French Second Republic

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French Republic République française (French)
1848–1852
Flag Great Seal
Motto: Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity"
Anthem: Le Chant des Girondins "The Song of Girondists"
The French Republic in 1848
Capital	Paris
Official languages	French
Religion	Roman Catholicism (State religion) Calvinism Lutheranism Judaism
Demonym(s)	French
Government	Unitary semi-presidential republic (1848–1851) Unitary presidential republic under a dictatorship (1851–1852)
President
• 1848–1852	Prince Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte
Vice President
• 1849–1852	Henri Georges Boulay de la Meurthe
Prime Minister
• 1848 (first)	Jacques-Charles Dupont
• 1851 (last)	Léon Faucher
Legislature	National Assembly
History
• French Revolution	23 February 1848
• Abolition of slavery	27 April 1848
• Constitution adopted	4 November 1848
• Coup d'état	2 December 1851
• Establishment of the Second Empire	2 December 1852
Currency	French Franc
Preceded by Succeeded by Kingdom of France Second French Empire
Today part of	France Algeria

The French Second Republic (French: Deuxième République Française or La II^e République), officially the French Republic (République française), was the second republican government of France. It existed from 1848 until its dissolution in 1852.

Following the final defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Waterloo, France had been reconstituted into a monarchy known as the Bourbon Restoration. After a brief period of revolutionary turmoil in 1830, royal power was again secured in the "July Monarchy", governed under principles of moderate conservatism and improved relations with the United Kingdom.

In 1848, Europe erupted into a mass revolutionary wave in which many citizens challenged their royal leaders. Much of it was led by France in the February Revolution, overthrowing King Louis-Philippe.^[1] Radical and liberal factions of the population convened the French Second Republic in 1848. Attempting to restore the First French Republic's values on human rights and constitutional government, they adopted the motto of the First Republic; Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité. The republic was plagued with tribalist tendencies of its leading factions: royalists, proto-socialists, liberals, and conservatives. In this environment, Napoleon's nephew, Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, established himself as a popular anti-establishment figure and was elected president in 1848.

Under the Second Republic's constitution, the president was restricted to a single term. Louis-Napoléon overthrew the republic in an 1851 self-coup d'état, proclaimed himself Emperor Napoleon III, and created the Second French Empire.