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| 1869, May 23, 24 |
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| Parliamentary elections gave the government 4,438,000 votes to the opposition's 3,355,000. The Third Party, in cooperation with 40 deputies of the Left, demanded the creation of a responsible ministry and secured a majority of 116. | 1 |
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| July 12 |
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| Napoleon III adopted the program of the 116. The Senate (Sept. 6) decreed a new regime and the Corps législatif could now propose laws, criticize and vote the budget, and choose its own officers; the Senate became a deliberative body with public sessions. Ministers were declared responsible but were to “depend on the emperor alone.” | 2 |
| Léon Gambetta's Belleville program, articulated during his bid for election in the Parisian working-class district of Belleville, demanded freedom of the press, right of meeting, right of combination, trial by jury for all political offenses, separation of church and state, and suppression of the standing army. This statement became central in defining republicanism. | 3 |
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