ABSTRACT
This chapter describes how the tensions between the different interpretations of the institutions of the February Republic played out during the first weeks of the new regime. Against the democratisation of the National Guard and Ledru-Rollin’s attempts to republicanise the country, the Conservative Guards organised a demonstration on 16 March. The following day, a massive counter-demonstration was organised by the club movement and the workers. By claiming to represent the represented, this demonstration led to a new understanding of the relationship of representation. Two forms of republicanism were formulated and confronted on this occasion. The first, democratic republicanism, embodied by Ledru-Rollin, considered that only true republicans, aiming to work towards the emancipation of the proletariat, could represent the people in a republic. The second interpretation, moderate republicanism, led by Lamartine, considered that the republic boiled down to universal suffrage.
