France had the most far-reaching and violent of the rebellions against the state. After the grand yet tragic rule of Louis XIV, the Bourbon kings watched as their power slipped out of their hands like a bar of soap. The Bourbon king Louis XIV, the powerful monarch of the early seventeenth century (1661-1715), had been the most successful absolute monarch in history, but his grandiose imperial ambitions led to massive military failure and had left his country in economic ruin. Because of the lost wars such as the War of the League of Augsburg and the Seven Years War with England

It was the spring of 1815, the season of restoration to add a since of parallelism, in which the major powers of Britain, Russia, Prussia and Austria sat down at the Congress of Vienna to restore the continent to its pre-revolutionary status. The leading spirit of the conference, Prince Klemens von Metternich of Austria, was clever in his dealings with France and through smart usage of his military came out of the war as the main victor. Metternich also persuaded the other victorious nations to hold the conference in Vienna, Austria’s capital, to gain more advantage. The foreign minister of France, Prince Tallyrand, was also an intellectual man, dedicated to France, and through some traitorous deeds he secured a place for himself in the post-war government. (He had realized Napoleon would not succeed, and had given aid to the enemies.) Tallyrand wanted to restore the Bourbon Dynasty to the throne and in doing so, protect the lands France possessed before the revolution. He used the excuse of legitimacy, or legality, to support his proposition. Tallyrand used the other nations differences to extract a settlement in which France could participate. His plea was accepted by the other nations and Louis XVIII was restored to the throne. Louis felt obligated to permit a constitution that limited his powers and he also retained Napoleon’s code and educational system. He rewarded Tallyrand for his success in the debate by appointing him as, once again, the foreign minister of France.

The Supreme Court is the major authority of judicial review, and reviews the most pressing constitutional issues, federal or state, and has overturned 125 federal statutes and 1200 state laws and municipal ordinances, since the early nineteenth century. The power of judicial review also belongs to state courts and even municipal courts. Every court in the country has the right and duty to review laws that pertain to their area and check them for compliance with both state and federal constitutions. Since the court system can check the legislature, it too must have some limitations to its power. This limitation is the fact that the courts are allowed to review a law and determine if it is constitutional, only if the law in question is brought before them by someone who has actually been affected by it. The courts also cannot review an issue that the constitution states is a function of another branch of the government.

The conference was concerned mainly with restoring the peace that the Peace of Westphalia had achieved. They wanted to return the holdings of the titled rulers of Europe that had secured a balance of power in Europe. Through the conference, new allies were made, plans of Russia and Prussia to expand their empire were stifled by the alliance of Metternich (Austria), Tallyrand (France), and Lord Castlereagh (Britain). Finally a compromise was reached that did not re-create the Europe of 1648, it just provided territorial compensation to the states that had contributed to Napoleon’s defeat. Russia gained Finland, which was taken from Sweden who then received Norway as compensation. Napoleon had merged many small, German states into a league of minor kingdoms known as the Confederation of the Rhine. The conference agreed to keep this confederation, which was joined by Austria and Prussia and re-named the German Confederation.

Some topics in this essay:
Louis XVI, Magna Carta, Bill Rights, Supreme Court, French Revolution, Napoleonic Code, Basically French, France Unfortunately, Dictatorship Napoleon, Spain France, bill rights, magna carta, judicial review, louis xvi, french revolution, english bill, english bill rights, louis xiv, english constitution, “pillar” english constitution, due process, national convention, due process law, foreign minister france, stage french revolution,