ABSTRACT
Napoleon III’s regime brought a degree of stability and glory to France which she had not experienced since 1815. However, the period of the Second Empire is difficult to disentangle and the conflicting elements have produced many different historical assessments. Louis Napoleon had great confidence that it was his destiny to rule France and carry on where his uncle had left off. This meant that he wanted to build upon the 1815 amendments to the Imperial constitution and the Napoleonic legend and create a system of authority
from above with confidence from below. Quite how this could be achieved was a little vague, but the 1852 constitution made the attempt and also contained signs that it would be liberalised in future. However, the coup d’état of December 1851 was sufficiently violent to damage Napoleon III’s claim that he had acted for the people, and it was not until the 1860s that the liberalisation of the regime began. It went slowly to begin with, giving the appearance that it was driven more by the need to conciliate opposition out of weakness rather than being from principle and out of strength.
