Browse Primary Sources

Locate primary sources, including images, objects, media, and texts. Annotations by scholars contextualize sources.

Filter

The Glitter of the Imperial Court

The memoirs of Claire, Countess of Rémusat provide a bird’s-eye view into the operation of Napoleon’s imperial household. Rémusat was a lady-in-waiting to Napoleon’s first wife Josephine. Napoleon wanted an elaborate court to underline his imperial power.

Winning over the Nobles

To make his new hybrid state work, Napoleon curried the favor of the old regime nobles. He needed their approval to make his empire convincing. Although he set up his own form of nobility, largely granted for exceptional military service, he wanted to amalgamate these new nobles with the old nobility of the monarchy.

The French Civil Code (1804)

Napoleon brought to completion a project dear to the hearts of the revolutionaries, the drafting of new law codes. The civil code was the most important of them because it institutionalized equality under the law (at least for adult men), guaranteed the abolition of feudalism, and, not least, gave the nation one single code of law replacing the hundreds in effect in 1789.

Napoleon’s Reasons for Making Himself Emperor (December 1804)

When he made himself emperor, Napoleon clearly rejected the republican form of government. Here he tries to claim that hereditary government is necessary in a large state. The presence of the pope at his coronation seemed to confer legitimacy on the act.

Oath as Consul for Life (4 August 1802)

The oath that Bonaparte took on becoming consul for life gives a good idea of the image that he tried to project: protector of the gains of the Revolution and insurer of order. In retrospect, his claims about not wishing to make war ring hollow.

Napoleon’s Personal Feelings about Religion

Klemens von Metternich, head of the Austrian government and therefore a sharp critic of Napoleon, reported that Napoleon viewed Catholicism in largely utilitarian, even cynical terms.

This source is a part of the The Napoleonic Experience teaching module.

Napoleon’s Own Account of His Coup d’Etat (10 November 1799)

Napoleon glosses over the conspiracy to overthrow the Constitution of 1795 and the duly elected legislature. This conspiracy was organized in part by his younger brother Lucien. He does, however, admit that some of the deputies opposed his endeavor and tried to arrest him. At this moment, Napoleon portrays himself as a simple “soldier of liberty, a citizen devoted to the Republic.”

Napoleon as an Ambitious Young General in 1796–97

In his memoirs, André François Miot de Melito, a special minister from the French government to Piedmont, tells of his first impressions of the young Napoleon Bonaparte, who was only twenty-seven but already an important general because of his victories in the Italian campaign. Bonaparte held court in Italy like a ruler.

The Pennsylvania Gazette: U.S. Vigilance (13 December 1797)

The Haitian uprising stoked the fears of whites in the United States that a similar uprising would occur among enslaved populations in their country. This article relates how vigilance remained at a high pitch and rumors of rebellion were enough to cause a virtual panic as slaveowners dreaded the possible importation of rebellion from Saint Domingue.

The Pennsylvania Gazette: Unrest Continues (28 September 1796)

This newspaper details how despite the abolition of slavery in Haiti, turbulence continued in many parts of the colony. The French relied on local generals, including Toussaint L’Ouverture, to try to restore order.

The Pennsylvania Gazette: Free blacks and mulattos flee (4 December 1793)

Along with whites, free blacks and mulattos were also among those who fled the Haitian uprising. Mulattos could own slaves and plantations, and many of them did. Free blacks often manned the militias used to hunt down runaway slaves. Like the white settlers, both groups therefore had reason to flee.

The Pennsylvania Gazette: White Refugees (17 July 1793)

This newspaper article reports sympathetically on the situation of the white refugees fleeing Haiti because of uprising. The articles details how the cities of Baltimore and Philadelphia met the influx of these refugees.

The Pennsylvania Gazette: Blame Now Falls (16 May 1792)

The blame for the Haitian Revolution now falls, at least according to the author of this letter, on the "blood–thirsty aristocracy," which has created dissensions among the French. The author also expresses alarm at the thought of the revolt spreading to other islands in the Caribbean.

The Pennsylvania Gazette: Magnitude of the Insurrection (12 October 1791)

The magnitude of the Haitian insurrection quickly became clear as alarmed observers related that considerable armies were being raised to fight the rebels. It is noteworthy that such reports even to northern U.S. newspapers expressed little sympathy for the rebels.

The French Return from An Historical Account of the Black Empire of Hayti

In this excerpt, Rainsford continues to exhalt the qualities of L’Ouverture while criticizing French behavior in the attempted reconquest of the island under Napoleon.

Toussaint L’Ouverture in An Historical Account of the Black Empire of Hayti

Rainsford paints a glowing portrait of the abilities and accomplishments of L’Ouverture, the most noted leader of the rebellion and one of the key founders of the nation of Haiti.

Kersaint, "Discussion of Troubles in the Colonies" (28 March 1792)

This speech by a former noble who had served as a naval officer reveals the deep ambivalence of the deputies about moving too quickly to emancipate the slaves.

Women and Stalinism: Newspaper, Women Workers

The increased presence of women in the workforce as a result of industrialization and other aspects of modernization during the 1930s was documented in government publications. While the numbers themselves cannot be independently verified, the more important analytical question involves asking about the explicit claims and underlying issues in these sources.