The Republicans in Power

Jules Ferry

Prominent Opportunist Republican leader; twice President of the Council and Minister of Education. created Ferry Laws and promoter of colonial expansion in Tunisia and Indochina.

Ferry Laws

A series of laws that made elementary education free, compulsory, and secular, abolishing religious instruction.

What is laïcité

The principle of secularism—public institutions should recognize no religious creed, only the nation and its government. Core legacy of the Ferry school reforms.

Léon Gambetta

Influential republican spokesman and parliamentary leader in the 1870s. Coined “les nouvelles couches sociales”

What does “les nouvelles couches sociales” mean

“New strata of society” — Gambetta’s term describing the rise of middle and lower-middle classes sharing political power with traditional elites.

Jules Grévy

Moderate republican president who replaced MacMahon in 1879, marking the definitive establishment of political democracy

MacMahon

Conservative President of the Republic whose failed coup in 1877 weakened the presidency and established parliamentary supremacy

Camille Sée

Republican reformer who authored the 1880 law establishing public secondary schools for girls

Auguste Bartholdi

French sculptor who created Marianne / Statue of Liberty, displayed in Paris before being shipped to New York.

Victor Hugo and why was his funeral significant

Celebrated poet and national icon; his 1885 secular state funeral symbolized the triumph of republican and secular values

Denis Poulot

Republican reformer and entrepreneur; mayor of Paris’s 11th arrondissement. Promoted secular education and urged workers to adopt bourgeois values and save money

Opportunist Republicans

Moderates who accepted the 1875 constitutional compromise and pursued gradual reforms when politically “opportune.” Led by Jules Ferry

Chamber of Deputies

The lower house of the legislature; represented popular sovereignty and served as the core institution of the new system. Most laws originated there

ministrables

A small group of experienced politicians who frequently reappeared in cabinets, providing continuity of policies despite frequent changes in government.

Mission Civilisatrice

The French idea of a “civilizing mission”—used to justify colonial expansion by claiming France had a moral duty to bring civilization to non-Europeans

Indigénat Law (1881)

Colonial law allowing French authorities to imprison natives without trial, force labor, and impose special taxes—contradicting France’s democratic ideals