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French Revolution 1774-1795 > The Constituent of the Directory > Flashcards

The Constituent of the Directory Flashcards

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1
Q

Who drew up the constitution of the Directory in August 1795?

A

The Thermidorians

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2
Q

When was the constitution of the Directory created?

A

November 1795

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3
Q

What did the constitution of the Directory reflect?

A

A desire for stability and moderation that reduced the power being primarily in the hands of one person or group

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4
Q

Who was at the bottom of the hierarchy of the Constitution of Year III?

A

Voters - all male taxpayers over 21 could vote meaning around 5.5/8 million adult males could vote

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5
Q

If men paid a certain sum in taxation, what were they eligible to do?

A

Become electors who sat in the assembly

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6
Q

How many men were in the electorate?

A

1 million

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7
Q

Of the 1 million men that were in the electorate, how many were eligible to sit in the resulting assemblies?

A

30,000

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8
Q

How often would elections take place?

A

Annually

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9
Q

When an election took place, how many deputies would step down?

A

Around 1/3

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10
Q

What did the Council of Five Hundred comprise of?

A

Deputies over the age of 30

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11
Q

What did the Council of Five Hundred do?

A

Propose and draw up legislation but didn’t vote on it

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12
Q

What did the Council of Ancients comprise of?

A

250 married or widowed men over the age of 40

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13
Q

What did the Council of Ancients do?

A

Examined and approved or rejected legislation but didn’t propose it.

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14
Q

What did the Directory of Five comprise of?

A

Five Directors would be chosen by the Ancients from a list provided by the Five Hundred

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15
Q

What did the Directors form and what did they do?

A

They formed the executive and appointed ministers

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16
Q

How many Directors retired each year and how was it decided who?

A

One member chosen by lot

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17
Q

How long did the constitution of the Directory last?

A

Four years

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18
Q

Of the four years the constitution of the Directory lasted, how many men served as Directors?

A

13 men

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19
Q

How did the Directors find working with one another?

A

They found it difficult due to a variety of different political views

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20
Q

Who reorganised the taxation system and what did the reorganisation do?

A

Finance Minister, Ramel, in 1798 made assessment and collection of direct tax easier.

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21
Q

What did Ramel introduce?

A

A land tax based upon doors and windows and revived the octrois.

22
Q

How much government debt was written off when mandats were issued?

A

2/3

23
Q

What could the Directory claim to have in 1797 and 1798?

A

To have a balance of payments surplus

24
Q

When were weights and measures standardised?

A

1795

25
Q

What happened in 1796 and 1798 which helped the positive long-term effects of the standardised weight and measure system?

A

Better harvests in 1796 and 1798, which brought the price of grain down.

26
Q

When the Thermidoreans’ attempted to switch from a system of economic control to a more liberal economy, what happened?

A

Acute inflation - by the end of 1795, the remaining assignats still in circulation had become virtually worthless.

27
Q

What had the Directory inherited?

A

A badly balanced budget (made worse by the costs of war) and the problems of tax-collection (not helped by the changes in authority since 1793).

28
Q

What were mandats?

A

A type of land purchase bond similar to the assignats that were paper.

29
Q

How many million francs were issued in February 1796?

A

800 million francs worth of mandats were issued to replace 24 billion worth of assignats still in circulation. However, the mandats were rapidly counterfeited and within a year they too were deemed worthless.

30
Q

What happened after the francs were issued?

A

Metal coinage was used but this brought deflation as there was less money in circulation.

31
Q

What happened to French trade?

A

It suffered as a result of war and the British naval efforts to restrict French colonial trade and the blockading of French ports.

32
Q

What were the issues with the food supply?

A

Problems of food supply persisted, hindered by grain speculators but also compounded by another poor harvest in 1795.

33
Q

When was the Conspiracy of Equals and who led it?

A

1796 led by Gracchus Babeuf

34
Q

What happened during the Conspiracy of Equals?

A

Babeuf campaigned for the rights of the poorer people and for the 1793 constitution in his journal Le Tribun du Peuple. He also called for a revival of the Terror and when the news reached the government that soldiers were ready to join an armed uprising of the masses, planned for 11th May 1796, they took action.

35
Q

When was Babeuf guillotined?

A

May 1797

36
Q

When Babeuf was guillotined, what did this represent?

A

The Directory showed their ruthlessness and that they didn’t want a true democracy due to guillotining Babeuf when he began campaigning for something they didn’t agree with.

37
Q

When was the Coup of Fructidor and who led it?

A

4 September 1797 led by Directors Barras, Rewbell and Revelliere-Lepeaux

38
Q

What happened during the Coup of Fructidor?

A

April 1797 elections showed the constitutional monarchists did well (increasing their seats to 182 so more than ⅓ of the deputies had royalist sympathies) so the Directors feared that next year’s elections would bring more royalists to the chambers resulting in the Directors Barras, Rewbell and Revelliere-Lepeaux hatching a plot.

39
Q

How did the army respond to the Coup of Fructidor?

A

The army arrested the President of the Council of Five Hundred and accused the Five Hundred of ‘acting against the revolution’.
Joint military forces of General Hoche and General Augereau were used to seize strongpoints in Paris and 177 royalist deputies were arrested.

40
Q

What did the Coup of Fructidor undermine?

A

The 1795 constitution and added to a lack of confidence in the electoral process.

41
Q

When was the Coup of Floreal and who led it?

A

11 May 1798 led by Jacobins

42
Q

What happened during the Coup of Floreal?

A

New electoral law passed in January 1798, before the next round of elections in March - tried to minimise royalist gains.
Jacobins soared ahead - alarming for the Directors.
Results were altered by scrutinising process and the Law of 22.
Floreal purged 127 deputies from the Council of Five Hundred before they could take their seats.
The results from eight departments were squashed.

43
Q

Three strengths of the Constitution?

A
  1. Separation of powers was a success, quelled threat of CPS and CGS
  2. Moderate way between royalists and sans-culottes - intended separation of power
  3. Took the viewpoints of many French citizens into account
44
Q

Three weaknesses of the Constitution?

A
  1. The separation of powers went too far but had no clear leader or ruler. The Directory and Councils were too far apart. The directory could not direct policy (in terms of setting legislative agenda).
  2. Beneficial for the bourgeoise
  3. Corrupt in the end - election fraud
45
Q

Three strengths of the economic and financial policies the Directory brought in?

A
  1. Units of measurements standardised which regulated the price of grains
  2. Reorganisation of tax system lay foundations of a federal bank
  3. 1797-98 - budget surplus -
    Mandats wrote off ⅔ of gov debt
46
Q

Three weaknesses of the economic and financial policies the Directory brought in?

A
  1. Acute inflation at the beginning and the collapse of assignats left a number of the bourgeoisie financially destroyed.
  2. Trade was significantly damaged by war with Britain and resulted in a blockade.
  3. Bourgeoise was the main support network for the directories so their financial problems had repercussions
47
Q

Three strengths of the social and religious policies the Directory brought in?

A
  1. Separation of church and state but tolerant of all religions
  2. Powers of commune reduced
  3. All religious gatherings subject to the surveillance of the authorities - prevented groups becoming too powerful
48
Q

Three weaknesses of the social and religious policies the Directory brought in?

A
  1. Religious issues continued to divide society - Priests ignored bans on dress processions
  2. Thermidorians tried to impose rules on Church - didn’t succeed as restrictions were ignored.
  3. After Directory tried to switch to coin money led to fall in bread rations - 10th May to 60g per day - led to hundreds of Parisians to stave, committing suicide, freezing to death
49
Q

Three positives of the way the Directory dealt with the threats of the left?

A
  1. They dealt with growing Jacobinism by eliminating Gracchus Babeuf.
  2. They sent conspirators to French Guiana, a further display of ruthlessness.
  3. Coup of Floreal - got rid of 127 deputies of Council of 500 so Jacobins gained support in elections of 1798
50
Q

Three negatives of the way the Directory dealt with the threats of the left?

A
  1. Were ruthless and too harsh on growing threats of Jacobinism.
  2. They ignored the calls for aid to be given to the poor and hungry - lack of compassion which created division and anger towards the Directory
  3. Directories own actions spurred on continued agitation and conflict between the two groups.
51
Q

How did the army influence the support of the Directory?

A

The army supported the Directory which bolstered their authority and were able to use them to their advantage - especially to put down uprisings

French Revolution 1774-1795 (14 decks)

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