1848 Document Activity
1) What does each (1-6) document tell you about those who
produced it?
2) What were the primary concerns/objectives of the creators of
each documents?
3) What role does nationalism, liberalism, and conservatism play
in each of the docs?
4) Put the documents into DBQ groups. Be sure to label the
groups. For one of your groups, do a sentence of attribution for
each document. If possible, identify the POV of the doc.
Documents of the Revolution of 1848 in France
The Overthrow of the Orleanist Monarchy
Editor's Note: The provisional government established in Paris after the mob had attacked the Tuileries, February
24, 1848, immediately issued the following proclamation.
In the name of the French people:
A reactionary and oligarchical government has just been overthrown by the heroism of the people of Paris. That
government has fled, leaving behind it a trail of blood that forbids it ever to retrace its steps.
The blood of the people has flowed as in July; but this time this noble people shall not be deceived. It has won a
national and popular government in accord with the rights, the progress, and the will of this great and generous
nation.
A provisional government, the result of pressing necessity and ratified by the voice of the people and of the
deputies of the departments, in the session of February 24, is for the moment invested with the task of assuring and
organizing the national victory. It is composed of Messieurs Dupont (de l'Eure), Lamartine, Cremieux, Arago (of
the Institute), Ledru-Rollin, Garnier-Pages, Marie, Armand Marrast, Louis Blanc, Ferdinand Flocon, and Albert (a
workingman).
These citizens have not hesitated a moment to accept the patriotic commission which is imposed upon them by the
pressure of necessity. With the capital of France on fire, the justification for the present provisional government
must be sought in the public safety. All France will understand this and will lend it the support of its patriotism.
Under [Page 560] the popular government which the provisional government proclaims, every citizen is a
magistrate.
Frenchmen, it is for you to give to the world the example which Paris has given to France; prepare yourselves by
order and by confidence in your destiny for the firm institutions which you are about to be called upon to establish.
The provisional government wishes to establish a republic,--subject, however, to ratification by the people, who
shall be immediately consulted.
The unity of the nation (formed henceforth of all the classes of citizens who compose it); the government of the
nation by itself; liberty, equality, and fraternity, for fundamental principles, and "the people" for our emblem and
watchword: these constitute the democratic government which France owes to itself, and which our efforts shall
secure for it.
Decrees of the Provisional Government Relating to the Workingmen
Editor's Note: The workingmen and their leaders played an important part in the February revolution. This fact is
emphasized by the decrees in the interest of the laboring classes which were issued by the provisional government
on the day following its creation.
The provisional government of the French republic decrees that the Tuileries shall serve hereafter as a home for the
veterans of labor.
The provisional government of the French republic pledges itself to guarantee the means of subsistence of the
workingman by labor.
It pledges itself to guarantee labor to all citizens.
It recognizes that workingmen ought to enter into associations among themselves in order to enjoy the advantage of
their labor.
The provisional government returns to the workingmen, to whom it rightfully belongs, the million which was about
to fall due upon the civil list.
[The provisional government of the French republic decrees that all articles pledged at the pawn shops since the
first of February, consisting of linen, garments, or clothes, etc., upon which the loan does not exceed ten francs,
shall be given back to those who pledged them. The minister of finance is ordered to meet the payments incidental
to the execution of the present edict.
The provisional government of the republic decrees the immediate establishment of national workshops. The
minister of public works is charged with the execution of the present decree.
Proclamation of the Second Republic
Editorn's Note: The formal proclamation of the second French republic is very characteristic of the momentary
situation.
In the name of the French people:
Citizens: royalty, under whatever form, is abolished; no more legitimism, no more Bonapartism, no regency.
The provisional government has taken all the measures necessary to render impossible the return of the former
dynasty or the advent of a new dynasty.
The republic is proclaimed.
The people are united.
All the forts which surround the capital are ours.
The brave garrison of Vincennes is a garrison of brothers.
Let us retain that old republican flag whose three colors made with our fathers the circuit of the globe.
Let us show that this symbol of equality, of liberty, and of fraternity is at the same time the symbol of order - of
order the more real, the more durable, since justice is its foundation and the whole people its instrument.
The people have already realized that the provisioning of Paris requires a freer circulation in the streets, and those
who have erected the barricades have already in several places made openings large enough for the passage of
wagons and carts. Let this example be imitated everywhere. Let Paris reassume its accustomed appearance and
trade its activity and confidence. . .
Louis Napoleon's Campaign Manifesto
Editor's Note: Although Louis Napoleon had, after the last of his two early and futile attempts to make himself
emperor, been imprisoned, then exiled, he was, after the February revolution, elected a member of the Legislative
Body. When it came to choosing a president under the new constitution, he was naturally considered as a
candidate, and issued the following campaign manifesto (November, 1848).
Louis Napoleon to his fellow-citizens:
In order to recall me from exile, you have elected me a representative of the people; on the eve of choosing a chief
magistrate for the republic my name presents itself to you as a symbol of order and security.
Those proofs of so honorable a confidence are, I am well aware, addressed to my name rather than to myself, who,
as yet, have done nothing for my country; but the more the memory of the Emperor protects me and inspires your
suffrages, the more I feel compelled to acquaint you with my sentiments and principles. There must be no
equivocation between us.
I am moved by no ambition which dreams one day of empire and war, the next of the application of subversive
theories. Brought up in free countries, disciplined in the school of misfortune, I shall ever remain faithful to the
duties which your suffrages and the will of the Assembly impose upon me.
If elected president, I shall shrink from no danger, from no sacrifice, in the defense of society, which has been so
outrageously assailed. I shall devote myself wholly and without reservation to the consolidation of the republic, so
that it may be wise in its laws, honest in its aims, great and strong in its deeds. My greatest honor would be to hand
on to my successor, after four years of office, the public power consolidated, its liberties intact, and a genuine
progress assured. . .
François Guizot (1787-1874): Condition of the July
Monarchy, 1830-1848
Guizot was a French academic politician, who served Louis Philippe as minister of public instruction (1832-37).
He was the main power after 1840 and became premier in 1847. His government was overthrown in Febrary 1848.
Speech of February 20, 1831 The Revolution destroyed the ancien régime but was unable to do more. The
Empire arose to re-establish order, order of an exterior, material sort which was the basis of the civil society as the
Revolution had founded it. The Empire spread this idea throughout all of Europe; this was its mission and it
succeeded at it. It was incapable, however, of establishing a lasting political government; the necessary conditions
were lacking. The Empire fell in its turn, to be succeeded by the Restoration. What did the Restoration promise? It
promised to resolve the problem, to reconcile order with liberty. It was under this banner that the charter was
granted. It had accepted principles of liberty in the charter; it had promised to establish them, but it made this
promise under the cloak of the ancien régime, on which there had been written for so many centuries: Divine Right.
It was unable to solve the problem. It died in the process, overwhelmed by the burden. It is on us, on the Revolution
of July, that this job has been imposed; it is our duty and responsibility to establish definitively, not order alone, not
liberty alone, but order and liberty at the same time. The general thought, the hope of France, has been order and
liberty reuniting under the constitutional monarchy. There is the true promise of the Revolution of July.
Speech of October 5, 1831 I have heard equality much spoken of; we have called it the fundamental principle
of our political organization. I am afraid there has been a great mistake. Without doubt there are universal rights,
equal rights for all, rights inherent in humanity and which no human being can be stripped of without injustice and
disorder. It has been the honor of modern civilization to redeem these rights from that mass of violence and force
under which they had long been hidden and to bring them back to light. There you have personal rights, universal
and equal for all, from which stem equality in civil order and in moral order. But will political rights be of this
order? It is through tradition, through heredity that families, peoples, and history subsist; without tradition, without
heredity you would have nothing of that. It is through the personal activity of families, peoples, and individuals that
produces the perfectibility of the human race. Suppress it, and you will cause the human race to fall to the rank of
the animals. I say that aristocracy is the condition of modern societies, a necessary consequence of the nature of
modern democracy. Upon this aristocracy two conditions are to be imposed: First, it is to be constantly submitted to
the control and examination of democracy; second, it must recruit itself constantly from the people.
Speech of February I am, for my part, a decided enemy of universal suffrage. I look upon it as the ruin of
democracy and liberty. If I needed proof I would have it under my very eyes; I will not elucidate. However, I
should permit myself to say, with all the respect I have for a great country and a great government, that the inner
danger, the social danger by which the United States appears menaced is due especially to universal suffrage; it is
that which makes them run the risk of seeing their real liberties, the liberties of everybody, compromised, as well as
the inner order of their society. . .
The National Song of Hungary, 1848
[Tappan Introduction] Much of the Magyar poetry is thrilled with a burning love of country. Even the poems that
have nothing to do with patriotism are marked by a certain intensity of feeling. No matter how light the subject or
how graceful the touch of the author, it seems impossible for him to lay down his pen without adding some line that
changes a pleasant little rhyme into an expression of earnest thought.
RISE, Magyar! is the country's call!
The time has come, say one and all:
Shall we be slaves, shall we be free?
This is the question, now agree!
For by the Magyar's God above
We truly swear,
We truly swear the tyrant's yoke
No more to bear!
Alas! till now we were but slaves;
Our fathers resting in their graves
Sleep not in freedom's soil. In vain
They fought and died free homes to gain.
But by the Magyar's God above
We truly swear,
We truly swear the tyrant's yoke
No more to bear!
A miserable wretch is he
Who fears to die, my land, for thee!
His worthless life who thinks to be
Worth more than thou, sweet liberty!
Now by the Magyar's God above
We truly swear,
We truly swear the tyrant's yoke
No more to bear!
The sword is brighter than the chain,
Men cannot nobler gems attain;
And yet the chain we wore, oh, shame!
Unsheath the sword of ancient fame!
For by the Magyar's God above
We truly swear,
We truly swear the tyrant's yoke
No more to bear!
The Magyar's name will soon once more
Be honored as it was before!
The shame and dust of ages past
Our valor shall wipe out at last.
For by the Magyar's God above
We truly swear,
We truly swear the tyrant's yoke
No more to bear!
And where our graves in verdure rise,
Our children's children to the skies
Shall speak the grateful joy they feel,
And bless our names the while they kneel.
For by the Magyar's God above
We truly swear,
We truly swear the tyrant's yoke
No more to bear!
Documents of the Revolution of 1848 in France
The Overthrow of the Orleanist Monarchy
1) Editor's Note: The provisional government established in Paris after the mob had attacked the Tuileries,
February 24, 1848, immediately issued the following proclamation.
In the name of the French people:
A reactionary and oligarchical government has just been overthrown by the heroism of the people of Paris. That
government has fled, leaving behind it a trail of blood that forbids it ever to retrace its steps.
The blood of the people has flowed as in July; but this time this noble people shall not be deceived. It has won a
national and popular government in accord with the rights, the progress, and the will of this great and generous
nation.
A provisional government, the result of pressing necessity and ratified by the voice of the people and of the
deputies of the departments, in the session of February 24, is for the moment invested with the task of assuring and
organizing the national victory. It is composed of Messieurs Dupont (de l'Eure), Lamartine, Cremieux, Arago (of
the Institute), Ledru-Rollin, Garnier-Pages, Marie, Armand Marrast, Louis Blanc, Ferdinand Flocon, and Albert (a
workingman).
These citizens have not hesitated a moment to accept the patriotic commission which is imposed upon them by the
pressure of necessity. With the capital of France on fire, the justification for the present provisional government
must be sought in the public safety. All France will understand this and will lend it the support of its patriotism.
Under [Page 560] the popular government which the provisional government proclaims, every citizen is a
magistrate.
Frenchmen, it is for you to give to the world the example which Paris has given to France; prepare yourselves by
order and by confidence in your destiny for the firm institutions which you are about to be called upon to establish.
The provisional government wishes to establish a republic,--subject, however, to ratification by the people, who
shall be immediately consulted.
The unity of the nation (formed henceforth of all the classes of citizens who compose it); the government of the
nation by itself; liberty, equality, and fraternity, for fundamental principles, and "the people" for our emblem and
watchword: these constitute the democratic government which France owes to itself, and which our efforts shall
secure for it.
Decrees of the Provisional Government Relating to the Workingmen
2) Editor's Note: The workingmen and their leaders played an important part in the February revolution. This fact
is emphasized by the decrees in the interest of the laboring classes which were issued by the provisional
government on the day following its creation.
The provisional government of the French republic decrees that the Tuileries shall serve hereafter as a home for the
veterans of labor.
The provisional government of the French republic pledges itself to guarantee the means of subsistence of the
workingman by labor.
It pledges itself to guarantee labor to all citizens.
It recognizes that workingmen ought to enter into associations among themselves in order to enjoy the advantage of
their labor.
The provisional government returns to the workingmen, to whom it rightfully belongs, the million which was about
to fall due upon the civil list.
[The provisional government of the French republic decrees that all articles pledged at the pawn shops since the
first of February, consisting of linen, garments, or clothes, etc., upon which the loan does not exceed ten francs,
shall be given back to those who pledged them. The minister of finance is ordered to meet the payments incidental
to the execution of the present edict.
The provisional government of the republic decrees the immediate establishment of national workshops. The
minister of public works is charged with the execution of the present decree.
Proclamation of the Second Republic
3) Editor's Note: The formal proclamation of the second French republic is very characteristic of the momentary
situation.
In the name of the French people:
Citizens: royalty, under whatever form, is abolished; no more legitimism, no more Bonapartism, no regency.
The provisional government has taken all the measures necessary to render impossible the return of the former
dynasty or the advent of a new dynasty.
The republic is proclaimed.
The people are united.
All the forts which surround the capital are ours.
The brave garrison of Vincennes is a garrison of brothers.
Let us retain that old republican flag whose three colors made with our fathers the circuit of the globe.
Let us show that this symbol of equality, of liberty, and of fraternity is at the same time the symbol of order - of
order the more real, the more durable, since justice is its foundation and the whole people its instrument.
The people have already realized that the provisioning of Paris requires a freer circulation in the streets, and those
who have erected the barricades have already in several places made openings large enough for the passage of
wagons and carts. Let this example be imitated everywhere. Let Paris reassume its accustomed appearance and
trade its activity and confidence. . .
Louis Napoleon's Campaign Manifesto
4) Editor's Note: Although Louis Napoleon had, after the last of his two early and futile attempts to make himself
emperor, been imprisoned, then exiled, he was, after the February revolution, elected a member of the Legislative
Body. When it came to choosing a president under the new constitution, he was naturally considered as a
candidate, and issued the following campaign manifesto (November, 1848).
Louis Napoleon to his fellow-citizens:
In order to recall me from exile, you have elected me a representative of the people; on the eve of choosing a chief
magistrate for the republic my name presents itself to you as a symbol of order and security.
Those proofs of so honorable a confidence are, I am well aware, addressed to my name rather than to myself, who,
as yet, have done nothing for my country; but the more the memory of the Emperor protects me and inspires your
suffrages, the more I feel compelled to acquaint you with my sentiments and principles. There must be no
equivocation between us.
I am moved by no ambition which dreams one day of empire and war, the next of the application of subversive
theories. Brought up in free countries, disciplined in the school of misfortune, I shall ever remain faithful to the
duties which your suffrages and the will of the Assembly impose upon me.
If elected president, I shall shrink from no danger, from no sacrifice, in the defense of society, which has been so
outrageously assailed. I shall devote myself wholly and without reservation to the consolidation of the republic, so
that it may be wise in its laws, honest in its aims, great and strong in its deeds. My greatest honor would be to hand
on to my successor, after four years of office, the public power consolidated, its liberties intact, and a genuine
progress assured. . .
LOUIS NAPOLEON BONAPARTE.
François Guizot Condition of the July Monarchy, 1830-1848
5) Guizot was a French academic politician, who served Louis Philippe as minister of public instruction (1832-37).
He was the main power after 1840 and became premier in 1847. His government was overthrown in Febrary 1848.
Speech of February 20, 1831
The Revolution destroyed the ancien régime but was unable to do more. The Empire arose to re-establish order,
order of an exterior, material sort which was the basis of the civil society as the Revolution had founded it. The
Empire spread this idea throughout all of Europe; this was its mission and it succeeded at it. It was incapable,
however, of establishing a lasting political government; the necessary conditions were lacking. The Empire fell in
its turn, to be succeeded by the Restoration. What did the Restoration promise? It promised to resolve the problem,
to reconcile order with liberty. It was under this banner that the charter was granted. It had accepted principles of
liberty in the charter; it had promised to establish them, but it made this promise under the cloak of the ancien
régime, on which there had been written for so many centuries: Divine Right. It was unable to solve the problem. It
died in the process, overwhelmed by the burden. It is on us, on the Revolution of July, that this job has been
imposed; it is our duty and responsibility to establish definitively, not order alone, not liberty alone, but order and
liberty at the same time. The general thought, the hope of France, has been order and liberty reuniting under the
constitutional monarchy. There is the true promise of the Revolution of July.
Speech of October 5, 1831
I have heard equality much spoken of; we have called it the fundamental principle of our political organization. I
am afraid there has been a great mistake. Without doubt there are universal rights, equal rights for all, rights
inherent in humanity and which no human being can be stripped of without injustice and disorder. It has been the
honor of modern civilization to redeem these rights from that mass of violence and force under which they had long
been hidden and to bring them back to light. There you have personal rights, universal and equal for all, from which
stem equality in civil order and in moral order. But will political rights be of this order? It is through tradition,
through heredity that families, peoples, and history subsist; without tradition, without heredity you would have
nothing of that. It is through the personal activity of families, peoples, and individuals that produces the
perfectibility of the human race. Suppress it, and you will cause the human race to fall to the rank of the animals. I
say that aristocracy is the condition of modern societies, a necessary consequence of the nature of modern
democracy. Upon this aristocracy two conditions are to be imposed: First, it is to be constantly submitted to the
control and examination of democracy; second, it must recruit itself constantly from the people.
Speech of February 15, 1842
I am, for my part, a decided enemy of universal suffrage. I look upon it as the ruin of democracy and liberty. If I
needed proof I would have it under my very eyes; I will not elucidate. However, I should permit myself to say, with
all the respect I have for a great country and a great government, that the inner danger, the social danger by which
the United States appears menaced is due especially to universal suffrage; it is that which makes them run the risk
of seeing their real liberties, the liberties of everybody, compromised, as well as the inner order of their society. . .
The National Song of Hungary, 1848
6) Much of the Magyar poetry is thrilled with a burning love of country. Even the poems that have nothing to do
with patriotism are marked by a certain intensity of feeling. No matter how light the subject or how graceful the
touch of the author, it seems impossible for him to lay down his pen without adding some line that changes a
pleasant little rhyme into an expression of earnest thought.
RISE, Magyar! is the country's call!
The time has come, say one and all:
Shall we be slaves, shall we be free?
This is the question, now agree!
For by the Magyar's God above
We truly swear,
We truly swear the tyrant's yoke
No more to bear!
Alas! till now we were but slaves;
Our fathers resting in their graves
Sleep not in freedom's soil. In vain
They fought and died free homes to gain.
But by the Magyar's God above
We truly swear,
We truly swear the tyrant's yoke
No more to bear!
A miserable wretch is he
Who fears to die, my land, for thee!
His worthless life who thinks to be
Worth more than thou, sweet liberty!
Now by the Magyar's God above
We truly swear,
We truly swear the tyrant's yoke
No more to bear!
The sword is brighter than the chain,
Men cannot nobler gems attain;
And yet the chain we wore, oh, shame!
Unsheath the sword of ancient fame!
For by the Magyar's God above
We truly swear,
We truly swear the tyrant's yoke
No more to bear!
The Magyar's name will soon once more
Be honored as it was before!
The shame and dust of ages past
Our valor shall wipe out at last.
For by the Magyar's God above
We truly swear,
We truly swear the tyrant's yoke
No more to bear!
And where our graves in verdure rise,
Our children's children to the skies
Shall speak the grateful joy they feel,
And bless our names the while they kneel.
For by the Magyar's God above
We truly swear,
We truly swear the tyrant's yoke
No more to bear!