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PRIMARY SCHOOLS

During the period of revolutionary government, the Jacobins had introduced the idea of universal, free, secular education provided by the state.

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CULTURE: WEIGHTS AND MEASURES

Among its many lasting contributions to French and western history, the French Revolution initiated the metric system as a more rational and universally applicable way of conveying weights and measures than the various systems in place across France prior to 1789.

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THE COUNCIL OF FIVE–HUNDRED CONCURS

The Council of Five–Hundred, the lower house of the legislature under the Directory’s constitution, put up only token resistance to the coup of 18 Brumaire [9 November 1799].

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BRUMAIRE: BONAPARTE’S JUSTIFICATION

Having seized power through the coup of 18 Brumaire [9 November 1799], Bonaparte—now First Consul—set out to win public support for yet another new government.

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CIRCULAR ON ELECTIONS

A former playwright and old regime colonial official, Nicolas–Louis François de Neufchâteau, twice Minister of the Interior under the Directory, here outlines the importance of elections for the Directory.

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REVIVAL OF THE MOUNTAIN

The Directory’s constitution had ensured the rights of assembly, free speech, and a limited suffrage; for former Jacobins now deprived of their clubs and of their power in the legislature, these constitutional liberties offered the potential to rebuild a democratic movement.

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RISE OF THE RIGHT LEADING TO THE COUP OF 18 FRUCTIDOR: PROCLAMATION OF 9 SEPTEMBER 1797

The Directorial legislatures were formed in 1795 primarily of holdovers from the Convention, so the elections in the fall of 1797 were the first open legislative elections since 1792.

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LOUIS XVIII TO CHARETTE

The "Central Committee" organizing royalist efforts in 1795 was led by François–Athanése de Charette de la Contrie, a former nobleman.

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PUISAYE TO THE CENTRAL CATHOLIC COMMITTEE

The fall of Robespierre and the Mountain in the summer of 1794 also reinvigorated counterrevolutionary forces, especially those hoping to restore royal authority in the person of the son of the "martyr" Louis XVI.

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PUISAYE TO THE CENTRAL CATHOLIC COMMITTEE

The fall of Robespierre and the Mountain in the summer of 1794 also reinvigorated counterrevolutionary forces, especially those hoping to restore royal authority in the person of the son of the "martyr" Louis XVI.