What exactly was the Constitution of the Year VIII and how did it secure power for Napoleon? How well did this constitution work? Why and how did Napoleon change it later? What was the ultimate source of Napoleon’s power?

The History of France

Constitution of the Year VIII and the Napoleonic Era

Abstract

It has been a common belief that experience is the best teacher . One should not commit mistakes of the past . Throughout history , as the human race evolved , mistakes were encountered along the way . Some of the lessons were learned the hard way . One of these lessons is the Ides of March , which simply insinuates that empires , no matter how big or powerful , deteriorate . Some of the most notable events in history that thought humanity to be cautious

about the Ides of March are the rise and fall of Napoleon Bonaparte , the creation of the Constitution of the year VIII and the aftermath of Bonaparte 's Regime regime

Napoleonic Era 1

French Constitution of the Year VIII

The French Constitution of the Year VIII was a nationwide charter that was adopted on the twenty-fourth of December , 1799 . Around that time , the French Revolution was coming to coming to an end . It also marked the eighth year in the calendar of the French Revolution . This constitution was well known for the innovation of the type of government branded as Consulate . One of the premises of the constitution is to get the consensus of the general public to weigh on opinion for the masses This constitution was responsible for fabricating the position of First Consul , a position which gave Napoleon Bonapart the authority of a tyrant (Connely , 2000

Effectivity

This constitution was effective for a short time and was later amended into the Constitution of the year X , a constitution that made Napoleon Bonaprte the First Consul for the duration of his lifespan The constitution that succeeded was blatantly favored to Bonaparte as it did not come with a Declaration of Rights (cited in Crook , 2007

How Bonaprte amended the constitution and rose to Power

The Constitution of the year VIII basically divides the French Government into three parts . First of which is the senate it is composed of 31 men with an age bracket of 60 and above . The second is the Tribunate which is comprised of 100 men . Last the Core Legislatif this division is formed by 300 legislators . However , though the government has three divisions , the authentic power resides in the First Consul , much similar to the rule , which is peace through tyranny (Connely , 2000

References

Connely , O (2000 . The Frecnh Revolution and Napoleonic Era . Texas Harcourt

University of North Carolina Greensboro (2002 . French History Timeline Retrieved November 17 , 2007 from

http /www .uncg .edu /com /sources /dafein /civ /timeline .htm

The Napoleon Series (1995-2002 . Government and Politics . Constitution of the year VIII . Retrieved

November 17 , 2007 From HYPERLINK "http /www .napoleon-series .org /research /government http /www .napoleon-series .org /research /government

legislation /c_constitution8 .htm...