Chapter 14-The Establishment of the Directory

Weaknesses of Directory

• Directory sought to limit individual power- hence no prominent leader

• no clear direction

• Directors all had different political views- difficult to work together

  • led to schism between more moderate conservatives Carnot and Letourneur, and republicans Barras,Rewbell and de La Revelliere-Lepaux

  • Carnot and Barthelemy forced to step down in 1797 coup of Fructidor

• No mechanism to resolve disputes between executive Directors and legislative councils

  • became acute in 1799- one of the reasons why the Directors resorted to underhand practices to try to control the composition of the Council

Most notable members of Directors

• Lazare Carnot- spared exile after Thermidor despite his part in CPS because of his role in organising the war

• Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyes- elected in 1795 but did not agree to serve until 1799

• Pierre-Roger Ducos- a ‘moderate’ who had kept his head down during the years of Terror

• Paul Barras-man formerly responsible for the brutal suppression of counter-revolution and the only one to serve for the entire period

Constitution of Year III

• drawn up Aug 1795, agreed in Sep, put into effect Nov 1795

• decreed that 2/3 of the places in the Council of 500 and of the Ancients would go existing deputies from the Convention

• Voters: all male taxpayers over 21 were ‘citizens’ who could vote; meant that 5.5 of 8 million adults were entitled to vote

• Electors: those paying a certain sum in taxation were eligible to sit in the assemblies. Created an electorate of roughly a million, of which 30,000 were eligible to sit in the resulting assemblies

• Elections: these would take place annually, with a 1/3 of the deputies stepping down each year

• Council of 500- compromised deputies over the age of 30, proposed and drew up all legislation but did not vote on it

• Council of Ancients- compromised 250 married or widowed men over 40, examined and approved or rejected legislation, but did not propose it

• Directory of 5-5 Directors would be chosen by the Ancients from a list provided by the 500, the Directors formed the executive and appointed ministers, 1 members, chosen by lot, would retire each year and none could also sit in the Councils

Constitution of the Directory

• New constitution created Direct of Nov 1795 had been drawn up by Thermidorians in Aug 1795 and ratified by plebiscite in Sep

• Reflected a desire for stability and moderation

Economical and Financial Issues

• Directory had problems

  • Thermidorians attempt to switch from system of economic control to liberal environment resulted in extreme inflation.

    • end of 1795, assignats still in circulation worthless

  • Directory inherited an unbalanced budget (made worse by costs of war) and problems of tax-collection (not helped by changes in authority since 1793)

  • Food supply issues

    • hindered by grain-speculators

    • poor harvest in 1795

  • Trading situation compromised by war and by British naval efforts to restrict French colonial trade and blockade French ports

How did they address these issues?

• Efforts made to stabilise the country, continuing the switch from paper to metal currency that had been begun in the last months of the Thermidorian government

• Directory made 1 last attempt at paper money, by introduced ‘mandats’, a type of land-purchase bond similar to the ‘assignats’