QUESTION

Napoleon’s Proclamation to the French People on Brumaire/Olympe de Gouge’s ”Declaration of the Rights of Women, 1791“   

Read “ Napoleon’s Proclamation to the French People on Brumaire.“ First, in your own words, please describe what Napoleon is attempting to do in this document. If you were in the crowd listening — how would you react and why?

Please write a 2-3 paragraph response.
Read Olympe de Gouge’s ”Declaration of the Rights of Women, 1791“ from last week’s readings. Please describe at least two major problems facing women at the time (according to the author). What do you think of De Gouge’s approach in this document?

Please write a 1-2 paragraph response.
https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/1791degouge1.asp
https://www.napoleon-series.org/research/government/legislation/c_proclamation.html

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The Napoleon Series > Government > Governments and Politics

Napoleon’s Proclamation to the French People on Brumaire

November 10, 1799 (19 Brumaire, Year VIII)

In this proclamation Napoleon, already a master propagandist, puts the best possible face on the Brumaire coup. Napoleon was to

repeat in the following days his attack on factionalism and extremism. Note that even in this document, written mere hours after

being named one of the Provisional Consuls, Napoleon makes no mention of his fellow consuls, Roger Ducos and Sieyès.

Proclamation of General Buonaparte.

Nov. 10, eleven oclock at night.

On my return to Paris, I found a division reigning amongst all the constituted authorities. There was no agreement but on this single point — that

the constitution was half destroyed, and could by no means effect the salvation of our liberties. All the parties came to me, confided to me their

designs, unveiled their secrets, and demanded my support. I refused to be a man of any party. A council of elders invited me, and I answered to

their call. A plan of general restoration had been concerted by men, in whom the nation is accustomed to see the defender of its freedom and

equality, and of property. This plan demanded a calm and liberal examination, free from every influence and every fear. The council of elders

resolved, in consequence, that the sittings of the legislative body should be removed to St. Cloud, and charged me with the disposition of the

force necessary to secure its independence, I owed it, my fellow-citizens, to the soldiers who are perishing in our armies, and the national glory,

acquired at the price of their blood, to accept of this command. The councils being assembled at St. Cloud, the republican troops guaranteed their

safety from without; but within, assassins had established the reign of terror. Several members of the council of five hundred, armed with

poniards and fire-arms, circulated around them nothing but menaces of death. The plans which were about to be developed were laid aside, the

majority was disorganized, the most intrepid orators were disconcerted, and the inutility of every wise proposition was made evident. I bore my

indignation and my grief to the council of elders, I demanded of them to ensure the execution of their generous designs. I represented to them the

maladies of their country, from which those designs originated. They joined themselves with me, by giving new testimonies of their uniform

wishes. I then repaired to the council of five hundred without arms, and my head uncovered, such as I had been received and applauded by the

elders. I wished to recall to the majority their wishes, and to assure them of their power. The poniards, which threatened the deputies, were

instantly raised against their deliverer. Twenty assassins threw themselves upon me, and sought my breast. The grenadiers of the legislative body,

whom I had left at the door of the hall, came up and placed themselves between me and my assassins. One of these brave grenadiers, named

Thome, had his clothes struck through with a dagger [It is believed by some that Thome’s sleeve may have been pierced in the scuffle by the

sword of another soldier]. They succeeded in bearing me away. At this time the cry of “Outlaw!” was raised against the defender of the law. It

was the ferocious cry of assassins against the force which was destined to restrain them. They pressed around the president [Napoleon’s brother

Lucien Bonaparte], threatened him to his face, and, ordered him to decree me out of the protection of the law. Being informed of this

circumstance, I gave orders to rescue him from their power, and six grenadiers of the legislative body brought him out of the hall. Immediately

after the grenadiers of the legislative body entered at the pas de charge into the hall, and caused it to be evacuated. The factious were intimidated,

and dispersed themselves. The majority, released from their blows, entered freely and peaceably into the hall of sitting, heard the propositions

which were made to them for the public safety[,] deliberated, and prepared the salutary resolution which is to become the new and provisional

law of the republic. Frenchmen! you will recognize, without doubt, in this conduct, the zeal of a soldier of liberty, and of a citizen devoted to the

republic. The ideas of preservation, protection, and freedom, immediately resumed their places on the dispersion of the faction who wished to

oppress the councils, and who, in making themselves the most odious of men, never cease to be the most contemptible.

(Signed) BUONAPARTE.

(Countersigned) BERTHIER.

Bibliography

The Annual Register, or, A View of the History, Politics, and Literature for the Year 1799. London: Printed by R. Wilks for W. Otridge and Sons,

etal. (Publisher varies by year.)

Published for the years 1758-1837 in 80 vols.; illus., maps; 21-23 cm.

To see images of the actual proclamation click on Napoleon’s Proclamation to the French People on Brumaire

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Modern History Sourcebook:

Olympe de Gouge:

Declaration of the Rights of Women, 1791

Olympe de Gouges, a butcher’s daughter, proved to be one of the most outspoken and articulate women revolutionaries. In 1791 she wrote the following declaration, directly

challenging the inferiority presumed of women by the Declaration of the Rights of Man. Her attempts to push this idea lead to her being charged with treason during the rule of

the National Convention. She was quickly arrested, tried, and on November 3, 1793, executed by the guillotine.

Woman, wake up; the tocsin of reason is being heard throughout the whole universe; discover your rights. The powerful empire of nature is no longer surrounded by prejudice,

fanaticism, superstition, and lies. The flame of truth has dispersed all the clouds of folly and usurpation. Enslaved man has multiplied his strength and needs recourse to yours

to break his chains. Having become free, he has become unjust to his companion. Oh, women, women! When will you cease to be blind? What advantage have you received

from the Revolution? A more pronounced scorn, a more marked disdain. In the centuries of corruption you ruled only over the weakness of men. The reclamation of your

patrimony, based on the wise decrees of nature-what have you to dread from such a fine undertaking? The bon mot of the legislator of the marriage of Cana? Do you fear that

our French legislators, correctors of that morality, long ensnared by political practices now out of date, will only say again to you: women, what is there in common between

you and us? Everything, you will have to answer. If they persist in their weakness in putting this non sequitur in contradiction to their principles, courageously oppose the force

of reason to the empty pretentions of superiority; unite yourselves beneath the standards of philosophy; deploy all the energy of your character, and you will soon see these

haughty men, not groveling at your feet as servile adorers, but proud to share with you the treasures of the Supreme Being. Regardless of what barriers confront you, it is in

your power to free yourselves; you have only to want to….

Marriage is the tomb of trust and love. The married woman can with impunity give bastards to her husband, and also give them the wealth which does not belong to them. The

woman who is unmarried has only one feeble right; ancient and inhuman laws refuse to her for her children the right to the name and the wealth of their father; no new laws

have been made in this matter. If it is considered a paradox and an impossibility on my part to try to give my sex an honorable and just consistency, I leave it to men to attain

glory for dealing with this matter; but while we wait, the way can be prepared through national education, the restoration of morals, and conjugal conventions.

Form for a Social Contract Between Man and Woman

We, _____ and ______, moved by our own will, unite ourselves for the duration of our lives, and for the duration of our mutual inclinations, under the following conditions: We

intend and wish to make our wealth communal, meanwhile reserving to ourselves the right to divide it in favor of our children and of those toward whom we might have a

particular inclination, mutually recognizing that our property belongs directly to our children, from whatever bed they come, and that all of them without distinction have the

right to bear the name of the fathers and mothers who have acknowledged them, and we are charged to subscribe to the law which punishes the renunciation of one’s own

blood. We likewise obligate ourselves, in case of separation, to divide our wealth and to set aside in advance the portion the law indicates for our children, and in the event of a

perfect union, the one who dies will divest himself of half his property in his children’s favor, and if one dies childless, the survivor will inherit by right, unless the dying person

has disposed of half the common property in favor of one whom he judged deserving.

That is approximately the formula for the marriage act I propose for execution. Upon reading this strange document, I see rising up against me the hypocrites, the prudes, the

clergy, and the whole infernal sequence. But how it [my proposal] offers to the wise the moral means of achieving the perfection of a happy government! . . .

Moreover, I would like a law which would assist widows and young girls deceived by the false promises of a man to whom they were attached; I would like, I say, this law to

force an inconstant man to hold to his obligations or at least [to pay] an indemnity equal to his wealth. Again, I would like this law to be rigorous against women, at least those

who have the effrontery to have reCourse to a law which they themselves had violated by their misconduct, if proof of that were given. At the same time, as I showed in Le

Bonheur primitit de l’homme, in 1788, that prostitutes should be placed in designated quarters. It is not prostitutes who contribute the most to the depravity of morals, it is the

women of’ society. In regenerating the latter, the former are changed. This link of fraternal union will first bring disorder, but in consequence it will produce at the end a perfect

harmony.

I offer a foolproof way to elevate the soul of women; it is to join them to all the activities of man; if man persists in finding this way impractical, let him share his fortune with

woman, not at his caprice, but by the wisdom of laws. Prejudice falls, morals are purified, and nature regains all her rights. Add to this the marriage of priests and the

strengthening of the king on his throne, and the French government cannot fail.

From “Olympe de Gouges, ‘Declaration of the Rights of Woman and Female Citizen,”‘ in Darline Gav Levy, H. Applewhite, and M. Johnson, eds., Women in Revolutionary Paris,

1785 1795 (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1979), pp. 92 96.

This text is part of the Internet Modern History Sourcebook. The Sourcebook is a collection of public domain and copy-permitted texts for introductory level classes in modern

European and World history.

Unless otherwise indicated the specific electronic form of the document is copyright. Permission is granted for electronic copying, distribution in print form for educational

purposes and personal use. If you do reduplicate the document, indicate the source. No permission is granted for commercial use of the Sourcebook.

(c)Paul Halsall Aug 1997

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