Political Institutions of the Second Empire

Napoleon III - like Napoleon I came to power because of fear of radicalism in a discredited republic
 - he was concerned for the plight of the working class ( he had written two books on the "social question")
- he was concerned for the public opinion ==> drew some journalists and intellectuals to his side
- pacify the Catholic interests
- he appealed to the masses ==> gave them the vote, promised prosperity
- Europe was hoping for order in France
- modern progress
- he offered himself as a leader in a new world ==> "he embodied the sovereignty of the people"
- he said: found a solution to the mass democracy (universal suffrage + intelligent government and economic prosperity)
- he said: the Bourbons regime and the July Monarchy had been dominated by special interests, the Republic of 1848 had been violent and anarchic, than took the vote away ==>
the empire: the permanent, popular and modern system (try to find since 1789)
- he affirmed that he stood above classes ==> would govern equally
- he held that forms of government - less important than economic and social realities

The political institutions - authoritarian
(Consulate)

1. Council of State - experts - drafted legislation and advised on technical matters
2. Senate - appointed
3. Legislative Body - elected by universal male suffrage ( official candidate - offered by the government):
- had no independent powers, could not initiate legislation, no control over the budget, no power over the army of the foreign office

==>> Parliamentary life almost disappeared

Napoleon: court at the Tuleries
 - married Eugenie - Spanish princess

> the city of Paris ==> modernized

Baron Haussmann (haussmannization) - gave Paris the appearance it has today
> roomy railway stations
> a system of boulevards and public squares
> fine buildings and monuments (Place de l'Opera)
> modernized the sewers and the water supply
> changed the social composition of the neighborhoods
> stimulated business and employment
> wide avenues (end to the crooked streets and congested old houses) ==> easier military operations against insurrections

In the arts: Realism and Impressionism (Renoir, Manet, Monet) ==> modernization and the new face of Paris
> Salon des Refuses  - opened by Napoleon III

Economic Developments under the Empire

Napoleon III - backers: Saint Simonians ==> called him their "socialist emperor"
Saint Simon - centrally planned industrial system

1850s: Saint Simonians - a sense of being realistic, the invention of investment banking ==> by which they could guide economic growth

> founded Credit Mobilier - raised funds by selling its shares to the public ( with the money bought stock in industrial enterprises)
> founded Credit Foncier - lend funds to landowners for improvement in agriculture

- Railway mileage - increased from 3,000 to 16,000 (1850s)
- 1859-1869 - a French company build the Suez Canal ( continued to own for a century - but, after 1875- the British government - main stockholder)
- large corporations: in railroads and banking
- jobs + good wages - until the temporary depression of 1857

Humanitarian relief of suffering:
- hospitals and asylums - established ; free medicines distributed

Workers: unions
1864 - legal for organized workers to go on strike

Napoleon III - freedom of international trade
> had a project for a tariff union with Belgium
> free trade policy ==> made enemies among some industrialists

Internal Difficulties

Enemies:
- some industrialist + Catholics (his intervention in Italy)

Wars:  ( 1852: l'empire, c'est la paix)
1. 1853: Crimean War
2. 1859: Italy
3. from 1862-1867 in Mexico
4. 1870: with Prussia

The Second Empire went away like the First
- it lasted 18 years (like the July Monarchy)
- by 1920s and 1930s when dictators sprouted in Europe ==> Louis Napoleon - an omen of the future rather than a odd reincarnation of the past.