Napoleon


 * Amy Ma**

"Napoleon was a child of the Enlightenment."


 * Thesis:** By moving away from past religious ideals and advocating many policies reforms that resulted in the diminishing powers of aristocrats and the revival of France, Napoleon was a truly a child of the Enlightenment.


 * Enlightenment**
 * Definition: moving away from past religious ideals and towards new ideas such as science
 * Reason, secularism, equality, progress


 * Napoleon's Earlier Career**
 * Supported French Revolution
 * Denied divine power of the ruling class
 * //coup d'etat// of Brumaire
 * Created the Consulate (with three Consuls)


 * Napoleonic Policies**

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 * Governance and Administration
 * Legislative Corps
 * creation of a professional bureaucracy
 * usage of plebiscites
 * Legal and Social Policies
 * "careers open to talent"
 * everyone was able to get a job through their talent and ambition rather than class
 * Legion of Honor
 * recognized the contribution of those to served in revolutionary wars
 * Napoleonic Code
 * ideals of merit and equality
 * enlightened impulse toward rational systemization
 * Economic Policies
 * creation of Bank of France
 * modernized tax system
 * Educational policies
 * establishment of secondary schools (//lycee)//
 * opened to all social classes
 * establishment of technical universities
 * reflected Napoleon's interest in science
 * Religious Policies
 * Concordat of 1801
 * signed with Pope Pius VII; Catholicism remained France's major religion, but French government has the right to veto clerical appointments
 * Napoleonic Reforms**
 * Foreign Policies
 * Abolition of feudalism and the end of the Old Regime
 * end of guilds, old town charters, internal tariffs, etc
 * limited the powers of aristocrats and nobles
 * promoted rational government based on enlightened principles of religious toleration, efficient centralized government, and equality
 * Creation of new diplomatic system

Source: Freiler, Chris. //AP Achiever European History.// New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008