Thinking Like a Historian: The Republican Spirit in 1848

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The Republican Spirit in 1848

Political leaders, prominent intellectuals, and ordinary citizens were all inspired by powerful reformist ideologies in the revolutions of 1848: liberalism and especially republicanism. Though the revolutions were crushed, the political ideals articulated by the revolutionaries lived on. How do the various ideas and policies embodied in the “republican spirit” continue to influence politics today?

1 Decrees of the provisional republican government in Paris, February 1848. After a revolutionary mob overturned the bourgeois monarchy of Louis Philippe, the provisional republican government issued the following decrees.

image The Overthrow of the Orléanist Monarchy 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 [1830]; 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. . . .

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 Relating to the Workingmen

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 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 provisional government of the republic decrees the immediate establishment of national workshops.

2 Demands of the German People (political pamphlet from Mannheim, Germany), 1848. In small towns and communities across German-speaking lands, citizens inspired by republicanism met and confronted autocratic governments with lists of demands in pamphlets and petitions.

image A German parliament, freely elected by the people. Every German man of 21 years of age and above should have the right to vote in a parliamentary election. . . .

Unconditional freedom of the press.

Complete freedom of religion, conscience and teaching.

Administration of justice before a jury.

General granting of citizen’s rights for German citizens.

A just system of taxation based on income.

Prosperity, training, and teaching for all.

Protection and security of jobs.

Balancing out of disparities between capital and labor.

Popular and just State administration.

Responsibility of Ministers and civil servants.

Removal of all prejudices.

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3 Frederic Sorrieu, Universal Democratic and Social Republic: The Pact, 1848. The subtitle of this French lithograph, which celebrates the revolutionary breakthroughs of 1848, reads “People, Forge a Holy Alliance and Hold Hands.” An embodiment of the republican ethos, it portrays the peoples of Europe holding their respective national flags. A heavenly host blesses the gathering, and the shattered symbols of Europe’s monarchies litter the foreground.
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(Musée de la Ville Paris, Musée Carnavalet, Paris, France/Bridgeman Images)
4 Carl Schurz, The Reminiscences of Carl Schurz,1913. Politician and journalist Carl Schurz explains how the threat of autocratic “reaction” (or political repression) led to radical republicanism.

image [T]he visible development of the reaction had the effect of producing among many of those who stood earnestly for national unity and constitutional government a state of mind more open to radical tendencies. The rapid progress of these developments was clearly perceptible in my own surroundings. Our democratic club was composed in almost equal parts of students and citizens, among whom there were many of excellent character, of some fortune and good standing, and of moderate views, while a few others had worked themselves into a state of mind resembling that of the terrorists in the French Revolution. . . .

At first the establishment of a constitutional monarchy with universal suffrage and well-secured civil rights would have been quite satisfactory to us. But the reaction, the threatened rise of which we were observing, gradually made many of us believe that there was no safety for popular liberty except in a republic. . . .

The idealism which saw in the republican citizen the highest embodiment of human dignity we had imbibed from the study of classic antiquity; and the history of the French Revolution satisfied us that a republic could be created in Germany and could maintain its existence in the European system of states. In that history we found striking examples of the possibility of accomplishing the seemingly impossible, if only the whole energy existing in a great nation were awakened and directed with unflinching boldness.

Most of us, indeed, recoiled from the wild excesses which had stained with streams of innocent blood the national uprising in France during the Reign of Terror; but we hoped to stir up the national energies without such terrorism. At any rate, the history of the French Revolution furnished to us models in plenty that mightily excited our imagination. How dangerously seductive such a play of the imagination is we were, of course, then unaware.

ANALYZING THE EVIDENCE

  1. Why would republican ideologies appeal to ordinary people in 1848? What groups might oppose or be indifferent to republicanism? Why did reformists present liberal-republican ideals in visual formats, as in Source 3?
  2. Review the section on liberalism and republicanism in this chapter (see “Liberalism and the Middle Class”). Which aspects of the evidence presented in Sources 1–4 appear more liberal, and which appear more republican? Does a close reading of the sources reveal conflicts between liberal and republican ideals?
  3. In Source 4, how does Carl Schurz explain the benefits of radical republicanism but also its potential problems?

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

Using the sources above, along with what you have learned in class and in this chapter, write a short essay that evaluates the appeal of republicanism in 1848. What is the role of “the people” or “the citizen” in the republican spirit of 1848? How does that differ from the conservative viewpoint?

Sources: (1) James Harvey Robinson, Readings in European History, vol. 2 (Boston: Ginn and Company, 1906), pp. 559–561; (2) Questions on German History: Ideas, Forces, Decisions from 1800 to the Present (Bonn: German Bundestag, Press and Information Centre, Publications’ Section, 1984), p. 119 (punctuation has been updated); (4) Carl Schurz, The Reminiscences of Carl Schurz, vol. 1 (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Co., 1913), pp. 136–137 (punctuation has been updated).