Editing Napoleon III (section)

===Prince-President (1848–1851)===
Louis Napoleon moved his residence to the [[Élysée Palace]] at the end of December 1848 and immediately hung a portrait of his mother in the boudoir and a portrait of Napoleon I, in his coronation robes, in the grand salon. Adolphe Thiers recommended that he wear clothing of "democratic simplicity", but following the model of his uncle, he chose instead the uniform of the General-in-Chief of the [[National Guard (France)|National Guard]], and chose the title of "Prince-President".{{Sfn|Milza|2006|p=194}}

Louis Napoleon also made his first venture into foreign policy, in Italy, where as a youth he had joined in the patriotic uprising against the Austrians. The previous government had sent an expeditionary force, which had been tasked and funded by the National Assembly to support the [[Revolutions of 1848 in the Italian states|republican forces]] in Italy against the Austrians and against the Pope. Instead the force was secretly ordered to do the opposite, namely to enter Rome to help restore the [[Temporal power of the Holy See|temporal authority]] of [[Pope Pius IX]], who had been overthrown by Italian republicans including [[Mazzini]] and [[Garibaldi]]. The French troops came under fire from Garibaldi's soldiers. The Prince-President, without consulting his ministers, ordered his soldiers to fight if needed in support of the Pope. This was very popular with French Catholics, but infuriated the republicans, who supported the [[Roman Republic (1849)|Roman Republic]].{{Sfn|Milza|2006|p=194}} To please the radical republicans, he asked the Pope to introduce liberal reforms and the ''[[Code Napoleon]]'' to the [[Papal States]]. To gain support from the Catholics, he approved the ''[[Loi Falloux]]'' in 1851, which restored a greater role for the [[Catholic Church in France|Catholic Church]] in the French educational system.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Roger Price |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vqd6MdOYZkwC&pg=PA16 |title=Napoléon III and the Second Empire |date=1997 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-2031-3424-5 |page=16}}</ref>

Elections were held for the [[1849 French legislative election|National Assembly on 13–14 May 1849]], only a few months after Louis Napoleon had become president, and were largely won by a coalition of conservative republicans—which Catholics and monarchists called "The [[Party of Order]]"—led by Thiers. The socialists and "red" republicans, led by Ledru-Rollin and Raspail, also did well, winning two hundred seats. The moderate republicans, in the middle, did very badly, taking just 70–80 seats. The Party of Order had a clear majority, enough to block any initiatives of Louis Napoleon.{{Sfn|Milza|2006|pp=208–209}}

On 11 June 1849, the socialists and radical republicans made an attempt to seize power. [[Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin|Ledru-Rollin]], from his headquarters in the [[Conservatoire national des arts et métiers|Conservatory of Arts and Professions]], declared that Louis Napoleon was no longer President and called for a general uprising. A few barricades appeared in the working-class neighborhoods of Paris. Louis Napoleon acted swiftly, and the uprising was short-lived. Paris was declared in a state of siege, the headquarters of the uprising was surrounded, and the leaders arrested. Ledru-Rollin fled to England, Raspail was arrested and sent to prison, the republican clubs were closed, and their newspapers closed down.

The National Assembly, now without the left republicans and determined to keep them out forever, proposed a new election law that placed restrictions on universal male suffrage, imposing a three-year residency requirement. This new law excluded 3.5 of 9&nbsp;million French voters, the voters that the leader of the Party of Order, Adolphe Thiers, scornfully called "the vile multitude".{{Sfn|Cobban|1965|p=155}} This new election law was passed in May 1850 by a majority of 433 to 241, putting the National Assembly on a direct collision course with the Prince-President.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ronald Aminzade |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kTbybLDLPiAC&pg=PA299 |title=Ballots and Barricades: Class Formation and Republican Politics in France, 1830–1871 |date=1993 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-6910-2871-2 |page=299}}</ref> Louis Napoleon broke with the Assembly and the conservative ministers opposing his projects in favour of the dispossessed. He secured the support of the army, toured the country making populist speeches that condemned the Assembly, and presented himself as the protector of universal male suffrage. He demanded that the law be changed, but his proposal was defeated in the Assembly by a vote of 355 to 348.{{Sfn|Cobban|1965|p=156}}

According to the Constitution of 1848, Louis Napoleon had to step down at the end of his term. He sought a constitutional amendment to allow him to succeed himself, arguing that four years were not enough to fully implement his political and economic program. He toured the country and gained support from many of the regional governments and many within the Assembly. The vote in July 1851 was 446 to 278 in favor of changing the law and allowing him to run again, but this was short of the two-thirds majority needed to amend the constitution.<ref>{{Cite book |last=John Stevens Cabot Abbott |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofnapoleo00abbo |title=The history of Napoleon III., emperor of the French |date=1873 |publisher=B.B. Russell |page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofnapoleo00abbo/page/418 418]}}</ref>