Editing Alphonse de Lamartine (section)

===July Monarchy===
[[File:Alphonse de Lamartine.PNG|thumb|left|Lamartine by [[François Gérard]], 1830]]
Initially a monarchist, Lamartine came to embrace democratic ideals and opposed militaristic nationalism.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Mauriac|first=François|title=Francois Mauriac on Race, War, Politics and Religion|publisher=CUA Press|year=2015|isbn=978-0-8132-2789-4|location=Washington, D.C.|pages=258}}</ref> Around 1830, Lamartine's opinions shifted in the direction of liberalism.<ref name="Jenson" /> His first run for Parliament was an unsuccessful attempt in 1831 as a "board and moderate royalist". When elected in 1833 to the [[Chamber of Deputies (France)|Chamber of Deputies]], he was asked what side of the chamber he was going to sit on, he responded "on the ceiling".<ref>{{cite journal |last=Schapiro |first=J. Salwayn |date=1919 |title=Lamartine|url=https://doi.org/10.2307/2142031. |journal= Political Science Quarterly |volume=34 |issue=4 |page=633|doi=10.2307/2142031 |jstor=2142031 }}</ref> Throughout his time in the Chamber, Lamartine always sat in the opposition. He quickly founded his own "Social Party" with some influence from [[Saint-Simonian]] ideas and established himself as a prominent critic of the [[July Monarchy]]. Initially critical of both the Bourgeois Monarchy and the Republican agitators, Lamartine becoming more and more of a republican in the monarchy's last years.<ref name="Jenson" /><ref>{{cite book |last1=Halsted |first1=J.B. |title=Alphonse de Lamartine: History of the Revolution of 1848 |date=1969 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |pages=271–284}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Schapiro |first=J. Salwayn |date=1919 |title=Lamartine|url=https://doi.org/10.2307/2142031. |journal= Political Science Quarterly |volume=34 |issue=4 |pages=636–637|doi=10.2307/2142031 |jstor=2142031 }}</ref>

Lamartine denounced the French government's decision to back down during the [[Oriental Crisis of 1840]], forcing France's ally [[Muhammad Ali of Egypt|Muhammad Ali]] to surrender [[Crete]], [[Syria (region)|Syria]], and [[Hejaz]] to the [[Ottoman Empire]], calling it "the [[battle of Waterloo|Waterloo]] of French diplomacy"<ref>{{cite book |title=Levant: Splendour and Catastrophe on the Mediterranean|last=Mansel |first=Philip |year=2010 |publisher=Hachette UK|isbn=9781848544628| pages=86–87}}</ref> A follower of [[Lamennais]], Lamartine advocated the separation of church and state believing it allowed the church to better fulfill its diving mission.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Schapiro |first=J. Salwayn |date=1919 |title=Lamartine|url=https://academic.oup.com/psq/article-abstract/34/4/632/7247295?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false |journal= Political Science Quarterly |volume=34 |issue=4 |page=636|doi=10.2307/2142031 |jstor=2142031 }}</ref> By the end of the 30s the radical opposition considered Lamartine their leading spokesman against King [[Louis-Phillipe]] and [[François Guizot]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Schapiro |first=J. Salwayn |date=1919 |title=Lamartine|url=https://doi.org/10.2307/2142031. |journal= Political Science Quarterly |volume=34 |issue=4 |page=637|doi=10.2307/2142031 |jstor=2142031 }}</ref>

Lamartine's '' Histoire des Girondins'' was an instant success to the point that he styled himself the "Minister of Public Opinion" and considered one of the causes of the 1848 revolution.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Schapiro |first=J. Salwayn |date=1919 |title=Lamartine|url=https://doi.org/10.2307/2142031. |journal= Political Science Quarterly |volume=34 |issue=4 |pages=637–638|doi=10.2307/2142031 |jstor=2142031 }}</ref>