Document Type
Honors Project
Publication Date
6-11-2026
Abstract
Between 1865 and 1878, Emperor Napoleon III of France attempted to use the Latin Monetary Union (LMU) to attain power via a universal, bimetallic European coinage system, but ultimately failed due to the preference for the gold standard within the wider movement for a universal coinage. In my research, I examine the International Monetary Conferences of 1865 and 1867, and explore the political landscape of France in the years leading up to the creation of the LMU, focusing on the Napoleonic echoes of the Second French Empire as instrumental factors in the LMU’s design. I argue that Napoleon III’s Empire was a reflection of the First French Empire in such a comprehensive way that it extended this reflection to the LMU and the Napoleonic tradition of bimetallism, even at the expense of alignment with other European economies. I then examine how the LMU experienced a prophesied collapse over the subsequent eleven years. Additionally, this small slice of relatively unexplored European economic history can function as a microcosm of the themes of international unification wherever and whenever the endeavor of economic integration is pursued.
Level of Honors
magna cum laude
Department
History
Advisor
Brigid Vance
Recommended Citation
Salerno, Jack, "Napoleon III, Bimetallism, and the Latin Monetary Union in the European Movement for Universal Coinage, 1865-1878" (2026). Lawrence University Honors Projects. 233.
https://lux.lawrence.edu/luhp/233