NAPOLEON III
(Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte | Louis Napoleon)
Louis Napoleon Bonaparte. The “colonies” to which we was referring were the French Colonies in the Caribbean—particularly Haiti. The Black slaves had revolted against the slave-owners and had taken over all positions of authority and wore the uniforms and symbols of power including the epaulettes—the gold braid shoulder pieces that were symbols of high rank in military and diplomatic uniforms which were worn on all official occasions. Napoleon never did make good on his vow. He had many more problems with his own wars and governance in Europe. This quote does demonstrate the racism that existed in supposedly tolerant France.
The Emperor had made his brother King of Holland, thinking of it as an unimportant backwater of the French Empire. But Louis took his oath and job very seriously, and although he did not have the great talent of his brother, he made a serious effort to be a good king.
Louis Napoleon Bonaparte. Louis Napoleon was running for the President of the new revolutionary government. Because he had been the nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte, he had been banned from France but returned after the 1848 revolution. His speech appears, in retrospect, ridiculous since within a year from his election, he would declare himself Emperor after engineering a coup and taking over the entire government.
Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew of Napoleon I, he was the last monarch to reign over France. First elected to the presidency of the Second Republic in 1848, he seized power by force in 1851, when he could not constitutionally be reelected; he later proclaimed himself Emperor of the French.
