Second French revolution

                            Second French revolution

Per the Charter of 1814, Louis XVIII ruled France as the head of a constitutional monarchy. Upon Louis XVIII's death, his brother, the Count of Artois, ascended to the throne in 1824, as Charles X. Supported by the ultra-royalists, Charles X was an extremely unpopular reactionary monarch whose aspirations were far more grand than those of his deceased brother. He had no desire to rule as a constitutional monarch, taking various steps to strengthen his own authority as monarch and weaken that of the lower house.

In 1830, Charles, presumably instigated by one of his chief advisors Jules, prince de Polignac, issued the Four Ordinances of St. Cloud. These ordinances abolished freedom of the press, reduced the electorate by 75%, and dissolved the lower house. This action provoked an immediate reaction from the citizenry, who revolted against the monarchy during the Three Glorious Days of July 1830. Charles was forced to abdicate the throne and to flee Paris for England. As a result, Louis Philippe, of the Orleanist branch, rose to power, replacing the old Charter by the Charter of 1830, and his rule became known as the July Monarchy.

Nicknamed the "Bourgeois Monarch", Louis Philippe sat at the head of a moderately liberal state controlled mainly by educated elites. Supported by the Orleanists, he was opposed on his right by the Legitimists (former ultra-royalists) and on his left by the Republicans and Socialists. Under his rule, privileged groups were favored, and elitism resulted in the disenfranchisement of much of the middle and working classes. By 1848 only about one per cent of the population held the franchise. Even though France had a free press and trial by jury, only landholders were permitted to vote, which alienated the petty bourgeoisie from the high bourgeoisie. Louis Philippe was viewed as generally indifferent to the needs of society, especially to those members of the middle class who were excluded from the political arena. Early in 1848, some Orleanist liberals, such as Adolphe Thiers, had turned against him, disappointed by Louis Philippe's opposition to parliamentarism.

Alexis de Tocqueville had observed, "We are sleeping together in a volcano . . . A wind of revolution blows, the storm is on the horizon." Lacking the property qualifications to vote, the lower classes were about to erupt in revolt.

Events of February:-

On February 26, 1848, the liberal opposition came together to organize a provisional government, called the Second Republic. Two major goals of this republic were Universal suffrage and Unemployment relief. Universal male suffrage was enacted on March 2, giving France nine million new voters. As in all other European nations, women did not have the right to vote. However, during this time a proliferation of political clubs emerged, including women's organizations. Relief for the unemployed was achieved through National Workshops, which guaranteed French citizens' "right to work". By May, 1848 the National Workshops were employing 100,000 workers and paying out daily wages of 70,000 livres.[5] In 1848, 479 newspapers were founded. There was also a 54% decline in the number of businesses in Paris, as most of the wealthy had left; there was a corresponding decline in the luxury trade and credit was unobtainable.

The End of the Revolution in France

Politics continued to tilt to the right, and the era of revolution in France came to an end. Louis Napoleon's family name of Napoleon rallied support, and after sweeping the elections he returned to the old order, purging republicans and returning the "vile multitude" (Thiers) to its former place. By the December 2, 1851 coup, he dissolved the National Assembly without having the constitutional right to do so, and became the sole ruler of France. Cells of resistance surfaced, but were put down, and the Second Republic was over. He reestablished universal suffrage, feared by the Republicans at the time who correctly expected the country-side to vote against the Republic, Louis Napoleon took the title Emperor Napoleon III, and the Second Empire began.