Financial and Political problems of the Directory Flashcards
why was there The Coup of Fructidor
- April 1797- constitutional monarchists did well so their seats increased to 182 so more than 1/3 of the deputies had royalist sympathies
- This gave fears among the Directors that next year would bring more royalists into the chambers and produce a royalist majority
what happened in CoF
In September, Barras, Rewbell and Revielle-Lepeaux produced evidence that Pichegru (head of the 5 Hundred) had made contact with monarchist emigres in 1795 and this evidence was manufactured by Napoleon. He was arrested and accused the Five Hundred of acting against the Revolution
- On 4th, General Hoche and Augraue called by Napoleon were used to seize strongpoints in Paris and 177 Royalist deputies were arrested
- 53/177 were exiled to French Guyana and 42 opposition newspapers were forcibly shut down
- 2 new directors replaced Carnot and Barthomely but the council position were still available
what was the outcome of the CoF
- This undermined the 1795 constitution and added to lack of confidence in the electoral process
- Followed by vindictive legislation:
Former members of the second estate were declared foreigners. They had to apply for naturalisation papers to regain rights as citizens
Returned emigres were given two weeks to leave and those who failed to do so were prosecuted by new military tribunals high awarded 160 death sentences
Refractory priest were also persecuted and many hundreds were deported or imprisoned
The Coup of Floreal why
the directory passed a new law in 1798 January before the next elections in March Tom reduce royalist gains but the results were alarming as the Jacobean soared ahead
what CoFloreal
- Results were altered by a scrutinising process and the Law of 22 Floreal (11 May 1798) purged 127 deputies from the Council of 5 Hundred before thy could even take their seats
- The coup highlighted the difficulties of operating the constitution of 1795
why the CoP?
18th June 1798
by 1799, confidence in the Directory and the part played by the Directors was a low ebb
both council of 500 and Ancients questioned the conduct of the war and complained the election of director Treilhard had been illegal
what happened in CoP
17th June- replaced him with Gohier
Sieyes and Barrer proposed to enforce the council the council’s demands that Directors Reviellere and Douai step down
18th- when they resisted, called General Joubert to organize troops
wider implications of CoP
- the first time, councils had forced a purge of the Directors
- Directory constantly overturned electoral results
- dependent on the army to maintain itself
- July 1799: Law of Hostages- local authorities take action against potential radicals
what was the reform of the currency
- Remel was elected as Minister of Finance, he was a lawyer
- Feb 1796- assigning was abolished led to March 1796- new paper currency called the mandate
- July 1797- the mandate was valued at 5% of its original value
- Feb 1797- paper currency ceased to be legal tender as it switched to legal tender. The treasury is empty so they had to use money from the Ancient-Regime. 1789: 2.5bn to 1bn in livers (1797) led to lack of coinage led to deflation
- 1797- partial return to a natural economy (a system of bartering) contributes to deflation due to lack of standardisation
how did the reform of currency affect France
- worsened the monetary crisis of the previous regimes
- Inflation of the 1795 to 97 made the Directory unpopular with workers led to influence ins the dominance of royalist in the 1797 election led to influence in the times of hardship they chose extremism
- Deflation made the Directory unpopular with businessmen
how did Ramel decrease the state debt
- September 1797- the directory declare itself bankrupt— 2/3 of state debt wiped out
- Paid of debt to creditor by issuing them with state bonds which could be used to pay for biens nationaeux
- Bankruptcy of the Two Thirds reduced gov’t annual expenditure by 160 million livres— stabilise the economy — balancing of the budget
how was it controversial
- very unpopular and controversial
- Condemned by the Council of Ancients for being unorthodox— robbing the creditors of their money
- Bonds quickly lost value through depreciation and by 1799 the government refused to accept them for the national land— the government alienated the people was meant to protect
- Deterred potential investors
how did they increase revenue
- 1798- four basic forms of taxation established (trading licenses, land tax, moveable property, doors and windows — affected the bourgeoisie as they would own these chateauxs
- Reintroduced indirect taxes such as the octrois ( at tax on goods entering a town)
- tried to reintroduce tax of salt (gabelle ) approved by 500 but rejected by Ancients
- Introduced a stamp tax on newspapers and registration of African documents
- Reformed tax collection- commissioners appointed by the Directors to assess and levy taxes
what is the wider implications of the finances
- the weaknesses in the constitution made it difficult for purposeful reforms to be passed sooner- royalist resurgence in 1797 leads to Ramel’s reforms being passed in 1797
- Reforms were largely unpopular and upset the council of 500
- Tax collection remained inconsistent and did not entirely solve the problem of state revenue
- State dependent on the wealth acquired through war plunder
