Falloux, Frédéric-Albert, count de

(1811-1886)

   political figure

   Of an aristocratic family, Frédéric-Albert, count of Falloux was born in Angers. In 1846 he was elected a deputy and, after the revolution of 1848, was a member of the Constituent Assembly. After having contributed to the closing of the National workshops (Ateliers nationaux), he supported the candidacy of Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte (later napoleon III) for the presidency of the republic. Named minister of public instruction (1848-49), he composed the first law on freedom of instruction, which, when approved on March 15, 1850, originally favored sectarian education. The Falloux Law, as it is known, was modified several times. It affirmed the role of the laity in primary public education (1882, 1886), abolished congregational teaching (1901, 1902, 1904), and revised the policy of financing of private schools through public funds (1994). Falloux, when elected deputy to the Legislative Assembly (May 1849), opposed the policies of the prince-president, and he was arrested during the coup d'état of December 2, 1851. During the second EMPiRE,he contributed to a liberal Catholic newspaper, Le Correspondent, and, after the abdication of Napoléon III, sought reconciliation between the Legitimists and the orléanists in the hope of restoring the monarchy. He is the author of Mémoires d'un royaliste (1888) and was elected to the Académie Française in 1856.