71 The First Consul
23.1.4: The First Consul
Napoleon’s consolidation of power was initiated by a coup and continued in a series of political maneuvers, but his rise as the sole ruler of France was linked with the power and popularity he gained as the foremost military leader.
Learning Objective
Describe how Napoleon became First Consul and consolidated power
Key Points
- After Habsburg-controlled Austria declared war in 1799, France returned to a war footing. With Napoleon and the republic’s best army engaged in the Egypt and Syria campaign, France suffered a series of reverses in Europe. The Coup of 30 Prairial VII (June 18) ousted the Jacobins and left Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès as the dominant figure in the government. As France’s military situation improved, the Jacobins feared a revival of the pro-peace Royalist faction. When Napoleon returned to France in October, both factions hailed him as the country’s savior.
- Despite the failures in Egypt, Napoleon returned to a hero’s welcome, which convinced Sieyès he had found the general indispensable to his planned coup. However, from the moment of his return, Napoleon plotted a coup within the coup, ultimately gaining power for himself rather than Sieyès.
- On the 18 of Brumaire, three of the five Directors resigned, which prevented a quorum and thus practically abolished the Directory. The two remaining Directors protested, but were arrested and forced to give up their resistance. Both Councils resisted but eventually succumbed to the demands of the plotters.
- The plotters convened two commissions that they intimidated into declaring a provisional government, the first form of the Consulate with Napoleon, Sieyès, and Ducos as Consuls. The commissions then drew up the Constitution of the Year VIII (1799). Originally devised by Sieyès to give Napoleon a minor role but rewritten by Napoleon and accepted by direct popular vote, the Constitution preserved the appearance of a republic but in reality established a dictatorship.
- Bonaparte completed his coup within a coup by the adoption of a constitution under which the First Consul, a position he was sure to hold, had greater power than the other two consuls. Under the new constitution, The Sénat conservateur verified the draft bills and directly advised the First Consul; Conseil d’État drafted bills; Tribunat debated bills but could not vote on them; and Corps législatif voted on laws deliberated before the Tribunat.
- Military victories, elimination of political opponents, and internal reforms continued to strengthen Napoleon’s position and popularity. Finally, the 1802 Peace of Amiens gave the peacemaker a pretext for endowing himself with a Consulate, not for ten years but for life, as a recompense from the nation. The decision was approved in a referendum.
Key Terms
- the Consulate
- The government of France from the fall of the Directory in the Coup of 18 Brumaire (1799) until the start of the Napoleonic Empire in 1804. By extension, the term also refers to this period of French history. During this period, Napoleon Bonaparte, as First Consul, established himself as the head of a more liberal, authoritarian, autocratic, and centralized republican government in France while not declaring himself head of state.
- Tribunat
- One of the four assemblies set up in France by the Constitution of Year VIII (the other three were the Council of State, the Corps législatif and the Sénat conservateur). It was set up officially in 1800 at the same time as the Corps législatif. It assumed some of the functions of the Council of Five Hundred, but its role consisted only of deliberating projected laws before their adoption by the Corps législatif, with the legislative initiative remaining with the Council of State.
- Sénat conservateur
- An advisory body established in France during the Consulate following the French Revolution. It was established in 1799 under the Constitution of the Year VIII following the Napoleon Bonaparte-led Coup of 18 Brumaire. It lasted until 1814 when Napoleon Bonaparte was overthrown and the Bourbon monarchy was restored, and was a key element in Napoleon’s regime.
- Coup of 30 Prairial
- A bloodless coup, also known as the Revenge of the Councils, that occurred in France on June 18, 1799—30 Prairial Year VII by the French Republican Calendar. It left Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès as the dominant figure of the French government and prefigured the Coup of 18 Brumaire that brought Napoleon Bonaparte to power.
- Corps législatif
- A part of the French legislature during the French Revolution and beyond. During the period of the French Directory beginning in 1795, the Corps législatif referred to the bicameral legislature of the Council of Five Hundred and the Council of Ancients. Under Napoleon’s Consulate, this was the law-making body of the three-part government apparatus (alongside the Tribunat and the Sénat Conservateur). At the time, its role consisted solely of voting on laws deliberated before the Tribunat.
- Conseil d’État
- (French: Council of State): A body of the French national government that acts both as legal adviser of the executive branch and as the supreme court for administrative justice. Originally established in 1799 by Napoleon Bonaparte as a successor to the King’s Council and a judicial body mandated to adjudicate claims against the State and assist in the drafting of important laws.
- Directory
- A five-member committee that governed France from November 1795 when it replaced the Committee of Public Safety until it was overthrown by Napoleon Bonaparte in the Coup of 18 Brumaire (November 8-9, 1799) and replaced by the Consulate. It gave its name to the final four years of the French Revolution.
- Coup of 18 Brumaire
- A bloodless coup d’état under the leadership of Napoleon Bonaparte that overthrew the Directory, replacing it with the French Consulate. It took place on November 9, 1799, which was 18 Brumaire, Year VIII under the French Republican Calendar.
Coup of 18 Brumaire
After Habsburg-controlled Austria declared war in 1799, France returned to a war footing. Emergency measures were adopted and the pro-war Jacobin faction triumphed in the election. With Napoleon and the republic’s best army engaged in the Egypt and Syria campaign, France suffered a series of reverses in Europe. The Coup of 30 Prairial VII (June 18) ousted the Jacobins and left Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès, a member of the five-man ruling Directory, the dominant figure in the government. As France’s military situation improved, the Jacobins feared a revival of the pro-peace Royalist faction. When Napoleon returned to France in October, both factions hailed him as the country’s savior.
Despite the failures in Egypt, Napoleon returned to a hero’s welcome, which convinced Sieyès he had found the general indispensable to his planned coup. However, from the moment of his return, Napoleon plotted a coup within the coup, ultimately gaining power for himself rather than Sieyès. Prior to the coup, troops were conveniently deployed around Paris. The plan was first to persuade the Directors to resign, then to get the Council of Ancients and the Council of Five Hundred (the upper and lower houses of the legislature) to appoint a pliant commission that would draw up a new constitution to the plotters’ specifications.
The plan succeeded. On the morning of 18 Brumaire, Lucien Bonaparte falsely persuaded the Councils that a Jacobin coup was at hand in Paris and induced them to depart for the safety in the suburbs, while Napoleon was charged with the safety of the two Councils and given command of all available local troops. On the same day, three of the five Directors resigned, which prevented a quorum and thus practically abolished the Directory. The two remaining Directors protested but were arrested and forced to give up their resistance.
By the following day, the deputies of the Councils realized that they were facing an attempted coup rather than being protected from a Jacobin rebellion. Faced with their recalcitrance, Napoleon stormed into the chambers, which proved to be the coup within the coup: from this point, it was a military affair. Both chambers resisted but under the pressure of the events, they succumbed to the demands of the plotters.
Consolidation of Power: The Consulate
The Directory was crushed, but the coup within the coup was not yet complete. The use of military force had certainly strengthened Napoleon’s hand vis à vis Sieyès and the other plotters. With the Council routed, the plotters convened two commissions, each consisting of 25 deputies from the two Councils. The plotters essentially intimidated the commissions into declaring a provisional government, the first form of the Consulate with Napoleon, Sieyès, and Roger Ducos as Consuls. The lack of reaction from the streets proved that the revolution was indeed over. Resistance by Jacobin officeholders in the provinces was quickly crushed. The commissions then drew up the Constitution of the Year VIII (1799), the first of the constitutions since the Revolution without a Declaration of Rights. Originally devised by Sieyès to give Napoleon a minor role but rewritten by Napoleon and accepted by direct popular vote, the Constitution preserved the appearance of a republic but in reality established a dictatorship.
Sieyès and Ducossurvived only two months as members of the Consulate. In December 1799, two new members (in the portrait above) joined Napoleon. As the years would progress, he would move to consolidate his own power as First Consul and leave the two other consuls, Jean Jacques Régis de Cambacérès and Charles-François Lebrun, duc de Plaisance, as well as the Assemblies, weak and subservient. By consolidating power, Bonaparte was able to transform the aristocratic constitution of Sieyès into a dictatorship.
Bonaparte thus completed his coup within a coup by the adoption of a constitution under which the First Consul, a position he was sure to hold, had greater power than the other two. In particular, he appointed the Senate and the Senate interpreted the constitution. The Sénat conservateur (Conservative Senate, which verified the draft bills and directly advised the First Consul on the implications of such bills) allowed him to rule by decree, so the more independent Conseil d’État (Council of State, which drafted bills) and Tribunat (debated bills but could not vote on them) were relegated to unimportant roles. The legislature known as Corps législatif also partly replaced the Council of Five Hundred under the new constitution, but its role consisted solely of voting on laws deliberated before the Tribunat.
Napoleon, at least in theory, still shared the executive power with the two other Consuls. He now aspired to get rid of Sieyès and those republicans who had no desire to hand over the republic to one man. Military victories in the ongoing war increased his popularity and royalist plots served as an excuse to eliminate political opponents, usually by deportation, even if they were innocent. The 1801 Treaty of Lunéville with Austria restored peace in Europe, gave nearly the whole of Italy to France, and permitted Bonaparte to eliminate from the assemblies all the leaders of the opposition. The Concordat of 1801, drawn up not in the Church’s interest but in that of Napoleon’s own policy, allowed him to put down the constitutional democratic Church, rally round him the consciences of the peasants, and above all, deprive the royalists of their best weapon. The 1802 Peace of Amiens with the United Kingdom, of which France’s allies, Spain and the Batavian Republic, paid all the costs, gave the peacemaker a pretext for endowing himself with a Consulate, not for ten years but for life, as a recompense from the nation. The same year, a second national referendum was held, this time to confirm Napoleon as “First Consul for Life.”
Attributions
- The First Consul
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“Coup of 30 Prairial VII.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coup_of_30_Prairial_VII. Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0.
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“Conseil d’État (France).” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conseil_d%27%C3%89tat_(France). Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0.
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“Sénat conservateur.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A9nat_conservateur. Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0.
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“Constitution of the Year VIII.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_the_Year_VIII. Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0.
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“3consuls.jpg.” https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:3consuls.jpg. Wikimedia Commons Public domain.