Elections in Algeria and the French Colonies Under the Third Republic

The representation of colonies in the French parliament is one of the many oddities characterizing France's colonial system. Nothing similar is found in the political institutions of any other European colonial power. This representation is a direct result of the doctrines of the French Revolution, which preached the equality of man irrespective of race, color, or political education. Thus during the years of the National Assembly delegates from Santo Domingo, Martinique, and Guadeloupe were admitted, and on August 22, 1792, all of the colonies were given representation in the national parliament. This equality lasted until the advent of Napoleon and the constitution of the Year VIII, which suppressed the colonial deputies entirely for nearly fifty years. The political idealists of 1848 not only freed all slaves in the colonies, but also gave them the political rights of French citizens. In good Bonapartist tradition, Napoleon III, in 1852, put an end to this political experimentation, and only Algeria participated in the plebiscites of 1852 and 1870. When the Government of National Defense succeeded the Second Empire and by the decree of September 8, 1870, called an election on the basis of the electoral law of March 15, 1849, Algeria and the colonies regained their political representation at Paris; and they have kept it until the present time.