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5 unusual facts about Constitution of the Year VIII


18 Brumaire

The commissions then drew up the "short and obscure Constitution of the Year VIII", the first of the constitutions since the Revolution without a Declaration of Rights.

Constitution of the Year VIII

This was no longer Robespierre's Republic, which was more radical, or the oligarchic liberal Republic of the Directory, but the autocratic Roman Republic of Caesar Augustus, a Conservative Republic, which reminded the French of stability, order, and peace.

The Constitution of Year VIII established a legislature of three houses, which was composed of: a Conservative Senate of 80 men over the age of 40, a Tribunate of 100 men, and a Legislative Body (Corps législatif) of 300 men.

Consul

After Napoleon Bonaparte staged a coup against the Directory government in November 1799, the French Republic adopted a constitution which conferred executive powers upon three Consuls, elected for a period of ten years.

French constitutional referendum, 1800

A referendum ratifying the constitution of the French consulate was held in January 1800.



see also