The French Second Republic was the republican government of France that existed between 1848 and 1852. It was established in February 1848, with the February Revolution that overthrew the July Monarchy of King Louis-Phillipe, and ended in December 1852. Following the election of president Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte in 1848 and the 1851 coup d'état the president staged, Bonaparte proclaimed himself Emperor Napoleon III and initiated the Second French Empire. The short-lived republic officially adopted the motto of the First Republic; Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité.