The founder of the Movement Party was
Jacques Laffitte, an
Orléanist banker who supported the
July Revolution of 1830. King
Louis Philippe I asked Lafitte to form a government, but it lasted only six months because the King became more conservative over time. The party members were Orléanists who believed that the
Charter of 1830 was a step toward a more
democratic regime and they actively supported
progressive policies such as a strong
parliamentary system, expanded
suffrage and
self-determination against foreign interests. After the fall of Lafitte,
Adolphe Thiers became party leader. Thiers was well connected to the King and became
Minister of the Interior in
Édouard Mortier's cabinet. As Minister of the Interior, Thiers was charged with repressing the
Canut revolts of 1834. He also supported repressive laws after
Giuseppe Marco Fieschi's assassination attempt against Louis Philippe. Thiers was appointed
Prime Minister briefly for two brief stints in 1836 and 1840, but his political fortune fell when his support to
Muhammad Ali's independence claim from the
Ottoman Empire caused tensions with
United Kingdom and
Prussia. Once confined to the
opposition, the Movement Party united with the other groups hostile towards the conservative governments of Louis Philippe. The party launched several
Campagne des banquets to support expanded suffrage. The party dissolved after the
tensions of 1848–1849 exploded into the
February Revolution that brought to Louis Philippe's fall and birth of the
Second French Republic. Many members of the Movement Party became
Moderate Republicans or merged in the
Party of Order. == Electoral results ==