ME
20 October 2004
Napoleon established order, but at the cost of individual freedom. Do you agree with this statement?
There was so much chaos in France due to the Revolution. The laws were not clear, and to some, unfair, therefore Napoleon had to restore order in France. In result Napoleon came up with various laws, in which he put forward to France. Napoleon was a determined leader meant to have crowned the Revolution and his policies were to benefit the bourgeoisie and the peasants, even though his main aim was to benefit himself. Napoleon had to maintain the achievements and laws of the Revolution, but he did include those of the old regime, which were not so popular.
The Revolution mainly aimed towards equality. With the ideas of equality that the Revolution insisted on, Napoleon summarized them because he was not fond of equality altogether. Some of these laws included the equal division of inheritance among children, the allowance of divorce, and the removal of Catholic control over birth, death, and marriages.
Other than that, Napoleon did add to the success of the Revolution by setting forth these laws: equality before the law, freedom of work, freedom of worship, and having a non-religious character to the state. The people liked these laws because it was very much supporting the ideas of the Revolution, therefore helped maintain some order.
The people that gained land from the churches during the Revolution were afraid of loosing their land and Napoleon had to find a way to calm them down. By the Concordat in 1801, Napoleon made sure that these people could keep their land as long as the clergy continued to be paid, that helped many people and released the tension they had.
Napoleon did use some constructive policies of the Revolution...