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How did the July Monarchy change voting rules in France?
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Louis-Philippe
Louis-Philippe, detail of a portrait by F.X. Winterhalter; in the Chateau de Versailles, France.
The July Monarchy, established under Louis-Philippe following the July Revolution, implemented significant changes to the French electoral system to broaden the regime's social base among the wealthy bourgeoisie.12
Key reforms to voting rules included:
- Lowered Voting Age: The minimum age required to vote was reduced to 25.2
- Reduced Property Qualification: The financial requirement for suffrage was lowered, specifically reducing the direct tax payment threshold from 300 francs to 200 francs.2
These adjustments effectively doubled the number of eligible voters in France, increasing the electorate from approximately 90,000 to nearly 200,000 citizens. Despite these changes, the system remained restrictive, leading to ongoing political debate throughout the 1830s and 1840s regarding whether the suffrage should be further expanded to include the middle strata of the bourgeoisie.2