The government portrays the rebels as an…
July 1832 CE
Louis-Philippe has shown more energy and personal courage than his Bourbon predecessor Charles X had during the July Revolution two years before.
When the king appears in public his supporters greet him with cheers.
Subsequent identification of rebels will reveal that two thirds were working-class, a high proportion being construction workers.
Most others were shopkeepers or clerks.
A large number of weapons are confiscated in raids, and there are fears that military law will be imposed.
The government, which had come to power in a revolution, distances itself from its own revolutionary past, famously removing from view Delacroix's painting Liberty Leading the People, which had been commissioned to commemorate the events of 1830.
A young painter, Michel Geoffroy, is charged with starting the rebellion by waving the red flag.
He is sentenced to death, but a series of legal appeals leads to a prison sentence.
The real flag-bearer will be found a month later, and imprisoned for just a month due to his obvious mental instability.
Seven of the eighty-two trials will lead to other death sentences, all commuted to terms of imprisonment.
Republicans will use the trials to build support for their cause.
Several rebels will deliver republican speeches at their trial, including Charles Jeanne, one of the working-class leaders, who proudly defends his actions.
He is convicted and imprisoned, and will become a republican martyr when he dies in prison in 1837.