The Failure of Moderate Republicanism

Abstract

THE JULY REVOLUTION OF 1830 WAS STUNNINGLY SWIFT, a matter of days instead of years. On Monday, 26 July, King Charles X issued the four ordonnances, a bold attempt to subvert the constitution and increase royal power. By late Thursday morning, he had lost control of Paris; by Saturday, the duc d’Orléans had accepted an invitation from the Chamber of Deputies to become Lieutenant General of the kingdom. On Monday, 2 August—just a week after the ordonnances had appeared—Charles X abdicated on behalf of his grandson. On 7 August, the Chamber approved a hasty revision of the constitution. And on Monday, 9 August, a mere two weeks after it all began, the duc d’Orléans was installed as Louis-Philippe I, King of the French.¹