Originally, the Moderate Republicans was a group of politicians, writers and journalists close to the newspaper Le National. After the February Revolution of 1848, they became the official majority group in the Provisional Government led by Louis-Eugène Cavaignac, François Arago and Dupont de l'Eure that became the official head of the government. Reputed to be the winners of the 1848 Constituent Assembly election, the Moderate Republicans were strategically allied to The Mountain, the left-wing group, against the monarchists. During this time, the Moderate Republicans were also divided in two groups, namely the Sleeping Republicans and the Morning-after Republicans that opportunistically endorsed the new regime. These last were the Legitimists who hated the OrléanistJuly Monarchy and the Catholics who suffered until the Louis Philippe I's restrictions. After the 1848 election, the Moderate Republicans became the majority in the National Assembly, but this group was composed mainly of Morning-after Republicans with a temporary union. The formation of the Executive Commission was de facto dominated by the Moderate Republicans, with few concessions to the socialists. However, after the June Days uprising the opportunist group led by Adolphe Thiers started a hard politics against the socialists. The problems convinced the General Louis-Eugène Cavaignac, strong republican, to take over the Moderate Republicans, who was also the favourite candidate for the incumbent presidential election. The internal conflict in the Moderate Republicans caused a division regarding the official candidate between Cavaignac and Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, but at the end chose to support Cavaignac. The election of 1848 signalled the end of the Moderate Republicans government for the Party of Order led by Bonaparte. The elections of 1849 breng at the Moderate Republicans' isolation as they obtained only 75 seats. The disown was massive.
After 1849, the main opponents of the now commonly named Republicans were the Catholic Church, for its counter-revolutionary and reactionary ideas. However, Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte was a strong supporter of clericalism and the Concordat of 1801. In this time, the Republicans and the Bonapartists started a bitter rivalry. After the coup d'état of 1851 and the proclamation of the Second French Empire, Napoleon III repressed the Republicans, with 239 being imprisoned to Cayenne and 6,000 of 10,000 people interned in military camps in Algeria while some were guillotined or sentenced to house arrest in France. At the end, around 1,500 Republicans like Victor Hugo were exiled from France. Despite the amnesty of 15 August 1859, some exiled Republicans never returned to France. Hugo coined the expression "When liberty returns, I will return". With the weakening of the French Empire, the Republicans returned to the political scene and took advantage of the liberal laws of 1868 and some diplomatic difficulties. They became the official opposition group with the Léon Gambetta's Belleville Agenda of 1869 based on radical, progressive, laicist and reformist goals. In the final years of the French Empire, the Republicans were divided in three factions:
The Moderates like Émile Ollivier that accepted Napoleon III's rule and the French Empire's ideas.
The Pragmatics, de jure aligned with the Empire, but de facto its enemies.
The Close Left, whom refused to vow loyalty to the French Empire and checked out of the political scene.
