The "Eight-Year Constitution of the Republic" - The "Constitution of 1799" was officially promulgated
Since the fundamental motive for the Kirigetsu coup was to overthrow the 1795 constitution and the feuding Directory system, the first priority after the coup was to formulate a new constitution that would make political life stable and orderly.
Kiriyuki coup
As the originator and main practitioner of the coup plan, Sieyers produced a draft constitution that reflected his constitutional philosophy soon after the coup, and its basic idea was to formulate a meticulous electoral system, pay attention to the checks and balances of power, and prevent factional rivalry or usurpation of power by force, so that France could avoid the coup d'état cycle of sudden government collapse and opposition soaring to power.
Simeyers
According to this draft constitution, the basic framework of state power should be: the chief executive (also known as the "Grand electeur") is the head of state, he is the symbol of the entire country, he holds office for life, but he is not directly responsible for the affairs of the state; The actual organization and management was the responsibility of the two consuls (wartime consul and peacetime consul) and the legislature elected by universal suffrage.
The reason why Sieyes wanted to set up a fictitious Fuhrer was obvious, that is, to properly place the borrowed "machete" of Napoleon. Moreover, he also made meticulous arrangements for Napoleon's life after he became the supreme administrator: with the Palace of Versailles as his official residence, with an annual salary of 6 million lithium, and a guard of 3,000 people.
However, Sieyas, known for his theory, was not fully aware of the difficulty of "returning the knife into the sheath". Since Napoleon had become provisional on an equal footing with Sinailles, and Napoleon, as provisional consul, had the right to participate in the drafting and discussion of a new constitution, it was clear that the military politician, who had just turned 30 and was not willing to do nothing, would not accept the vacancy that Simeyers had prepared for him.
Napoleon
Napoleon once said to the members of the Constitution Drafting Committee: "How can you imagine that a man of some ability and honor would be willing to be a pig cub who takes millions of lithium to make manure?" Napoleon won the support of another provisional governor, Dico, and most of the members of the Constitution Drafting Committee, and Sieyers, who had always hated controversy and justification, was lonely and allowed Napoleon to make unbridled amendments to the draft Constitution.
In late December 1799, the law, known as the "Eighth Constitution of the Republic" or "Constitution of 1799," was officially promulgated, the fourth constitution written by the French in the 10 years since the beginning of the Revolution.
The ultimate source of legislative and executive power - the first ruling
Since the 1799 Constitution is the product of the will of the military, the democratic overtones and decentralization features that have been popular since the Revolution are no longer fashionable here. Although in constitutional principle all men over the age of 21 have the right to vote, their actual powers are extremely limited. According to the legal procedure, the election is carried out in a hierarchy from the bottom up, starting with 1/10 of the eligible voters in the country (about 6 million people), forming a "list of municipal candidates", from which municipal officials are selected.
Electoral work
One tenth of this list is then selected to form a "provincial candidate list". Finally, one tenth of this already fairly limited list is selected to constitute a "national list of candidates". This layered process means that only about 6,000 people will emerge from the 6,000 celebrities.
In the central body, the legislative and executive powers are formally separated from each other. The legislative power is divided into four chambers: the Conseil d 'Etat), which drafts the texts of laws; The Tribunat discusses the draft law but does not have the right to vote; The Legislative Yuan (Corps legislatif) votes on draft laws, but has no right to discuss them; The Senat's main duties were to defend the Constitution and to adjust the personnel of the Tribune and the Legislative Yuan.
senate
The executive power is vested in three governors: the consuls are nominally appointed by the Senate for a term of 10 years, of which the "Premier Consul" has the power to appoint ministers, diplomatic envoys, senior military officers, provincial governors, and various other senior local administrators, and the second and third consuls assist the first consul in related matters.
This division of labor seems to have clear responsibilities, but the crux of the matter is that the members of the Senate are selected and appointed by the First Governor, and the meetings of the Senate are presided over by the First Governor himself; Although the consuls are appointed by the Senate, the demarcation and addition of members of the Senate is basically the exclusive power of the first consul. Therefore, no matter how magnificent this political structure may be, and no matter how many procedures a matter has to go through in the process of handling, the ultimate source of legislative and executive power is concentrated in the first ruling.
A new government is formed
The reform of the local administration system also clearly reflected Napoleon's military style, that is, the decrees and regulations of the central power, as well as other orders, must be transmitted throughout the country at an electric speed.
Formally, the new constitution retained the local institutions inherited from the early days of the Revolution, but elected bodies and local self-government had become nominal, with governors, vice-governors, and even mayors of cities with more than 5,000 inhabitants appointed by the First Consul. The judicial system established at the beginning of the Revolution was also preserved, but judges of all types at all levels, except magistrates, were appointed by the central power.
At this point, the 10-year-long "popular carnival movement" characterized by local autonomy triggered by the Great Revolution basically came to an end, and a centralized system from the central to the local government was finally formed, and this system had extraordinary vitality once formed, and none of the regimes after Napoleon could really jump out of the system that Napoleon had circled for them.
The popular carnival movement
It was on the basis of this militarized constitution of 1799 that a new government, with Napoleon as the first consul, was formally established on December 25, 1799. Under the direct command of Napoleon, the action to end the revolutionary turmoil and stabilize the social order was thus fully launched.
The various problems faced by the executive government after its establishment - financial problems
As in previous administrations, the primary challenge facing the administration remains finance. Not to mention the heavy burden of the national debt, the cash in the treasury was only a few hundred thousand francs. Napoleon did not have any peculiar panacea for this problem, and his typical method was to adopt centralized vertical management: the tax power of local governments was abolished, and the central government directly sent people to the whole country to take charge of tax collection.
Abolish the tax power of local governments
Although this management method has slightly improved the state of the national treasury, it has caused the local government to collapse, and the local government, which has no human rights and no financial power, has gradually developed a century-old style of procrastination and overstaffing.
In order to improve the government's financial situation, Napoleon also took some indirect measures to promote economic recovery and development, such as the establishment of the "Caissed 'amortissement" (Public Debt Repayment Fund) to ensure that the government sometimes buys stock;
In early 1800, the "Banque de France" was established, which was soon given a monopoly on the issuance of banknotes; In 1803, according to the earlier "metric" weights and measures, the ruling government issued a new gold and silver coinage, which stipulated that the ratio of gold and silver was 1:15.5, and 1 franc was equal to 5 grams of ninety percent silver, so that the unit of currency calculation was unified with the actual face value of money for the first time.
Banque de France
After a period of rectification, according to official data, the government's finances have been breaking even since 1801. In fact, this balance is largely illusory, partly because of the falsification of book figures (which is nothing new in French history) and partly because the government has taken large amounts of tribute from the "sister republics" to replenish the treasury.
The difficulties faced after the establishment of the ruling government - the advancement of the Napoleonic Code
Another pressing issue that the ruling government needs to address in terms of stabilizing social order is to advance the rule of law that began during the self-contained Constituent Assembly. In August 1800, Napoleon ordered the creation of a committee to draft the Civil Code, which he personally chaired and urged, and in December 1800 completed the drafting of the Code Civil Code (later commonly known as the Napoleonic Code).
After being examined by Napoleon and the Senate article by article, the Civil Code was officially promulgated in March 1804. The 2,281 articles of the Civil Code cover almost all areas of social life and, in general, run through several basic principles, namely the principle of the inviolability of private property, the principle of freedom of contract and the principle of equality before the law.
The Civil Code has its indelible progressive significance, which in the form of law determines the achievements of anti-feudalism and anti-privilege since the Great Revolution, which is conducive to the further establishment and consolidation of the norms of life in capitalist society. Napoleon himself relished the value of this code, saying: "My glory does not lie in winning 40 battles, because the Battle of Waterloo eclipsed these victories, but my civil code will not be forgotten, it will last forever." ”
Battle of Waterloo
Needless to say, some provisions of the Civil Code have also had a clear negative impact. For example, the equal division of parents' inheritance between children makes already small smallholder farmland even smaller, which is why the Civil Code is figuratively referred to as a "land shredder".
As another example, the Code provides that a woman is under the guardianship of her father before marriage and by her husband after marriage. This provision was an irony of the early Revolution's demand for women's equal rights to "wear belts and carry pistols," but French women's own emancipation became far away.
Code
In addition, slavery in the French overseas colonies had been abolished by the Jacobin regime in February 1794, but in May 1802, Napoleon restored it to its original state by decree. The brilliance of Napoleon's legal system was thus greatly diminished.
The difficulties faced by the ruling government after its establishment - the religious issue
The question of religion was also an important issue that Napoleon focused on. The previous government had declared the separation of church and state in France, but Napoleon saw religion as an indispensable spiritual pillar for the stability of social order, arguing that "a society without religion is like a ship without a compass".
Religious issues
In order to put the "compass" on the ship of France as soon as possible, Napoleon immediately decided that church and state could not be separated, but the premise was that the church must be the church of the French. In June 1800, Napoleon sent delegates to negotiate with the new Pope, Pius VII (reigned 1800-1823).
In July 1801, the two sides finally signed the Concordat in Paris, which lasted for more than 100 years. The treaty declares that Catholicism is the religion of the "vast majority of the French"; In France, people are free to practice Catholicism, but they must abide by the law and be subject to public security;
Signing of the Academic Affairs Convention
The Church may not seek the recovery of real estate and other property confiscated during the revolution, in exchange for which all priests' salaries will be paid by the State; Bishops are selected and appointed by the first consul, who then conferred the priesthood by the Pope; Diocesan priests are appointed by bishops.
These terms are generally acceptable to both sides, but they are not entirely in line with Napoleon's intention to restore the Catholic faith. In 1802, without consultation with the Holy See, Napoleon unilaterally promulgated the Les Articles Organiques, which severely restricted the freedom of movement and powers of the Holy See in France, and the ancient "Gallic freedom" was reaffirmed.
Holy See
Napoleon's religious policy had some connotations of preserving the gains of the revolution, and Napoleon himself believed that he had found a "compass" for the vast majority of the French people, but the problem was not so simple. On the one hand, as many as 38 opposing bishops refused to accept the Episcopal Covenant, some of whom were more determined to form the so-called "Petite Eglise" (Petite Egrise), whose power has not completely disappeared in the western corner of France.
On the other hand, although the vast majority of the French are Catholic, a significant number of them are reluctant to follow the direction indicated by the Academic Covenant. History since the Napoleonic era will show that generations of French struggles for the separation of church and state, with the result that, after more than a century of circuitous work, France returned to the track of separation of church and state originally laid down by the Directory in 1905.