Universal male suffrage in France

The 1848 decree established voting rights for adult French men, replacing a system in which property qualifications restricted the electorate.

French Revolution of 1848: The uprising that ended the July Monarchy and established the French Second Republic in February 1848. The revolution created the provisional government that enacted male suffrage.
Decree of 5 March 1848: The French provisional government's decree that established universal male suffrage for national elections. This decree gave the principle legal force and specified the new electorate.
1848 French presidential election: The December 1848 election that chose Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte as president of France. The enlarged electorate produced a decisive national contest and Bonaparte's victory.
Censitary suffrage: A voting system that grants the franchise only to people meeting a property or tax threshold. It was the property-based system replaced by the 1848 decree.
July Monarchy: The French constitutional monarchy ruled by Louis-Philippe from 1830 to 1848. Its restricted electorate became the system the revolution displaced.
French electoral law of 1849: A law governing elections to the French Legislative Assembly under the Second Republic. It altered the practical reach of the 1848 franchise through residence requirements.
Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte: The president of the French Second Republic from 1848 who became Emperor Napoleon III in 1852. He gained office through the first French presidential election by universal male suffrage.
July Revolution: The 1830 uprising that removed Charles X and established the July Monarchy in France. It changed the regime but left a narrow, property-qualified electorate.
Electoral reform movement in France: A nineteenth-century campaign to broaden political participation by changing France's electoral laws. Reformers challenged the property qualifications that excluded most men.
National Constituent Assembly election of 1848: The April 1848 election that chose representatives to draft a constitution for the Second Republic. It was the first national election conducted under the new suffrage.

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