Lacordaire believed that state control of education compromised religious instruction, especially in colleges, and that most students lost their faith upon leaving school. He was against the government's monopoly of the universities, and opposed Montalivet, the minister of public education and faith. On 9 May 1831 Lacordaire and Montalembert opened a free school, rue des Beaux-Arts, which was shut down by the police two days later. At a trial which took place in front of the Chambre des Pairs (Chamber of Peers) Lacordaire defended himself, but failed to prevent the permanent closure of the school.
In quasi-retirement, he dedicated himself to the education of youth as permitted by the Falloux Laws. In July 1852 he accepted the leadership of a school in Oullins, near Lyon, then a similar role at the school of Sorèze in Tarn in 1854. Finally, on 2 February 1860, he was elected to the Académie française, filling the seat of Alexis de Tocqueville, whose eulogy he had delivered. His election represented a protest by the Académie and Catholic sympathizers against Napoléon III, who had conceded to allowing the Italian states of Florence, Midena, Parma, and Bologna to withdraw from the Papal States and ally themselves with independent Piedmont. Encouraged by opponents of the Imperial Regime, supported by Montalembert and Berryer, he agreed that he would not criticize Napoléon III's intervention in Italian politics. His reception at the Académie was therefore not controversial.