Pursuit of Lebanese independence In 1922, the French Mandate of Syria and Lebanon assigned France control of the government of what are now Lebanon and Syria, separating them from the former Ottoman Empire. It provided for the placement of French troops within both nations in order to defend both states and their sovereignty, in addition to establishing Lebanese and Syrian militias to support the Mandate. Additionally, the French mandate allowed France complete access to infrastructure in both Lebanon and Syria, sole control over their foreign relations, and power over the excavation and archeological research of antique artifacts in both countries. It established the official languages in both nations as French and Arabic. Also, it specified that France must report back to the League of Nations on a yearly basis with a report of the progress in Lebanon and Syria. Though promising both countries financial compensation and reimbursement for these decisions, there was significant pushback from those in both Syria and Lebanon. In Lebanon specifically, prior to attaining independence, much of the government's efforts and politics in general were simply centered around gaining independence from France. When finally on the verge of attaining independence, the difficulty in finding effective ways of organizing the government became most apparent given the enormous religious diversity of the country. The creation of the National Pact gave Lebanon a solidified structure to pursue with their new found independence, though not necessarily appeasing all religious groups within the country. For many, it provided a necessary order and an outward sense of unity and multi-confessionalism that would allow them to maintain their own political state. (). Implications of the 1932 Lebanese census In 1932, the Lebanese government under French mandate conducted a census that ultimately determined political representation within the Lebanese government after acquiring independence through the National Pact. The census served not only to discover the ratios of different religious sects within Lebanon, ultimately determining the ratios within the government, but it also determined Lebanese citizenship through a focus on the documentation of immigrants as well. Because the results of the census demonstrated a Maronite Christian majority of 51%, the National Pact then set in place the requirements of a Maronite Christian always holding the presidency and the parliament having a 6:5 ratio in favor of Christians as well. Some controversy arose in response to the census. The first of which being that the census did not