Napoleon's Constitution

The Constitution of the Year VIII, adopted in 1799 and accepted by the popular vote in 1800, established the form of government known as the Consulate that presumed virtually dictatorial powers of the First Consul - Napoleon Bonaparte.

Learning Objective

Assess Napoleon's Constitution and whether it upheld the ideals of the French Revolution.

Key Points

Napoleon and his allies overthrew the Directory by a coup d'état on November 9, 1799 (the Coup of 18 Brumaire), closing down the Council of Five Hundred. Napoleon became the First Consul for ten years, with two consuls appointed by him but they had consultative voices only. His power was confirmed by the new Constitution of the Year VIII, which preserved the appearance of a republic but in reality established a dictatorship.
The Constitution of the Year VIII was adopted on December 24, 1799 and established the form of government known as the Consulate. The new government was composed of three parliamentary assemblies: the Council of State, which drafted bills, the Tribunate which could not vote on the bills but instead debated them, and the Legislative Assembly, which could not discuss the bills, but whose members voted on them after reviewing the Tribunate's debate record. The Conservative Senate (Sénat conservateur) was a governmental body equal to the three aforementioned legislative assemblies.
The executive power was vested in three Consuls, but all actual power was held by the First Consul, Bonaparte, who never intended to be part of an equal triumvirate. As the years would progress he would move to consolidate his own power as First Consul, and leave the two other consuls as well as the Assemblies weak and subservient.
On February 7, 1800, a public referendum confirmed the new constitution. It vested all of the real power in the hands of the First Consul, leaving only a nominal role for the other two consuls. Over 99% of voters approved the motion, according to the released results. While this near-unanimity is certainly doubtful, Napoleon was genuinely popular among many voters.
The Constitution was amended twice and in each case, the amendments strengthened Napoleon's already concentrated power. The Constitution of the Year X (1802) made Napoleon First Consul for Life. In 1804, the Constitution of the Year XII established the First French Empire with Napoleon Bonaparte as Napoleon I, Emperor of the French. The Constitution established the House of Bonaparte as France's imperial dynasty, making the throne hereditary in Napoleon's family.
The Constitution of the Year XII was later extensively amended by the Additional Act (1815), after Napoleon returned from exile on Elba. The document virtually replaced the previous Napoleonic Constitutions.

Terms

Consulate
The government of France from the fall of the Directory in the Coup of 18 Brumaire (1799) until the start of the Napoleonic Empire in 1804. By extension, the term also refers to this period of French history. During this period, Napoleon Bonaparte, as First Consul, established himself as the head of a more liberal, authoritarian, autocratic, and centralized republican government in France while not declaring himself head of state.
Additional Act
A document, known also as the Charter of 1815, signed on April 22, 1815, which was in fact the French constitution prepared by Benjamin Constant at the request of Napoleon I after he returned from exile on Elba. It extensively amended (in fact virtually replacing) the previous Napoleonic Constitutions (Constitution of the Year VIII, Constitution of the Year X and Constitution of the Year XII). It was very liberal in spirit and gave the French people rights which had previously been unknown to them, such as the right to elect the mayor in communes of less than 5,000 in population.
Constitution of the Year VIII
The French constitution adopted on December 24, 1799 (during the Year VIII of the French Revolutionary Calendar) that established the form of government known as the Consulate. The constitution tailor-made the position of First Consul to give Napoleon most of the powers of a dictator. It was the first constitution since the Revolution that did not include a Declaration of Rights.
Coup of 18 Brumaire
A bloodless coup d'état under the leadership of Napoleon Bonaparte that overthrew the Directory, replacing it with the French Consulate. It took place on November 9, 1799, which was 18 Brumaire, Year VIII under the French Republican Calendar.

Full Text

The Constitution of the Year VIII

Despite the failures in Egypt (1798-99), Napoleon arrived in France to a hero's welcome. He drew together an alliance with director Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès, his brother Lucien, speaker of the Council of Five Hundred Roger Ducos, director Joseph Fouché, and Talleyrand, and they overthrew the Directory by a coup d'état on November 9, 1799 (the Coup of 18 Brumaire), closing down the Council of Five Hundred (the lower house of the legislature). Napoleon became the First Consul for ten years, with two consuls appointed by him but they had consultative voices only. His power was confirmed by the new Constitution of the Year VIII, originally devised by Sieyès to give Napoleon a minor role, but rewritten by Napoleon and accepted by direct popular vote. The constitution preserved the appearance of a republic but in reality established a dictatorship.

The Constitution of the Year VIII was adopted on December 24, 1799 (during the Year VIII of the French Revolutionary Calendar) and established the form of government known as the Consulate. The constitution tailor-made the position of First Consul to give Napoleon most of the powers of a dictator. It was the first constitution since the Revolution that did not include a Declaration of Rights.

Page 3 of the Constitution of the Year VIII, Archives Nationales.

Napoleon established a political system that historian Martyn Lyons called "dictatorship by plebiscite." Worried by the democratic forces unleashed by the Revolution, but unwilling to ignore them entirely, Napoleon resorted to regular electoral consultations with the French people on his road to imperial power. He drafted the Constitution of the Year VIII and secured his own election as First Consul, taking up residence at the Tuileries. The constitution was approved in a plebiscite held the following January, with 99.94 percent officially listed as voting "yes."

Separation of Powers

The new government was composed of three parliamentary assemblies: the Council of State (Conseil d'État), which drafted bills, the Tribunate which could not vote on the bills but instead debated them, and the Legislative Assembly (Corps législatif), which could not discuss the bills, but whose members voted on them after reviewing the Tribunate's debate record. The Conservative Senate (Sénat conservateur) was a governmental body equal to the three aforementioned legislative assemblies. However, the Senate was more of an executive body as it verified the draft bills and directly advised the First Consul on the implications of such bills. Popular suffrage was retained, although mutilated by the lists of notables. The term notables was commonly used under the monarchy. It referred to prominent and more affluent men — landholders, merchants, scholars, professionals, clergymen, and officials. The people in each district chose a slate of notables by popular vote. The First Consul, Tribunate, and Corps législatif each nominated one Senatorial candidate to the rest of the Senate, which chose one candidate from among the three.

The executive power was vested in three Consuls, but all actual power was held by the First Consul, Bonaparte. Napoleon vetoed Sieyès' original idea of having a single Grand Elector as supreme executive and Head of State. Sieyès had intended to reserve this important position for himself but by vetoing the proposal, Napoleon helped reinforce the authority of the consuls. However, Napoleon never intended to be part of an equal triumvirate. As the years would progress he would move to consolidate his own power as First Consul, and leave the two other consuls, Jean Jacques Régis de Cambacérès and Charles-François Lebrun, duc de Plaisance, as well as the Assemblies, weak and subservient. By consolidating power, Bonaparte was able to transform the aristocratic constitution of Sieyès into a dictatorship.

Amendments: Further Consolidation of Power

On February 7, 1800, a public referendum confirmed the new constitution. It vested all of the real power in the hands of the First Consul, leaving only a nominal role for the other two consuls. Over 99% of voters approved the motion, according to the released results. While this near-unanimity is certainly doubtful, Napoleon was genuinely popular among many voters and after a period of strife, many in France were reassured by his accomplishments in the War of the Second Coalition and his talk of stability of government, order, justice, and moderation. He created the impression that France was governed once more by a real statesman and that a competent government was finally in charge.

The Constitution was amended twice and in each case, the amendments strengthened Napoleon's already concentrated power. The Constitution of the Year X (1802) made Napoleon First Consul for Life. In 1804, the Constitution of the Year XII established the First French Empire with Napoleon Bonaparte — previously First Consul for Life, with wide-ranging powers — as Napoleon I, Emperor of the French. The Constitution established the House of Bonaparte as France's imperial dynasty, making the throne hereditary in Napoleon's family. The Constitution of the Year XII was later itself extensively amended by the Additional Act (1815), after Napoleon returned from exile on Elba. The document virtually replaced the previous Napoleonic Constitutions and reframed the Napoleonic constitution into something more along the lines of the Bourbon Restoration Charter of 1814 of Louis XVIII, while otherwise ignoring the Bourbon charter's existence. It was very liberal in spirit, and gave the French people rights which had previously been unknown to them, such as the right to elect the mayor in communes of less than 5,000 in population. Napoleon treated it as a mere continuation of the previous constitutions, and it therefore took the form of an ordinary legislative act "additional to the constitutions of the Empire."

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