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In the first place, as Sand noted, the sheer numbers involved make such a scenario highly unlikely. Louis-Napoleon did not hold the reins of state firmly enough to have carried out truly massive fraud, and he had not held them long enough for Bonapartist propaganda to have so thoroughly effaced the memory of other political possibilities for so many people. Moreover, other indicators of Louis-Napoleon's popularity—prefects' reports, for example—do exist, while there is little evidence of widespread dissatisfaction with the results of the plebiscite.

Worked better. By standing in opposition to the personal cheers for Louis-Napoleon, this cheer for the Republic clearly voiced support for the left. Yet since it voiced support for the current form of government and did not call for radical change, it was hard to repress. The Divided Republic 25 The repression cast a pall on the celebration of the second anniversary of the February Revolution in 1850. The official circular from the minister of the interior to the prefects requesting them to make plans for the celebration made clear that nothing more than minimal conformity with the law was required.

These sources generally portrayed the crowds as either curious but apathetic or supportive of the Republic, and they usually interpreted any enthusiasm for Louis-Napoleon as the product of threats, intimidation, or bribery. The radicals placed direct responsibility for this manufacturing of Bonapartist enthusiasm at the doorstep of the Societe du Dix Decembre, a group named for the date of the 1848 presidential election that maintained nominally charitable status to avoid the ban on political meetings.