The Gendered Prism of Liberty

Abstract After the Revolution of 1830, French liberals presented the newly created July Monarchy as defending individual rights and liberties. However, in the early 1830s, resistance by legitimists, who supported the fallen Bourbon Monarchy, led the government to use repressive measures against citizens in parts of western France. This article analyzes how two forms of repression, the shooting of legitimist deserters and searches of their homes, inspired debates about the meaning of liberty. Responding to stories of government repression, legitimists portrayed liberals as heartless politicians who restricted liberty and destroyed families in pursuit of political power. They also constructed their own vision of a free society in which respect for the intimate bonds of family and the sanctity of the domestic sphere acted as a bulwark against abuses of state power. The article shows how liberals and legitimists fashioned competing ideas of liberty through discourses about gender and emotion.