1800 French constitutional referendum

First page of the Constitution of the Year VIII

A referendum ratifying the constitution of the French consulate was held in February 1800.[1] The official results, as announced by Lucien Bonaparte, Minister of the Interior and brother of First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte, were 99.9% in favor of the new constitution, with 53.74% of voters abstaining. However, evidence brought to light by the French historian Claude Langlois in 1972 demonstrated conclusively that Lucien massaged the votes in favor of the constitution, adding up to 20,000 'yes' votes in individual localities, and that there were therefore only some 1,550,000 actual votes for the change.[1][2]

  1. ^ a b Alexander, Robert (February 6, 2017). Napoleon. London: Arnold. p. 22. ISBN 978-0-340-71916-9.
  2. ^ Crook, Malcolm (1998). Napoleon Comes to Power: democracy and dictatorship in revolutionary France, 1795-1804. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. pp. 75–77. ISBN 0708314015.