François Judith Paul Grévy (15 August 1807 – 9 September 1891), known as Jules Grévy (), was a French lawyer and politician who served as President of France from 1879 to 1887. He was a leader of the Moderate Republicans, and given that his predecessors were monarchists who tried without success to restore the French monarchy, Grévy is considered the first real republican president of France. During Grevy's presidency from 1879 to 1887, according to David Bell, there was a disunity among his cabinets. Only one survived more than a year. Grevy paid attention chiefly to defense, internal order, and foreign relations. Critics argue that Grevy's confusing approach to appointments set a bad precedent for handling crises. Grevy's son-in-law was implicated in a corruption scandal in 1887, and Grevy had to resign after exhausting the pool of willing politicians to form a fresh government.
Born in a small town in the Jura department, Grévy moved to Paris where he initially followed a career in law before becoming a republican activist. He began his political career after the French Revolution of 1848, as a member of the National Assembly of the French Second Republic, where he became known for his opposition to Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte and as a supporter of lesser authority for the executive branch. During the 1851 coup d'état by Louis-Napoléon he was briefly imprisoned, and afterwards retired from political life.
With the downfall of the Second French Empire and the reestablishment of the Republic in 1870, Grévy returned to prominence in national politics. After occupying high offices in the National Assembly and the Chamber of Deputies, he was elected president of France in 1879. During his presidency Grévy confirmed his longtime stance by diminishing his own executive authority in favor of the Parliament, and in foreign policy strove for peaceful relations and opposed colonialism. He was reelected in 1885, but two years later was compelled to resign due to a political scandal involving his son-in-law, although Grévy himself was not implicated. His nearly nine years as president of France are seen as the consolidation of the French Third Republic.
Early life and career
Grévy was born on 15 August 1807 in Mont-sous-Vaudrey, in the department of Jura, into a republican family. His paternal grandfather, Nicolas Grévy (1736–1812), the son of farmers from Aumont, moved to Mont-sous-Vaudrey during the French Revolution, where he bought the property of la Grangerie. He was a justice of the peace. Grévy's parents were François Hyacinthe Grevy (1773–1857) and Jeanne Gabrielle Planet (1782–1855). His father, who had joined the French Revolutionary Army as a volunteer in 1792, rose to become a battalion commander and fought in the Revolutionary Wars until retiring to Mont-sous-Vaudrey under the Consulate. He operated a tile factory on his property.
At age 10, Grévy started attending school at the nearby town of Poligny, and continued his studies in Besançon, Dole, and finally at the Faculty of Law of Paris. He became a lawyer at the Paris bar in 1837, distinguishing himself at the Conférence du barreau de Paris. Having steadily maintained republican principles under the July Monarchy, he started his political activity as a defense attorney in the trial of Philippet and Quignot, two accomplies of Armand Barbès in a failed republican insurrection on 12 May 1839.
Second Republic
In 1848, a revolution in France abolished the July Monarchy and led to the creation of the Second Republic, and with it Grévy was appointed Commissioner of the Republic for the department of Jura. In April 1848 he was elected by that department for a seat in the constituent National Assembly. On the signed declaration for his candidacy, Grévy demanded a "strong and liberal Republic, that makes itself loved for its wisdom and moderation". Foreseeing the rise of Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte in that year's presidential election he began to advocate a weak executive branch, and became famous during the debates on the drafting of the Constitution for his opposition to electing the president by universal suffrage, instead proposing that the executive power should be vested on a "President of the Council of Ministers", who would be appointed and dismissed by the directly elected National Assembly. The "Grévy Amendment", as it became known, was rejected, and in December 1848 Bonaparte was elected president of France.