Jacques-Charles Dupont de l'Eure (; 27 February 17673 March 1855) was a French lawyer and statesman. He is best known as the first head of state of the Second Republic, after the collapse of the

July Monarchy The July Monarchy (), officially the ''Kingdom of France'' (), was a liberalism, liberal constitutional monarchy in France under , starting on 9 August 1830, after the revolutionary victory of the July Revolution of 1830, and ending 26 Februar ...

as a result of the

French Revolution of 1848 The French Revolution of 1848 (), also known as the February Revolution (), was a period of civil unrest in France, in February 1848, that led to the collapse of the July Monarchy and the foundation of the French Second Republic. It sparked t ...

Biography

Early career

Born in Le Neubourg,

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

, he was a lawyer at the ''

parlement Under the French Ancien Régime, a ''parlement'' () was a provincial appellate court of the Kingdom of France. In 1789, France had 13 ''parlements'', the original and most important of which was the ''Parlement'' of Paris. Though both th ...

'' of Normandy when the French Revolution began. During the First Republic and the First Empire, he filled successive judicial offices at Louviers,

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine, in northwestern France. It is in the prefecture of Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one ...

and Évreux. He had adopted revolutionary principles, and in 1798 began his political life as a member of the

French Directory The Directory (also called Directorate; ) was the system of government established by the Constitution of the Year III, French Constitution of 1795. It takes its name from the committee of 5 men vested with executive power. The Directory gov ...

's Council of Five Hundred. In 1813 he became a member of the '' Corps législatif'' and, during the Hundred Days, was vice-president of the

chamber of deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...

. When the Seventh Coalition armies entered Paris, he drew up the declaration asserting the necessity of maintaining the principles of government that had been established at the Revolution. He was chosen as one of the commissioners to negotiate with the Coalition sovereigns.

Prominence

From 1817 until 1849 (through the Bourbon Restoration and the July Monarchy) he was, without interruption, a member of the chamber of deputies, and he acted consistently with the Liberal opposition, of which he was the virtual leader. For a few months in 1830 he held office as Minister of Justice, but, finding himself out of harmony with his colleagues, resigned before the end of the year and resumed his place in the opposition.

Second Republic

When the 1848 Revolution began, Dupont de l'Eure was made President of the provisional assembly, being its oldest member. On the same day, he was made President of the Provisional Government, becoming France's de facto

Head of State A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...

. He can therefore be considered as France's first Presidential Head of State, though Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, later in the same year, was the first to formally bear the title of President of the French Republic. His prestige and popularity prevented the heterogeneous republican coalition from having to immediately agree upon a common leader. Due to his great age (upon entering office, he was just a few days short of his 81st birthday), Dupont de l'Eure effectively delegated part of his duties to Minister of Foreign Affairs Alphonse de Lamartine. On 4 May, he resigned in order to make way for the Executive Commission, which he declined to join. He supported Louis-Eugène Cavaignac against Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte. In 1849, having failed to secure his re-election to the chamber, he retired from public life. His consistency in defending the cause of constitutional liberalism throughout the many changes of his times gained him the respect of many of his countrymen, who referred to Dupont de l'Eure as "''

Aristides Aristides ( ; , ; 530–468 BC) was an ancient Athenian statesman. Nicknamed "the Just" (δίκαιος, ''díkaios''), he flourished at the beginning of Athens' Classical period and is remembered for his generalship in the Persian War. ...

of the French tribune''".

References