FRANCE

Of all the Revolutionary governments, the Directory lasted the longest (1795–99) — , the
Directory’s rule was characterized by a great deal of corruption and instability, which
precipitated its removal from power; Most importantly, the Directory failed to build a strong
base of support to offset the opposition of the Jacobins and the royalists; nother weakness
was the persistence of crime and disorder, including peasant revolts in western France,
known as the chouannerie. Harsh anti-religious measures added to the government’s
unpopularity and deepened the religious schism in France.

Although the Directory solved the public debt problem, it did so by canceling much of the
national debt, thus alienating many lenders. Friction and rivalry among the five members of
the Directory further weakened the government.

Upon his return from Egypt (9 October 1799), Bonaparte found a French nation in
deep crisis. A new European coalition had defeated France in Germany and had
driven the French out of Italy. Several generals lost faith in the Directory’s ability to
run the war effectively.

Most citizens grew tired of the instability; Bourgeois property owners were seeking a strong
government that would assure stability, law, and order, and guarantee their gains from the
Revolutionary period;

Bourgeois property owners were seeking a strong government that would assure stability,
law, and order, and guarantee their gains from the Revolutionary period

The Brumairiens, the group that conspired to overthrow the French government, consisted
of former nobles, ex-clergymen, former members of the Convention, and some intellectuals.
Among the conspiracy leaders were Emmanuel Sieyès, who joined the Directory in May
1799, Maurice Talleyrand, France’s foreign minister, Joseph Fouché, the minister of police,
and Director Roger Ducos. The conspirators needed a popular general, however, to bring
down the Directory. Bonaparte was not their first choice, but General Barthélemy Joubert
had died in battle and General Jean Moreau refused to commit himself. The plot resulted in
the coup of 18–19 Brumaire (9–10 November 1799).

To legitimize the illegal change, the Brumairiens gathered a rump legislature later that
evening to approve a new political structure. An interim executive consisting of three consuls
– Bonaparte, Sieyès, and Ducos – replaced the Directory. France remained calm, which
demonstrated how unpopular the Directory had become. Brumaire also signified the
continuing depoliti cization of France, a process that had begun under the Directory and
persisted under Napoleon.

The coup of Brumaire marked the end of the Revolutionary period and the beginning of
Napoleonic France. The Napoleonic period was divided into two parts: the Consulate
(1799–1804) and the Empire (December 1804–14).
During the Consulate, France officially remained a republic but it soon became clear that the
coup had fundamentally transformed the nature of the French government.

Napoleon concentrated the real power in his own hands, while public participation in the
political process, which characterized the Revolutionary decade, dissipated; launched
numerous dynamic changes aimed at consolidating the central state and establishing his
authoritarian power; constructed a strong executive and an effective administration, ended
the conflict with the Church, stabilized financial conditions, established law and order and
crushed the royalist opposition, introduced legal uniformity through the Civil Code,
implemented successfully military conscription, and formed a central secondary education
system.

Indeed, the Consulate period was one of the most dynamic periods of change in
French history. While the formation of the Napoleonic authoritarian rule constituted a
departure from the ideals of the French Revolution, many of his reform policies were
a continuation of programs and changes launched during the Revolutionary decade.

To consolidate his power, Bonaparte allied him self with the propertied classes, who
triumphed during the Revolution, and bolstered their achievements.
In 1799, most people accepted his rule or remained indifferent to the new regime.
In 1804, Bonaparte’s power reached new heights and his decision to become Emperor was
virtually unopposed. This chapter will discuss Napoleon’s authoritarian rule and the reform
programs he launched to modernize France

FROM CONSUL TO EMPEROR

The interim executive was charged with preparing a new constitution. The Brumairiens’
principal objective was to prevent the return of royalists and Jacobins to power, consolidate
law and order, and assure the interests of the propertied classes. Those aims, they believed,
could be achieved by establishing a strong central government

Bonaparte’s will and was characterized by a powerful executive, a weak legislature, and the
virtual elimination of popular sovereignty.

Bonaparte became the First Consul and possessed much wider power than the other two
consuls, who had merely “consultative votes.” In effect, Bonaparte was the only consul who
initiated legislation; controlled public finance, internal security, defense, and foreign policy;
and appointed public officials.
First Consul chose the other two junior consuls: Jean Cambacérès, a former moderate
Convention deputy, who remained very loyal to Napoleon until the end of his reign,3 and
Charles Lebrun, who had served under the Bourbons.

Bonaparte retained the seven ministries that had existed under the Directory: war, marine
and colonies, finance, foreign relations, interior, police, and justice. A treasury ministry and a
ministry of ecclesiastical affairs were added in 1801 and 1804, respectively. The ministers
pos sessed little autonomy. They advised Bonaparte, executed the law, nomi nated
administrators, and supervised departmental officials.
Bonaparte appointed as ministers trusted advisers and experienced officials who had served
under the Old Regime and during the Revolutionary period. The most prominent ministers
included Charles Gaudin, the minister of finance, who served during the entire Napoleonic
rule; Talleyrand, who ran foreign relations until 1807; Lucien Bonaparte, who held the
ministry of interior and was replaced by Jean Chaptal; and Fouché, the notorious minister of
police.

The First Consul initiated legislation by submitting proposals to the Council of State.
That body further epitomized the centralization of the new regime;4 its 30 to 50
members were chosen by Bonaparte, who also presided over its sessions. The
Council of State served as an advisory body to Bonaparte and drafted legislative bills
that were then presented to the Legislature. The Constitution weakened the legislative
branch by dividing it into three chambers, each having a different role, and by
depriving it of initiating legislation.

Members of both institutions were appointed by the Senate, the third body of the Legislature,
whose main role was to “conserve” the Constitution by review ing the constitutionality of the
legislative proposals.

The Constitution emptied popular sovereignty of any substance. It established a three-tier

electoral process that effectively undercut the participation of most voters in the electoral
system and guaranteed a conservative outcome. While universal male suffrage was
established, most voters voted solely for a communal list that comprised one-tenth of their
number. The government selected local administrators from this list. Members of the
communal list then chose a departmental list of one-tenth of their number, and the
authorities selected departmental officials from that list of notables. Finally, the departmental
list chose one-tenth of its members for a national list of candidates eligible for pub lic office.
The Senate selected tribunes and legislators from among these national notables. The
Constitution of Year VIII made no mention of citizens’ rights, except for the prohibition of
nocturnal house search, thereby further stressing the authoritarian nature of the new regime.

To legitimize his power and the new political system, Bonaparte submitted the Constitution
of Year VIII to a plebiscite. It gave lip service to popular will. Indeed, the plebiscite did not
change the fact that the Constitution of Year VIII was imposed by force. Many former
supporters of the Revolution approved that constitution because they were weary of the
instability of the Directory years and entrusted the protection of their achievements to a
general who would soon become a dictator.

The establishment of Bonaparte as First Consul laid the foundation for his dictatorship.
During the first two years of the Consulate, Bonaparte took advantage of his powerful
position and introduced legal and institu tional changes designed to strengthen his rule. Most
notably, he crippled the Tribunate, the most independent body of the Consulate period, by
purging its most prominent members, who were critical of him, and by dividing that body into
three sections. He also reduced the power of the Council of State, eliminating its control over
the final drafting of laws.

The establishment of Bonaparte as First Consul laid the foundation for his
dictatorship. During the first two years of the Consulate, Bonaparte took advantage of
his powerful position and introduced legal and institu tional changes designed to
strengthen his rule. Most notably, he crippled the Tribunate, the most independent
body of the Consulate period, by purging its most prominent members, who were
critical of him, and by dividing that body into three sections. He also reduced the
power of the Council of State, eliminating its control over the final drafting of laws

Bonaparte also received the power to suspend the Constitution, disperse the Tribunate and
the Legislative Body, and overrule their decisions, and legislate without first submitting new
laws to the Council of State. The new constitution also changed the electoral system,
entrusting more power to the wealthy.

Cantonal assemblies selected district and departmental colleges from among the 600
largest taxpayers in each department, who in turn nominated candidates for vacancies in the
legislative bodies.

The First Consul wielded much influence on the colleges through the appointment of their
presidents and his ability to add members to them. In sum, as Jean Tulard concluded, the
Constitu tion of Year X transformed the republic of Brumaire into a monarchy in all but name.

The formation of the hereditary Empire cemented the dictatorship of Napoleon, who found it
unnecessary to call for more plebiscites. The moribund Tribunate became useless and was
suppressed in August 1807. Likewise, the Legislative Body lost any power; its sessions
became more rare, and after 1812 it ceased convening.
The Senate remained completely subservient to Napoleon.

THE OPPOSITION

Bonaparte tolerated no resistance to his policies. During the Consulate years, the First
Consul faced opposition from three groups: the liberal elite, former Jacobins, and the
royalists.

The liberal opposition consisted of middle-class intellectuals, support ers of Enlightenment

ideas.9 They were strong advocates of civic liberties and vociferously opposed Bonaparte’s
rising dictatorial power. Many of them, most notably Marie-Joseph Chénier, Pierre Daunou,
Jean-Baptist Say, and the most outstanding among them, Benjamin Constant, were
members of the Tribunate. Those “Ideologues,” as Bonaparte derogato rily labeled them,
used the Tribunate to criticize the government and challenge various legislative proposals,
such as the Concordat, the for mation of the Legion of Honor, and the restoration of slavery
in the colonies.
But the “Ideologues” lacked popular support and remained an ineffective opposition.

The royalists posed the greatest threat to the Bonapartist regime. They supported the
restoration of the Bourbon dynasty to the French [Link] royalists constituted a
particularly dangerous menace to the Consulate since they enjoyed widespread popular
support in rural areas in western France and were assisted by the émigrés and England.

The clergy also contributed to the counter-Revolutionary agitation. . Clearly, Bonaparte could
not tolerate those violations of law and order and carried out a merciless military campaign
to eradicate the chouans. He also undermined support for the counter-Revolutionaries
among Catholics by signing the Concordat.

The British stopped their financial support of the rebels when they realized that the
movement was growing weaker. In 1802, the chouan revolt came to an end.

THE SOCIAL ELITE

Napoleon also exerted major efforts in building up support for his regime among the French
population. He understood that in order to stay in power he needed to expand his social
base of support beyond the Brumairiens. Gaining the backing of the notables, whom the
Napoleonic regime itself helped to define and promote, constituted a key component in his
drive to extend support for his government. This modern, progressive elite of wealth and
talent demonstrated openness and left behind the privilege, exclusivity, and social pretension
that characterized the nobility of the ancien régime.13 Landownership constituted the main
feature of the approximately 100,000 notables, whom Napoleon labeled the “masses of
granite.”14 Some originated from the old nobility, although most came from the ranks of the
Revolutionary bourgeoisie and the wealthy farmers who increased their holdings during the
Revolutionary decade by purchasing confiscated land that had belonged to the Church and
the émigrés.

In the words of Jean Tulard, “At the beginning of the century, an elite could not conceive its
own existence without landed property. It was still the possession of land that determined the
hierarchy.”15 Land provided security at a time of disas trous inflation of the assignats and
constituted a source of social prestige and promotion. Aside from property owners, the
notables included local administrators, officials in civil administration, free professionals, and
wealthy entrepreneurs.

Napoleon preserved their social and mate rial gains, making them the main beneficiaries of
his rule. The French Consul made sure that the titles to their recently purchased property
were recognized by the returning émigrés and the Church. Napoleon nominated them to
administrative and judicial positions, assured their property rights through Code Napoleon,
restored law and order, and guaranteed their sons education in the lycées. The notables
continued to dominate French society until the 1848 Revolution.

Along with his recognition of the power of the notables, Napoleon also created a new
imperial nobility. Shortly after the coup, the new regime rescinded two recent directorial
laws that harmed ex-nobles: the Law of Hostages and the forced loan on the rich. The
former threatened the arrest of relatives of émigrés and nobles in subversive regions. In
October 1800, Bonaparte also lifted the sequestration of unsold property of émigrés and in
April 1802, granted amnesty to émigrés provided they returned to France before 23
September and agreed to swear loyalty to the new Constitution. Émigrés who were able to
recover their unsold property, as well as many nobles who never left France, remained the
wealthiest landowners in their community, thereby regaining prestige and local influence.
Napoleon continued to court the former nobles and appointed them to various high posts.
One-third of his ministers and at least one-fifth of his generals were of noble extraction.16 In
May 1802, Bonaparte took an important step toward the formation of a French aristocracy
when he founded the Legion of Honor. It signi fied a departure from the Revolutionary
policies that had abolished all exclusive orders and titles. Endowing senators with
senatories, which included a residential palace and a substantial annual income, constituted
another step toward the aristocratization of French society. Upon the creation of the Empire
in 1804, Napoleon granted the title of Prince and an annual endowment to each member of
his family. Beginning in 1806, Napoleon awarded mili tary officers with hereditary fiefs in the
Italian Peninsula, the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, and German states. In March 1808,
Napoleon proclaimed the imperial nobility, establish ing a hierarchy of princes, dukes,
counts, barons, and knights, and authorizing its members to possess a coat of arms.

It also enabled him to promote and reward military officers and civil servants and detach the
old nobility from the Bourbons. Finally, forming an impe rial nobility and a court was in
harmony with Napoleon’s imperial rule, aiming to place his regime on equal footing with
other monarchies.

Socially, most imperial nobles descended from the bourgeoisie (58 percent), while 22
percent came from the old nobility and 20 percent were drawn from the popular classes.20

The creation of a national nobility constituted a departure from the ideals of the French
Revolution. Critics of Napoleon viewed it as the restoration of one of the most offensive
characteristics of the Old Regime. And yet the new Napoleonic elite differed from the Old
Regime nobility in several significant ways.21 Service to the state, accumulation of wealth,
and merit rather than birth constituted the new criteria for becoming a noble. The new
nobility consisted of generals and top admin istrators rather than feudal lords with ancient
ancestry. Unlike the old nobility, the new elite came from a variety of social origins, was an
open elite, and received no tax exemptions or legal privileges. In sum, by form ing a nobility
based on new criteria and by allying himself with the notable class, Napoleon helped to bury
the old society of orders and consolidate the new social reality created by the French
Revolution.

THE CONCORDAT

Bonaparte understood that reconciliation with the Church was a highly important step in
delegitimizing the royalist camp and strengthening his rule. The French Revolution left a
legacy of a divided Church, an alien ated Catholic population, and a deep crisis in relations
between France and the Papacy.

The Revolution also introduced civil marriage and divorce, appropriated the registration of
births and deaths, and emancipated Protestants and Jews. Refractory clergy then joined the
counter-Revolutionary forces and many priests were arrested and guillotined. The disruption
of religious practices and public worship and the launching of “de-Christianization” during the
Reign of Terror further exacerbated the tension between Church and State. The Directory
launched additional measures against “non-juror” clergy and, in 1798, French troops helped
to establish a Roman Republic and exile Pope Pius VI.

Bonaparte viewed religion as a tool to assure social order and increase state power. Ending
the religious conflict promised impor tant political advantages for Bonaparte, hence he
offered to negotiate an agreement with the Pope soon after climbing to power. Peace with
Rome meant papal recognition of his rule, bolstering his support among Catholics,
undermining the royalist opposition, and inducing priests to serve the new regime. Through
an agreement with the Pope, Bonaparte also wanted to reaffirm State authority over the
Church.

Finally, an agreement with the Pope was intended to gain support in the heavily
Catholic-occupied areas of Belgium, the left bank of the Rhine, and Piedmont.

In July 1801, after nine months of laborious negotiations, the two sides signed the
Concordat.25 It acknowledged Roman Catholicism as “the religion of the vast majority of
French citizens.” Bonaparte successfully resisted papal demands to recognize Catholicism
as the state religion, thereby preserving religious pluralism in France. The Pope recognized
the new owners of Church property. The clergy continued to be paid by the State and swore
loyalty to the government.

Bonaparte unilaterally added to the Concordat the “Organic Articles,” a list of 77 provisions
designed to restrict the powers of the Pope in France and confirm the State’s supremacy
over the Church. The Organic Articles revived some Gallican traditions: publi cation of papal
bulls and the activity of papal legates in France needed gov ernment approval, as did the
creation of new parishes and religious holidays.

A Department of Religious Affairs, headed by Portalis, was instituted in the interior ministry.
Subsequently, several new laws elevated the status of Catholicism; for example, Sunday
became a holiday for state officials and the Gregorian Calendar was restored as of 1
January 1806.

The Concordat preserved several important changes established by the Revolution,

including religious pluralism, state control over the Church, and the permanency of the sale
of Church property. Bonaparte benefited from the Concordat in many ways. His regime was
recognized by the Pope, government authority over the Church was confirmed, and he could
expect the clergy to support his policies. The schism that had divided the French Church
since 1790 ended, thereby reducing domes tic tension. Church support for the royalist
opposition ceased and the refractory bishops, an influential source of opposition to
Bonaparte, were dismissed. Finally, Bonaparte consolidated landowners’ support for his
regime by receiving papal recognition of the new land titles. As for the Pope, his main
achievements were regaining some control over the French Church and restoring its unity.

In September 1791, the French Revolution proclaimed full equality for French Jews.

In 1808, the regime organized the Jews in regional committees, called con sistories, to run
the practice of Judaism, appoint rabbis, and collect com munal taxes. A central consistory in
Paris with a chief rabbi would govern the whole system. Another decree, known as “the
infamous decree,” established restrictions on Jewish lenders. To accelerate assimilation, the
government required Jews to assume family names.

STATE ADMINISTRATION

An essential component of the Napoleonic state was a streamlined, cen tral, and uniform
administration designed to carry out government orders efficiently. The Reign of Terror
instituted a centralized machinery that had persisted under the Directory. Bonaparte retained
the Revolutionary division of France into departments;

in 1799, France was divided into 98 departments, a number that steadily rose, reaching 130
at the peak of France’s territorial expansion in 1810. The First Consul appointed a hierarchy
of officials to run the departments, elevating state centralization and administrative unity to
new heights. The government’s chief representative in the department was the prefect, “the
hallmark of his centralizing drive, and his prime instrument for pacifying the coun try.”26

The prefects, who were sub ordinate to the Interior Minister, had extensive power; in the
words of Jacques Godechot, the prefect was “a miniature emperor” in his department.27
They executed government orders and were responsible for public order, conscription
quotas, a stable food supply, public works, budgetary issues, and proper tax collection.

To assure their commitment to the State and prevent prefects from developing local
loyalties, Napoleon never appointed prefects to serve in their native departments, and he
replaced them every few years.

Each department was divided into four or five arrondissements adminis tered by
sub-prefects who were nominated by Napoleon from among the notable lists. At the
municipal level, mayors ran cities and towns with the aid of advisory councils. Mayors of
large cities were selected from the notables by Napoleon while prefects nominated mayors
of small towns with fewer than 5000 inhabitants.

THE POLICE

Securing law and order and suppressing opposition to his rule were two of Napoleon’s most
important goals. The Ministry of General Police, which he inherited from the Revolutionary
period, was designed to accomplish those objectives. In the words of Michael Sibalis, the
police “did exercise tight control over all public expressions of opinion, did pay a network of
secret agents to keep the nation under surveillance, and did detain the regime’s enemies in
special state prisons without charge or trial.”

An ex-terrorist, Fouché was in charge of the police for eight years (1800–02; 1804–10) and
created a formidable machinery that constituted the first modern political police.

Yet Fouché’s primary goals were to repress any political opposi tion to Napoleon and to
uncover conspiracies.

The Ministry of Police was also in charge of censorship.30 The French Revolution eliminated
restrictions on printing, and in 1790,

. In 1811, Jean-Marie Savary, Fouché’s successor, suppressed most of the remaining

Parisian papers,

The bureau de presse in the Police Ministry was in charge of censoring the press; no
political news could be published without the censor’s approval, while editors had to be con
firmed by the government. Criticism of the Grande Armée and praise of the Bourbons or
England were prohibited. The Moniteur, although pri vately owned, became the official paper
of the regime. Printers and book dealers needed government licenses to operate and their
activities were regulated. The government stopped the circulation of “dangerous” books. On
the other hand, authors of books favorable to the regime received financial awards.

THE JUDICIARY

Along with the new administration, the Constitution of Year VIII also estab lished the judiciary
structure,33 which Bonaparte viewed as essential for the maintenance of law and order. He
followed the system formed during the Revolution, although as time progressed Bonaparte’s
control over the judicial system increased. The hierarchical court structure certainly suited
the centralized structure of the Napoleonic State.

The First Consul and the Senate appointed their personnel from among departmental
notables, except for justices of peace.

As Emperor, Napoleon was also given the right to appoint the heads of the Court of
Cassation. In October 1807, a senatus consultum enabled Napoleon to purge the
membership of the courts, which he used to get rid of former Republican supporters.

CODE NAPOLEON

Along with the secondary education system, the Civil Code was the most durable legacy of
the Napoleonic period and laid the foun dation of national unity.35 It has remained the basis
of French civil law to the present day and is known for its brevity, clarity, and accessibility.
Pre-Revolutionary France contained hundreds of local codes and cus toms, many deriving
from feudal jurisdiction. In southern France Roman Law prevailed, while Common Law
dominated in northern France. The Revolutionary governments declared the need to unify
the law and took some initial steps toward legal unification, most notably the revocation of
feudal law. At the same time, however, they also proclaimed thousands of new laws, further
complicating the legal system. Napoleon intended to replace this legal diversity with a
uniform law code that would enhance national unity, strengthen the State’s authority, and
benefit property owners.

For the first time, France possessed a clear, concise, and orderly civil code, which took the
name ‘Code Napoleon’ in 1807. In the view of Jean Tulard, “The Civil Code legitimized the
abolition of the Ancien Régime.”36 It Ratified important Revolutionary principles, including
legal equality, careers based on merit, an end to feudal privileges, freedom of religion,
secularization of the law, and freedom of occupation. Most significantly, the Code embodied
a modern concept of property ownership. Its framers believed that property was the
cornerstone of society, thus the Code guaranteed the gains made by property owners during
the Revolution.

The Civil Code also gave employers advantages over their workers. For example, it
prohibited workers from organizing, a ratification of the Le Chapelier Law proclaimed in
1791.
 Family was the second important area in the Civil Code.38 It regulated family property,
including the marriage contract and the division of property among heirs. It outlawed
primogeniture, allowing all sons to become property owners. It permitted, however, one child
to inherit a larger share of the property than other heirs, overruling the Revolutionary law that
required an equal division of property among all heirs. Code Napoleon confirmed the
secularization of marriage, thereby placing it under State jurisdiction. Divorce, prohibited
under the Old Regime but legalized by the Revolution in 1792, was also permitted by Code
Napoleon, but on only three grounds: ill treatment, criminal conviction, and adultery. These
limits considerably reduced the number of divorces in comparison with the Revolutionary
years.

Family was the second important area in the Civil Code.38 It regulated family property,
including the marriage contract and the division of property among heirs. It outlawed
primogeniture, allowing all sons to become property owners. It permitted, however, one child
to inherit a larger share of the property than other heirs, overruling the Revolutionary law that
required an equal division of property among all heirs. Code Napoleon confirmed the
secularization of marriage, thereby placing it under State jurisdiction. Divorce, prohibited
under the Old Regime but legalized by the Revolution in 1792, was also permitted by Code
Napoleon, but on only three grounds: ill treatment, criminal conviction, and adultery. These
limits considerably reduced the number of divorces in comparison with the Revolutionary
years.

Article 213 stated that “The woman owes obedience to her husband.” She had to follow her
husband wherever he moved and was not permitted to sign a legal contract on her own. The
Code also made it easier for men to obtain a divorce than for women.

Owing to its simple, concise, and coherent style, the Civil Code had immense influence and
attraction outside France. Napoleon used the Code as a tool of domination and ordered its
introduction in his satellite states,39 including Belgium, the Netherlands, parts of Germany,
Italy, and Switzerland. It aided in rallying the local propertied classes to Napoleonic rule and
helped to spread Revolutionary ideas throughout Europe. In the words of Godechot, “It
constituted the most tangible and the most durable trace of the revolutionary expansion.”40
The Civil Code was followed by other codes: the Code of Civil Procedure (1806); the
Commercial Code (1807), which dealt with issues like bankruptcy law and commercial
disputes; the Code of Criminal Procedure (1808), which retained trial by jury; and the Penal
Code (1810), which preserved capital punishment and long prison terms with hard labor.

MILITARY CONSCRIPTION

No other issue aroused as much opposition to the Napoleonic regime as military

conscription. The Revolutionary governments laid the founda tion for national conscription. In
March 1793, the Convention called up 300,000 new draftees, and in August it proclaimed the
levée en masse. In September 1798, the Directory launched annual conscription

Men between 20 and 25 years of age were eligible for four years of military service; exempt
were married men, widowers with children, and the handicapped
Later, Napoleon author ized hiring substitutes, which favored the well-to-do. The Directory
failed, however, to implement the conscription law effectively. Napoleon, on the other hand,
put teeth into the conscription law, turning annual con scription into a routine and thereby
amassing a huge army.

Conscription became the most contested policy between State and society.41 It fell largely to
the rural population, which was unaccustomed to military service, disrupting its traditional
way of life and separating recruits from their families and farms for years.

In the words of Woloch, “a general resistance to conscription remained the foremost

domestic challenge to the Napoleonic state.”

Some eligible draftees married prior to the annual draft while others disqualified them selves
from the draft through self-mutilation.

The gendarmerie, national guard, and mobile columns were expanded and sent to pursue
draft dodgers. The government also tried to lure deserters back to military service through
amnesties. Ultimately, the Napoleonic regime won the conscription struggle.

Indeed, the draft became an annual routine that most French learnt to accept.

Enforcing conscription and strengthening its machinery contributed considerably to the

build-up of the State’s power. Ultimately, it expanded state control over the everyday life of
French citizens. Conscription offi cials penetrated remote communities and compelled their
inhabitants to obey state laws.

In the long run, military service was also an important way of promoting patriotic feelings and
“making peasants into Frenchmen.”45 For many young men, recruitment was the first time
they came in contact with the State, heard nationalist propaganda, and met soldiers from
other provinces, all of which enabled them to transcend their provincial identity and start
viewing themselves as Frenchmen.

FINANCIAL REFORMS

The Directory left Bonaparte a legacy of chaotic financial conditions, including public debt,
deficits, inflation, and depreciated paper money.46 A rise in prices of basic necessities
provoked widespread discontent. The Directory initiated several reforms to overcome the
financial crisis. It removed the assignats from circulation and reimbursed creditors two thirds
of the debt through bonds they could use to purchase national property.

The Directory also proclaimed new indirect taxes and tried to improve collection of direct
taxes. Yet property assessments were based on old, inaccurate surveys, thereby rendering
taxes arbitrary, hence tax arrears remained an ongoing problem. The government also
imposed a forced loan on the wealthiest citizens, but due to opposition, it recovered only a
fraction of the amount it had hoped to collect.

The shaky fiscal conditions and the unpopular financial policies considerably weakened the
Directory and contributed to its collapse.
 In late 1799, the state coffers were virtually empty.48 Bonaparte needed to stabilize
fiscal conditions quickly. Finance Minister Martin Gaudin man aged public revenues,
particularly tax collection, while a Ministry of the Treasury ran expenditures.

The main financial innovations under Napoleon pertained to the credit system and the
establishment of a more centralized and rigorous finan cial administration.

Taxes constituted the principal source of state revenues. The First Consul added no new
direct taxes to the ones set up during the Revolution. The land tax, created in 1791, was the
principal direct tax, providing almost three-fourths of the government’s income from direct
taxes.

To establish real-estate tax on an equitable and uniform basis, Napoleon launched a land
survey (September 1807).

State income from direct taxes was diminishing, and in 1813 it amounted to a mere 29
percent of the total revenues. To compensate for the declining revenues from direct taxes,
the Napoleonic authorities gradually increased indirect taxes, restoring pre-Revolutionary
tributes, despite their detrimental effect on the lower classes.

The Revolutionary government had abolished many unpopular indirect taxes, most notably
the salt gabelle. The Directory imposed duties on tobacco, playing cards, carriages,
silverware, and alcohol. Napoleon increased alcohol duties several times. After Austerlitz he
felt secure enough to create new indirect taxes and increase old ones. Particularly significant
was the restoration of the hated salt tax (April 1806).

In December 1810, the government reestablished state monopoly of the manufacturing and
trade of tobacco. Those changes quadrupled rev enues from indirect taxes between 1806
and 1812.

A third group of revenues consisted of customs, stamp fees, registry taxes, the lottery, and
the post. The State also continued to draw income from the sale of national property. The
principal innovation of the Napoleonic tax policies, however, was the establishment of an
efficient tax-collection apparatus.

Under the Directory, tax collection was largely ineffective due to the absence of spe cialized
tax receivers and the lack of government control.

Napoleon also increased the personnel engaged in indirect tax collection. In 1804, the
authorities created a central body to levy the duties on alcohol, tobacco, playing cards, and
carriages

Napoleon drew a lesson from the disastrous experience of the assignats and refused to
issue paper money, basing French currency on metallic currency.

The new French currency became one of the strongest in Europe and lasted for the next 125
years.
The French ruler refused to borrow since he feared repeating the ruinous experience of the
Old Regime. At the same time, Napoleon could not ignore the issue of credit since taxes
were insufficient to cover all the regime’s expenses and because he had inherited debt from
the previous governments. Founding the Bank of France constituted the most important
reform in the area of credit.

With the growing military expenses, the Treasury constantly resorted to short-term loans
from the Bank of France. Yet the improvement in the French financial organization and the
increase in revenues were insufficient to cover all the public expenses due to the escalating
military costs. It was only thanks to taxes and requisitions from occupied territories, along
with war contributions paid by vanquished enemies, that the Napoleonic regime was able to
reduce the deficit.

THE EDUCATION SYSTEM

Napoleon’s educational reforms laid the foundation for two lasting lega cies: the French
secondary schools, the lycées, and a centralized education system. Napoleon viewed state
control of education, especially at the secondary level, as essential for the consolidation of
his rule. In 1803, Portalis wrote: “Public education belongs to the State, for individual families
must be directed according to the plan of the great family which includes them all.”56
Napoleon set up a national education system char acterized by uniformity, a hierarchical
structure, centralization, state control, and a standardized curriculum.

Through the centralization and development of the education system, Napoleon expected to
achieve two main goals. He clearly aimed at molding the minds of young Frenchmen,
instilling in them patriotism, loyalty to his regime, and respect for social hierarchy and
property.

Secondly, he intended to train and prepare the students to become efficient and skilled
bureaucrats, in response to the growing administrative needs of the French State.
Under the ancien régime, education was not a primary concern for most people; neither did
the State allocate any means to pay for it. The Church exerted considerable influence over
education. During the Revolution, education became an important part of republican
ideology and Revolutionaries viewed universal primary education as an essential fea ture of
a progressive nation.

In 1793, the Revolutionary government proclaimed new education programs, including free
primary schools in every commune. Due to the war, however, it lacked the resources to
implement this program. The Constitution of 1795 and the Daunou Law (October 1798) laid
down the fundamental principles of a system of pub lic education, both primary and
secondary.59 But the Directory had little success in primary education due to a shortage of
teachers, insufficient resources, and the opposition of the rural population to republican
education. It had more success with secondary education. In 1795, it instituted a nationwide
secondary education program, establishing écoles centrales in various departments.

establishing them on a more solid foundation. He paid little attention to primary schools,
content to leave them in the hands of municipal author ities. Elementary education, in
Napoleon’s view, was given to the poor with little beyond moral principles and good work
habits. Likewise, Napoleon ignored education for girls, believing that they needed no formal
education. “Girls,” he said, “cannot be brought up better than by their mothers. Public
education does not suit them, as they are not called into public life; manners are everything
for them; marriage is their whole destination.”

The chief objective of the law of 1802 was the creation of 45 lycées, designed to train
primarily sons of the well-to-do for state service.

Napoleon aimed at regulating every aspect of secondary educa tion.

Military discipline prevailed in the lycées; stu dents wore uniforms, were divided into
“companies,” and held ranks. Besides the lycées, there were also secondary schools run by
the munic ipalities and the Catholic Church. Many bourgeois citizens resented the military
regimentation and the irreligious environment in the lycées, and preferred to enroll their sons
in these schools.

This competition and the absence of uniformity among the different types of schools
stimulated Napoleon to organize a new body, the Imperial University, a corporation of
teachers “charged exclusively with teaching and public education throughout the Empire” in
order “to direct political and moral opinions.” This central educational authority was designed
to enhance uniformity and obedience to the Napoleonic regime. A 144-article decree, issued
in March 1808, placed all secondary schools under its authority.

In practice, however, the Imperial University was never as effective in imposing a uni form
educational program throughout France as it was meant to be. For example, the clergy’s role
in teaching and running schools actually increased under Napoleon compared with the
Revolutionary years, due to a shortage of qualified teachers.

The Imperial University also controlled higher education, which con sisted of specialized
schools and institutions. One of them was the École Polytechnique, founded in 1794 to train
engineers, although during the Empire it trained predominantly military personnel. Special
schools for law, medicine, physics, chemistry, and other disciplines were projected. In 1808,
the École Normale was founded to train teachers. The graduates and teachers in these and
other institutions became the intellectual elite of France.