with the interests of existing capitalist enterprise.
Some additional taxes were raised, that mainly impacted upon the rural peasantry, in
efforts to help to meet the expense of the National Workshops.

The National or Constituent Assembly resulting from the processes of election convened
on May 4th 1848. Some 900 deputies had been returned to serve in the National
Assembly. About half were returned as supportive of (Orleanist or Legitimist) monarchy
rather than republicanism, about 350 were returned on a clericalist 'freedom of education'
ticket, there were only a minority, about 100 strong, of variously committed republicans
or socialists. Despite the breadth of the franchise, that had recognized some nine million
persons as being voters, the main voting bloc - the peasantry - proved to be content with
the legacy of the 1789-1815 French Revolutionary and Napoleonic era that had left them
as owners of their small farms with the result that they voted for conservative candidates
that would not threaten the rights of property. In these times of widespread illiteracy the
political opinions of rural voters were often guided by respected local figures such as
parish priests.

It proved to be the case that the political representatives of France as a whole were not
prepared to endorse many of the policies that were preferred by Parisian radicals. The
administration recognized by the assembly did not include an important role for Louis
Blanc. The Assembly declined to send assistance to the Polish reformers who, in their
struggles against Russian Tsarist authority, enjoyed the sympathies of the French radicals.
On May 15th the National or Constituent Assembly was invaded by persons seeking its
overthrow and replacement by an administration headed up by Louis Blanc.
In the event the National Guard acted to prevent the overthrow of the Assembly.
Radicalism had showed a willingness to attempt to turbulently impose its own agendas.
The stage was now set for a continuance of a serious confrontation between French
conservatism and Parisian radicalism.

The European Revolution of 1848 represents a widespread emergence of situations where


populist aspirations, or human aspirations as less limited by traditions of respect for
monarchical or religious authority, variously sought constitutional, liberal, nationalist or
socialistic changes in society.

The French Empire and Republic of 1848:


The French Second republic was the republican government of France between the 1848
Revolution and the coup by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte which initiated the Second
Empire. It officially adopted the motto Liberté, Égalité, Fraternite. The Second Republic
witnessed the tension between the "Social and Democratic Republic" and a liberal form
of Republic, which exploded during the June Days Uprising of 1848.

The Constitution of 1848


On 4 November 1848, the Constitution, on which the Assembly had been working for
months, was adopted.
The executive power should be exercised by a President of the Republic, elected for four
years by direct universal suffrage, and non re-eligible. The President should appoint and
dismiss the Ministers and the high-ranking civil servants.
The legislative power should be exercised by a single Assembly of 750 members, elected
for three years by direct universal suffrage according to list system.
The judicial power should be exercised by independent, irremovable judges.

The Presidential election of 1848


The election of the President of the Republic took place on 10 December 1848. Prince
Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, Napoléon ‘s nephew, who had just came back from exile in
England and had been considered as insignificant by his rivals, triumphantly won with
5,454,000 votes (c. 75%) against General Cavaignac (1,448,000 votes), Ledru-Rollin
(371,000 votes), Raspail (36,000 votes) and Lamartine (17,000 votes). On 20 December
1848, the newly elected President took the oath to respect the Constitution in the
Assembly.

The end of the Second Republic


On 20 July 1851, a proposal of revision of the Constitution which would have allowed
the President to compete for a second mandate, was rejected.
On 2 December 1851 (the anniversary of both the battle of Austerlitz and Napoléon ‘s
coronation), the President proclaimed the dissolution of the Assembly.
On 14 January 1852, a new Constitution was proclaimed, which claimed to preserve the
Republican institutions but in fact prepared the establishment of the Second Empire. The
President should be elected for ten years, propose the laws, appoint the Ministers and
could canvass the people's opinion by holding a plebiscite. A Legislative Corps, elected
by universal suffrage, should vote the laws. A Senate, constituted of admirals, marshals,
cardinals and other members appointed by the President, should check if the laws were in
agreement with the Constitution and could amend them by senatus-consultum. A State
Council of 40-50 members appointed by the President should elaborate the laws.
On 7 November 1852, a senatus-consultum reestablished the title of Emperor (Napoléon
III) for Louis-Napoléon. On 21-22 November 1852, a plebiscite (7,824,000 / 253,000)
approved the senatus-consultum.
Napoleon III was crowned on 2 December 1852, one year after his constitutional coup.

Terms:
Revolutionary wave- is a series of revolutions occurring in various locations. The concept
is important to Marxists, who see revolutionary waves as evidence that a world revolution
is possible.

The Second French Empire- was the Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from
1852 to 1870, between the Second Republic and the Third Republic, in France. On
December 2, 1851, Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, who had been elected President of the
Republic, staged a coup d'état by dissolving the National Assembly without having the
constitutional right to do so. He thus became sole ruler of France, and re-established
universal suffrage, previously abolished by the Assembly. His decisions and the extension
of his mandate for 10 years were popularly endorsed by referendum, as was the re-
establishment of the Empire from December 2, 1852. He thus became "Napoleon III,
Emperor of the French", while the popular referendum became a distinct sign of
bonapartism, which Charles de Gaulle would later use.

Constitutional monarchy- is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of


state within the parameters of a written (i.e., codified), unwritten (i.e., uncodified) or
blended constitution. It differs from absolute monarchy in that an absolute monarch
serves as the sole source of political power in the state and is not legally bound by any
constitution. Most constitutional monarchies employ a parliamentary system in which the
Monarch may have strictly Ceremonial duties or may have Reserve Powers, depending
on the constitution, have a directly or indirectly elected prime minister who is the head of
government and exercises effective political power.

The Executive Commission of the French Republic- was a short-lived body and jointly
head of state of France during the Second Republic. All members were equal and served
together as co-heads of state.

Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte-(Napoleon III) was the President of the French Second


Republic and the ruler of the Second French Empire. He was also the nephew of
Napoleon I. Elected President by popular vote in 1848, he initiated a coup d'état in 1851,
becoming dictator before ascending the throne as Napoleon III on December 2, 1852, the
forty-eighth anniversary of Napoleon's coronation. He ruled as Emperor of the French
until September 4, 1870. He holds the unusual distinction of being both the first titular
president and the last monarch of France. Primarily remembered for renovating Paris, as
well as several military ventures, including the French participation in the Crimean War,
the conquest of Senegal, the Second Opium War, the Cochin china Campaign, the Second
Italian War of Independence, the Franco-Mexican War, the Taiping Rebellion, the 1866
campaign against Korea, the Boshin War, and the Franco-Prussian War. The Second
French Empire was overthrown three days after Napoleon's disastrous surrender at the
Battle of Sedan in 1870, which resulted in both the proclamation of the French Third
Republic and the secession of the territory of Alsace-Lorraine to the newly-formed
German Empire.

Red Scare-denotes two distinct periods of strong anti-communism in the United States.
The First Red Scare, from 1917 to 1920, and the Second Red Scare, from 1947 to 1957.
The First Red Scare was about worker (socialist) revolution and political radicalism. The
Second Red Scare was focused on (national and foreign) communists influencing society
and/or infiltrating the federal government.

National Workshops- refer to areas of work provided for the unemployed by the French
Second Republic after the Revolution of 1848. The political crisis which resulted in the
abdication of Louis Philippe was naturally followed in Paris, by an acute industrial crisis
and this following the general agricultural and commercial distress which had prevailed
throughout 1847. It rendered the problem of unemployment in Paris very acute.

Louis Jean Joseph Charles Blanc (29 October 1811 – 6 December 1882)- was a French
politician and historian. A socialist who favored reforms, he called for the creation of
cooperatives in order to guarantee employment for the urban poor.

Karl Heinrich Marx (May 5, 1818 – March 14, 1883)- was a German philosopher,
political economist, historian, political theorist, sociologist, communist, and
revolutionary, whose ideas are credited as the foundation of modern communism. Marx
summarized his approach in the first line of chapter one of The Communist Manifesto,
published in 1848: "The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class
struggles." Marx argued that capitalism, like previous socioeconomic systems, would
inevitably produce internal tensions which would lead to its destruction. Just as
capitalism replaced feudalism, he believed socialism would, in its turn, replace
capitalism, and lead to a stateless, classless society called pure communism. This would
emerge after a transitional period called the "dictatorship of the proletariat": a period
sometimes referred to as the "workers state" or "workers' democracy".
The Thermidorian Reaction- was a revolt in the French Revolution against the excesses
of the Reign of Terror. It was triggered by a vote of the Committee of Public Safety to
execute Robespierre, Saint-Just and several other leading members of the Terror. This
ended the most radical phase of the French Revolution.

The July Monarchy- (The Kingdom of the French) was a period of liberal constitutional
monarchy in France under King Louis-Philippe starting with the July Revolution (or
Three Glorious Days) of 1830 and ending with the Revolution of 1848. It began with the
overthrow of the conservative government of Charles X and his senior line of the House
of Bourbon. Louis-Philippe, a member of the traditionally more liberal Orleans branch of
the House of Bourbon, proclaimed himself roi des Français ("King of the French") rather
than roi de France ("King of France"), emphasizing the popular origins of his reign. The
new regime's ideal was explicated by Louis-Philippe's famous statement in January 1831:
"We will attempt to remain in a juste milieu (the just middle), in an equal distance from
the excesses of popular power and the abuses of royal power."

Events from the year 1848 in France:


22 February - In Paris, revolt erupts against the king Louis Philippe. Two days later he
abdicates.
23 February - Prime Minister François Guizot resigns.
26 February - Provisional government is organized called the Second Republic.
23 April - Constituent Assembly election held.
24 April - Constituent Assembly election held.
6 May - Executive Commission of the French Republic is set up, jointly heads of state
during the Second Republic.
15 May - Radicals invade the Chamber of deputies.
23 June - June Days Uprising begins after closure of the National Workshops created by
the Second Republic to give work to the unemployed.
25 June - June Days Uprising ends with 1,500 killed and 15,000 prisoners were deported
to Algeria.
28 June - Term of the Executive Commission of the French Republic ends.
28 August - Mathieu Luis becomes the first black member to join the French parliament,
as a representative of Guadalupe.
4 November - France ratifies a new constitution. The Second Republic of France is set
up, ending the state of temporary government lasting since the Revolution of 1848.
10 December - Presidential election held. Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte is elected president
of the French Republic.
20 December - President Bonaparte takes his Oath of Office in front of the French
National Assembly.

Analysis:
Was the 1848 French Revolution a success or a failure to the European population as a
whole?
In France, the revolutions started with a riot by the Parisians, which, after Louis
Philippe’s fleeing to Britain, led to the formation of the second republic. Yet, after the
new government had settled in, the people grew more discontent with their situation.
There was in fact disunity in the second government, as Louis Blanc, obviously known
for his socialist views, was at odds with the rest of the ten man liberal government. The
bloody June Days gave the Parisians a chance to battle the government troops. The result
was a new monarch-to-be, and a move back to where the revolution had started.
Throughout all of this, it is important to note that it was only the Parisians (the first
people to riot) that were active in the revolution. They (the upper middle class men) were
the ones that participated in the government, and that fought to the death in this
revolution. The farmers and peasants, on the other hand, seemed to be too preoccupied
with their agricultural problems (such as the continuing of poor outcomes of the crop
harvests) in the countryside. And while there was disunity among the leaders of the
revolution, the revolutions actually failed because the peasants (which made up a huge
majority of the population-not only in France but the rest of Europe as well) were not
involved, the revolution really did not have the power needed to fight against an army
with the strength of the French one

Historiography:
http://www.bonjourlafrance.com/france-history/second-republic.htm

http://www.ohio.edu/chastain/dh/frprogov.htm

http://www.cusd.chico.k12.ca.us/~bsilva/projects/france/second_emp/default.htm

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1848johnson.html

http://books.google.com/books?
id=LnY9qEWLWTkC&printsec=frontcover&dq=french+revolution+1848&source=gbs_
book_similarbooks#v=onepage&q&f=false

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