9. The Directory, the Consulate and the End of Revolution 1795 - 1802
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The Constitution of Year III
With the Terror over, the French Revolutionary wars once again going in France's favour and the stranglehold of the Parisians on the revolution broken, the National Convention began to devise a new constitution. Chief in their aims was the need for stability. The resulting constitution was approved on April 22nd and was once again begun with a declaration of rights, but this time a list of duties was also added.
All male taxpayers over 21 were 'citizens' who could vote, but in practice the deputies were chosen by assemblies in which only citizens who owned or rented property and who paid a set sum of tax each year could sit. The nation would thus be governed by those who had a stake in it. This created an electorate of roughly a million, of which 30,000 could sit in the resulting assemblies. Elections would take place yearly, returning a third of the required deputies each time.
The legislature was bicameral, being comprised of two councils. The 'lower' Council of Five Hundred proposed all legislation but did not vote, while the 'upper' Council of Elders, which was composed of married or widowed men over forty, could only pass or reject legislation, not propose it. Executive power lay with five Directors, which were chosen by the Elders from a list provided by the 500. One retired each year by lot, and none could be chosen from the Councils. The aim here was a series of checks and balances on power.
However, the Convention also decided that two-thirds of the first set of council deputies had to be members of the National Convention.
The Vendémiaire Uprising
The two-thirds law disappointed many, further fuelling a public displeasure at the Convention which had been growing as food once again became scarce. Only one section in Paris was in favour of the law and this led to the planning of an insurrection. The Convention responded by summoning troops to Paris, which further inflamed support for the insurrection as people feared that the constitution would be forced onto them by the army.
On October 4th 1795 seven sections declared themselves insurrectionary and ordered their units of National Guard to gather ready for action, and on the 5th over 20,000 insurgents marched on the Convention. They were stopped by 6000 troops guarding vital bridges; they had been placed their by a deputy called Barras and a General called Napoleon Bonaparte. A stand off developed but violence soon ensued and the insurgents, who had been very effectively disarmed in the preceding months, were forced to retreat with hundreds killed. This failure marked the last time Parisians attempted to take charge, a turning point in the Revolution.
Royalists and Jacobins
The Councils soon took their seats and the first five Directors were Barras, who had helped save the constitution, Carnot, a military organiser who had once been on the Committee of Public Safety, Reubell, Letourneur and La Revelliére-Lépeaux. Over the next few years the Directors maintained a policy of vacillating between Jacobin and Royalist sides to try and negate both. When Jacobins were in the ascendant the Directors closed their clubs and rounded up terrorists and when the royalists were rising their newspapers were curbed, Jacobins papers funded and sansculottes released to cause trouble. The Jacobins still tried to force their ideas through by planning uprisings, while the monarchists looked to the elections to gain power. For their part, the new government grew increasingly dependant on the army to maintain itself.
Meanwhile sectional assemblies were abolished, to be replaced with a new, centrally controlled body. The sectionally controlled National Guard also went, replaced with a new and centrally controlled Parisian Guard. During this period a journalist called Babeuf began calling for the abolition of private property, common ownership and the equal distribution of goods; this is believed to the first instance of full communism being advocated.
The Fructidor Coup
The first elections to take place under the new regime occurred in year V of the revolutionary calendar. The people of France voted against the former Convention deputies (few were re-elected), against the Jacobins, (almost none were returned) and against the Directory, returning new men with no experience instead of those the Directors favoured. 182 of the deputies were now royalist. Meanwhile Letourneur left the Directory and Barthélemy took his place.
The results worried both the Directors and the nation’s generals, both concerned that the royalists were growing greatly in power. On the night of September 3-4th the ‘Triumvirs’, as Barras, Reubell and La Revelliére-Lépeaux were increasingly known, ordered troops to seize Parisian strong points and surround the council rooms. They arrested Carnot, Barthélemy and 53 council deputies, plus other prominent royalists. Propaganda was sent out stating that there had been a royalist plot. The Fructidor Coup against the monarchists was this swift and bloodless. Two new Directors were appointed, but the council positions were left vacant.
The Directory
From this point on the 'Second Directory' rigged and annulled elections to keep their power, which they now began to use. They signed the peace of Campo Formio with Austria, leaving France at war with just Britain, against whom an invasion was planned before Napoleon Bonaparte led a force to invade Egypt and threaten British interests in Suez and India. Tax and debts were revamped, with a 'two-thirds' bankruptcy and the reintroduction of indirect taxes on, among other things, tobacco and windows. Laws against émigrés returned, as did refractory laws, with refusals being deported.
The elections of 1797 were rigged at every level to minimise royalist gains and support the Directory. Only 47 out of 96 departmental results were not altered by a scrutinizing process. This was the coup of Floréal and it tightened the Director's grip over the councils. However, they were to weaken their support when their actions, and the behaviour of France in international politics, led to a renewal of war and the return of conscription.
Previous Page | Contents | Next Page
The Constitution of Year III
With the Terror over, the French Revolutionary wars once again going in France's favour and the stranglehold of the Parisians on the revolution broken, the National Convention began to devise a new constitution. Chief in their aims was the need for stability. The resulting constitution was approved on April 22nd and was once again begun with a declaration of rights, but this time a list of duties was also added.
All male taxpayers over 21 were 'citizens' who could vote, but in practice the deputies were chosen by assemblies in which only citizens who owned or rented property and who paid a set sum of tax each year could sit. The nation would thus be governed by those who had a stake in it. This created an electorate of roughly a million, of which 30,000 could sit in the resulting assemblies. Elections would take place yearly, returning a third of the required deputies each time.
The legislature was bicameral, being comprised of two councils. The 'lower' Council of Five Hundred proposed all legislation but did not vote, while the 'upper' Council of Elders, which was composed of married or widowed men over forty, could only pass or reject legislation, not propose it. Executive power lay with five Directors, which were chosen by the Elders from a list provided by the 500. One retired each year by lot, and none could be chosen from the Councils. The aim here was a series of checks and balances on power.
However, the Convention also decided that two-thirds of the first set of council deputies had to be members of the National Convention.
The Vendémiaire Uprising
The two-thirds law disappointed many, further fuelling a public displeasure at the Convention which had been growing as food once again became scarce. Only one section in Paris was in favour of the law and this led to the planning of an insurrection. The Convention responded by summoning troops to Paris, which further inflamed support for the insurrection as people feared that the constitution would be forced onto them by the army.
On October 4th 1795 seven sections declared themselves insurrectionary and ordered their units of National Guard to gather ready for action, and on the 5th over 20,000 insurgents marched on the Convention. They were stopped by 6000 troops guarding vital bridges; they had been placed their by a deputy called Barras and a General called Napoleon Bonaparte. A stand off developed but violence soon ensued and the insurgents, who had been very effectively disarmed in the preceding months, were forced to retreat with hundreds killed. This failure marked the last time Parisians attempted to take charge, a turning point in the Revolution.
Royalists and Jacobins
The Councils soon took their seats and the first five Directors were Barras, who had helped save the constitution, Carnot, a military organiser who had once been on the Committee of Public Safety, Reubell, Letourneur and La Revelliére-Lépeaux. Over the next few years the Directors maintained a policy of vacillating between Jacobin and Royalist sides to try and negate both. When Jacobins were in the ascendant the Directors closed their clubs and rounded up terrorists and when the royalists were rising their newspapers were curbed, Jacobins papers funded and sansculottes released to cause trouble. The Jacobins still tried to force their ideas through by planning uprisings, while the monarchists looked to the elections to gain power. For their part, the new government grew increasingly dependant on the army to maintain itself.
Meanwhile sectional assemblies were abolished, to be replaced with a new, centrally controlled body. The sectionally controlled National Guard also went, replaced with a new and centrally controlled Parisian Guard. During this period a journalist called Babeuf began calling for the abolition of private property, common ownership and the equal distribution of goods; this is believed to the first instance of full communism being advocated.
The Fructidor Coup
The first elections to take place under the new regime occurred in year V of the revolutionary calendar. The people of France voted against the former Convention deputies (few were re-elected), against the Jacobins, (almost none were returned) and against the Directory, returning new men with no experience instead of those the Directors favoured. 182 of the deputies were now royalist. Meanwhile Letourneur left the Directory and Barthélemy took his place.
The results worried both the Directors and the nation’s generals, both concerned that the royalists were growing greatly in power. On the night of September 3-4th the ‘Triumvirs’, as Barras, Reubell and La Revelliére-Lépeaux were increasingly known, ordered troops to seize Parisian strong points and surround the council rooms. They arrested Carnot, Barthélemy and 53 council deputies, plus other prominent royalists. Propaganda was sent out stating that there had been a royalist plot. The Fructidor Coup against the monarchists was this swift and bloodless. Two new Directors were appointed, but the council positions were left vacant.
The Directory
From this point on the 'Second Directory' rigged and annulled elections to keep their power, which they now began to use. They signed the peace of Campo Formio with Austria, leaving France at war with just Britain, against whom an invasion was planned before Napoleon Bonaparte led a force to invade Egypt and threaten British interests in Suez and India. Tax and debts were revamped, with a 'two-thirds' bankruptcy and the reintroduction of indirect taxes on, among other things, tobacco and windows. Laws against émigrés returned, as did refractory laws, with refusals being deported.
The elections of 1797 were rigged at every level to minimise royalist gains and support the Directory. Only 47 out of 96 departmental results were not altered by a scrutinizing process. This was the coup of Floréal and it tightened the Director's grip over the councils. However, they were to weaken their support when their actions, and the behaviour of France in international politics, led to a renewal of war and the return of conscription.
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