Napoleon Bonaparte Research Paper

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During the French Revolution from1789 to 1799, a man whose name is Napoleon Bonaparte comes into power calling himself the, “Son of the Revolution.” However, after the French Revolution’s end, in 1799 he seizes political power with a coup d’état which allows him to crown himself an emperor in 1804. In the time of his power, he creates several sets of rules and acts upon the state that shows his power. This includes the creation of the Napoleonic Code, the French Bureaucracy, and several changes to the societal system. Therefore, Napoleon’s policies and actions reflect the French Revolution to a moderate extent because while he provides the equality of citizens in the Napoleonic Code and the concordat with the church and also abolishes feudalism…show more content…
During the French Revolution, France is split into three estates, the third estate having the least amount of power. This is due to the feudal system France implements from the medieval European times, this being the 15th century. However, in Napoleon’s rise to power, he strives to abolish feudalism in order to create a more equal society instead of one that only the first and second estates rule. Therefore, Napoleon creates the Civil Code, one code out of seven, which reflects a uniform legal system, legal equality, and the protection of property and individuals. Along with these revolutionary aspirations, the section of property deals with feudalism where it says in article 544 that, “Property is the right of enjoying and disposing of things in the most absolute manner, provided that they are not used in a way prohibited by the laws or statues.” This shows how Napoleon supports the abolishment of feudalism because he allows every man to keep their property as long as it pertains to the laws. So, instead of the first and second classes being allowed to keep the properties of the lower classes, such as the nobles keeping the peasants lands, each man is allowed their own property. Another instance of the abolishment of feudalism is during Napoleon’s overhaul of the administrative where the tax system…show more content…
In his time of power, Napoleon crowns himself emperor after receiving the role as consul for life on August 2, 1802. With this power, he is able to create a centralized government, which is also a bureaucracy. A bureaucracy defines itself as a system where all the important decisions of the state have state officials decide them rather than elected representatives choose them. Napoleon does this where he, “kept the departments but eliminated the locally elected assemblies and instituted new officials, the most important of which were prefects.” (Spielvogel 556) This sources Napoleon’s removal of equal representation in the government since he does not involve the citizens within making choices for the state, basically removing their input on different situations. However, along with this bureaucracy, he allows for proper representatives in the army, where he hires them by judging their skill. This ultimately means that while he chooses his own officials and employees of the state, he bases it on their skill before implementing them into the system. Another case of the loss of equal representation is in his domestic policies. Here benevolent despotism replaces liberty as is grow increasing arbitrary. An illustration of this is Germaine de Stael who set up a salon in Paris as an

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