In December the following year, a time when the U.S.A. had admitted little more than half its eventual complement of states to the Union, the Second Republic declared Algeria an integral part of France, transforming its vast territories into three French departments. It was a historic, indeed unique, step, and one which thereby set up for successive French republics a deadly trap from which they would find it well nigh impossible to escape.

DEFINE: Establishes the historical context of France's colonial weight against Abd-el-Kader's efforts.

Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Alge…, loc. 85