Louis Philippe
www.educationforum.co.uk
Start of His Reign
LP’s supporters (the grande bourgeoisie) did a
number of things to gain popularity for his regime
at the start
1. He was not to be named Louis XIX to disassociate
him from the Bourbons
2. He was ‘King of the French by the will of the
people’ not King of France – suggesting he was a
constitutional not divine right monarch
3. He adopted the revolutionary tricolour flag not the
white flag of the bourbons
How significant do you think these changes were?
Constitutional Change
1. King could no longer rule by ordinance and could not suspend
laws alone
2. Assembly could now propose laws not just the King
3. Hereditary peers in Chamber of Peers abolished – now just life
peers
4. Tax qualification to be a deputy (MP) lowered to 500 Francs
and age limit reduced to 30
5. Tax qualification for voting lowered to 200 Francs – doubled
the electorate but still only 200,000 out of 35 million
6. National Guard reinstated in Paris
7. Press censorship abolished
8. Roman Catholicism no longer official religion now just ‘the
religion of the majority’
How significant do you think these changes were?
A Middle Class Monarchy?
All changes benefited the higher ranks of the
bourgeoisie who both disliked absolutism but
fear democracy and republicanism
Louis Philippe was a monarch with middle
class habits – cooked for himself, lived
relatively simply, dressed like a bourgeois not
a King – wore a top hat and carried an
umbrella
“Despotism had moved from Chateau to
Stock Exchange” Is this a fair assessment?
Group Tasks
Group A: Describe the Foreign Policy of Louis
Philippe – include the Belgian Revolt, Treaty of
London, Guizot and the Entente with Britain, 1846
Spanish marriages and impact on relations with
Britain. Evaluate whether LP’s foreign policy was
successful
Group B: Describe the Domestic Policy of Louis
Philippe – include Guizot and laissez faire,
education policy, demands for parliamentary reform,
rise of socialism and Bonapartism, Reform Banquets
Evaluate whether it was domestic policy which
sealed the fate of LP