Chapter 3: Napoleon As Ruler Flashcards
Napoleon’s reforms as Consul: Constitutional
Conscious use of terms relating to ancient Rome = republic, based on models from the ancient world = put gap between new constitution, and more extreme republic of the TERROR
- male population (6 mill) elected Communal List (60,000) who chose Department List (60,000) who chose National List, the Notables (6,000) = higher taxed men
- executive chose from Notables the Senate, who chose members of legislative bodies who were to serve for 5 years = Napoleonic regime allied with the élit groups in French Society
- LEGISLATIVE: Tribunate (100 members over 25, discussed legislation drafted by Senate but not vote) & Legislature (300 members over 30, voted on legislation in secret but no discussion)
- EXECUTIVE: First Consul (appointed all ministres, initiated al legislation, along with 2 consuls, elected for 10 years) & Senate (60 members over 40, appointed for life, verified legislation) & Council of State (30-40 members, nominated all central/local officials)
- New constitution, put to people in plebiscite that was falsified to give overwhelming majority in favour.
1802 = amended in constitution to make Napoleon ‘Consul for life’ following unsuccessful assassination attempts.
1804 = Constitution of year XII was introduced when Bonaparte became Emperor Napoleon I
Was the constitution a cover for dictatorship?
YES
- no law actually able to be passed without Bonaparte approval
- plebiscites rigged like 1802 ‘Consul for Life’
- Senate purged by Napoleon to ensure obedience
- Legislative bodies weakened by one only able to vote and one only discuss
NO = ‘liberal authoritariansim’
- could still be opposition expressed in Tribunate
- Napoleon’s actions could be discussed in Council of State
- Legilsative approval needed for budgets & raising taxes
- Senate had to approve removing judges/dispensing laws/imposing martial law
- personified idea of Revolution ‘self-made’, rewarded on talent rather than birth
- courts still operated that needed evidence to convict
Napoleon’s reforms as Consul: Local Govt
Feb 1800 = Napoleon changed how 83 departments of France were administrated = at head were prefects that had wide powers and responsibilities, including appointing officials under them.
Prefects were agents of central government, appointed by first consul. First Consul appointed mayors in major towns = Napoleon exercised highly centralised control of the administration of France and considerable powers of patronage.
Napoleon’s reforms as Consul: Legal
CIVIL CODE - 21 MARCH 1804 (renamed Code Napoléon 1807 - proudest achievement)
Liberal
- ‘the law is applicable to whole nation’, and ‘the state is the unique (only) source of the law’ differed from Ancien regime which was divided & church/Nobels/local custom held power
- helped end feudalism/reduce influence of church/unify France/spread French influence = strongest claim at furthering ideals of REVOLUTION
- legal rights of those who bought confiscated church land upheld
- affirmed system of partage & property owners could dispose land more freely
- individual children couldn’t be disinherited
Illiberal
- Reintroduction of slavery in French colonies.
- Considerable authority given to male head of households.
- Married woman cant own property independently.
- Divorce requirements for different for women than men.
- Husbands had custody rights over children.
- Law from Revolution reversed: bastard children couldn’t share inheritance, wives didn’t automatically inherit husbands property.
Napoleon’s reforms as Consul: Educational changes
- Purpose of education as providing France with administrators, officials, and military officers.
- Recruited from sons of property owning class (the notables).
- Sons were to be educated in 145 elite schools established in 1802, with 6400 scholarships for boys and 2400 of these for sons of officers and administrators = very few poor boys.
- Run along military lines = compliant, non-political civil servants wanted NOT ENLIGHTENED
- 300 secondary schools established in years after 1805, with common curriculum & govt appointed teachers using same textbooks / lessons = bind the state together
- There is wanting broader education centre, expensive private schools run by church allowed after concordant in 1802
- Primary education run by individuals = ordinary people thought only to need moral education and basic literacy and numeracy
- Scientific study & enquiry not encouraged (Polytechnique established earlier in Revolution converted into military academy in 1805) BUT Sorbonne & provincial Unis reopened
Napoleon’s reforms as Consul: Church
Election of new pope Pius VII gave Bonaparte opportunity to heal wounds of revolution (thousand priests killed), prevent growth of further Catholic opposition and help French absorb new strongly Catholic territories in Belgium and Italy. Negotiations with Papacy began in 1800, culminated in Concordant of 1801, formally published April 1802.
- recognised as religion of majority
- Church recognise new Consular Republic, and agreed not to try regain its land.
- Church state-controlled, clergy appointed and paid for by govt whom they swore loyalty to.
- Allowed toleration of other faiths = revolutionary aim.
- NAPOLEON added ‘Organic Articles’ without consultation of Pope = limited Papal control over French Bishops.
SUCCESS: Napoleon greater control = new structure (10 archbishops, 60 bishops, 3k parishes) AND amended catechisms to teach people to revere Napoleon despite Papal objections = St Napoleon’s Day 16th August. 1804, Pius attended Napoleon’s coronation. Secured tax-paying Church obedient to State = public servants (bishops known as ‘prefects in purple’) = reduced threat of royalism.
FAILURE: Church was weakened… 1789 = 130k clergy, 1814 = 36k. Pope had to accept Napoleon control like his uncle being a major Archbishop.
Napoleon’s reforms as Consul: Financial
TAXATION
Improved collection of tax = main direct tax was land tax = land registers drawn up & tax registers showing who’s hound pay improved = collection was fair and efficient. ALSO revival of efficiently administered indirect taxes LIKE tobacco = more revenue UNLIKE Dircetory reliance on plunder
BANK OF FRANCE
Founded 1800 = sole right to issue paper notes = strict control placed upon its actions = govt task of reasoning finances easier.
CURRENCY
Inflation of assignants stopped through ABOLITION in feb 1796 BUT unstable alternatives = deflation SO Napoleon introduced FRANC DE GERMINAL based upon silver & gold coins = strict control of metal content = stable currency & strong base for economy = avoided bankruptcy/honoured debts/paid official salaries/gave investors confidence in State bonds (until 1807 = repudiate debts of Directory & empire & war = more dependent on indemnities BUT still considered best management of French finance in all history)
The Establishment of the Empire in France
High Level of concern (royalist plots in 1804 = rebel leader Cadougal shot, two leading generals & exiled bourbon prince executed, despite no direct involvement) = some calls for turn position of ‘Consul for Life’ into hereditary monarch to establish clear line of succession and avoid civil war = majority in favour in Council of State/Senate AND major impetus from army leaders who wanted an empire to 1. Prevent extremism/royal restoration 2. Preserve gains of French Revolution.
- 1804 plebiscite = overwhelming majority in favour but not as much as 1802 ‘Consul for life’
- Proclaimed empire & Civil code in May 1804 = empire based on law & stressed popular sovereignty ( in practice very little change in ruling)
- Great imperial ceremony in December = Josephine & himself crowned (Opposition expressed by royalists, veteran revolutionary Carnot & Beethoven)
The nature of the Empire in France
- MASSES OF GRANITE = Imperial Court created with new Imperial nobility (new titles of dukes, counts, barons, and knights as extension of honour system created in 1802, with the Legion of Honour = extended to 25,000 and backed by grants of land) = in theory humble men could rise to nobility - idea of meritocracy (not useless nobles) - BUT actually only from top 100,000 families of the ‘notables’. He created 3,6000 titles (smaller nobility than 1789). Solid support base for Napoleon
- PUBLICALLY Napoleon linked himself to the Royal Merovingian past by his use of the bee as a symbol and many references to Charlemagne. Public buildings built on a scale comparable to the greatest patronage of French monarchs (imperial patronage provided jobs & amazing buildings) = huge propaganda!
- EDUCATION: establishment of the University decreed in 1806, and implemented in 1808 (one umbrella institution of 26 academies under grandmaster) BUT Napoleon ran out of time/money
- DYNASTY: King of Naples as Joseph Napoleon I (then moved to King of Spain and replaced by General Murat), Louis as King of Holland, Jerome-Napoleon as King of Westphalia = ludicrous and illegitimate??? SUCCESS OF NAPOLEON’S EMPIRE AS LINKED WITH SUCCESS IN WAR = 1804 divorced Josephine & had male heir with Austrian princess Marie Louise in 1811 = would he be accepted when Louis had two brothers?
Economic impact of the Empire
GOOD
Consciously promoted, some industry. Policies are awarded successful industrialists and protected French industry by tariffs and gave them markets by expansion into Europe. Subsidised manufacturers and gave them a new law code in 1808. Created bodies to spread, and industrial knowledge and set up a new Ministry of commerce, 1808.
BAD
Industrial production increased BUT from a low base, depended on population growth & greater spending in countryside after land redistribution
Empire tied to war = money from satellite states/conquered territories/ french taxation went to fighting = provided jobs and contracts in some sectors, but not productive with general economic growth.
French economy disrupted by Continental system, and by the British naval blockade of France and seizure of French trading ships.
