Study sheet: French Republic Values and Symbols

📋 Course Outline

1. Republic and Constitutional Framework
2. Republican Values
3. Republican Principles
4. Constitutional Republican Symbols

📖 1. Republic and Constitutional Framework

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Political regime : the way a country is governed
• Republic : a political regime in which leaders are elected
• Constitution : the text that defines the organization of a political regime

★ Must-know

• The Constitution of the Fifth Republic, currently in force, dates from 1958.

Further detail

• In France, the political regime has been a republic since 1870 almost without interruption, except during the Second World War.

📖 2. Republican Values

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Republican values : ideals to achieve and moral guides that inspire choices; together, they form the national motto
• Liberty : that people may act as they wish as long as they respect others and the law
• Equality : that everyone has the same rights and the same duties
• Fraternity : that people must show solidarity with one another because they are all brothers and sisters

📝 Essential Points

• The three fundamental values are:
  • liberty
  • equality
  • fraternity

💡 Memory Hook

LÉF: Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité

📖 3. Republican Principles

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Republican principles : rules of conduct that frame actions and make it possible to apply republican values concretely in everyday life
• Democratic principle : that power belongs to the people, who elect their representatives by universal suffrage
• Indivisible principle : that laws are the same for everyone and in every region
• Secular principle : that the Republic is neutral and independent from religions
• Social principle : that the Republic seeks to promote individual well-being and helps the most disadvantaged people

📝 Essential Points

• Universal suffrage is associated with 1848 and then 1944 in the course.

• The course associates secularism with 1905.

💡 Memory Hook

Values inspire ideals; principles organize their application

📖 4. Constitutional Republican Symbols

★ Must-know

• The four symbols present in the Constitution are:

  • the French language
  • the tricolour flag
  • the national motto
  • the national anthem La Marseillaise

• The four other symbols are:

  • Marianne, an allegory of the Republic
  • the national holiday on 14 July
  • the Grand Seal of France
  • the rooster, whose Latin name gallus means both “rooster” and “Gaulish”

• On 14 July, France celebrates its national holiday, associated with the storming of the Bastille in 1789.

Further detail

• Marianne is an allegory of the Republic.

• The national anthem is La Marseillaise.

📊 Synthesis Tables

Values and Principles

Category	Notions	Role
Values	Liberty, equality, fraternity	Ideals and moral guides
Principles	Democratic, indivisible, secular, social	Rules that apply values concretely