The 1848 Revolution welcomed in the majority of cases

For the major part of French Protestants, the July Monarchy represented the best of possible political regimes. Protestants reacted in various ways to the 1848 Revolution, all the more so since the initiators of the Second Republic were not anti-religious, and had called upon pastors and Catholic priests to participate in ceremonies of planting the trees of liberty.

The event was joyfully welcomed by many, such as the young E. de Pressensé, an active parishioner of the Chapelle Taitbout, deeply moved by the extreme poverty of the people, or Madame André-Walther, a well-known Parisian socialite who was convinced of the need for social reforms.

But to others, the event had negative connotations. Social unrest frightened many, with the exception of Guizot, who showed great dignity. Socialism and communism were considered as « rival religions » and Léon de Maleville, Interior Minister for a while in 1849, belonged to the Committee of the Association pour la propagande antisocialiste et l’amélioration des classes laborieuses. The most prominent pastors, influenced by Vinet’s thought, were opposed to the « pantheism » of Fourier, Louis Blanc and Proudhon. Leon Pilatte advocated Christianity as the only solution to the social problem. Athanase Coquerel, elected deputy for Paris with the backing of the very “bourgeois” « Comité démocratique protestant », sided with the conservative sectors opposed to all « subversive propaganda ».