Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès
His name stood at the beginning and at the end of the Revolution. In between, little was heard of him. His pamphlet What Is the Third Estate?
captured the mood of bourgeois society at the close of the eighteenth century, and he played a key role in drafting France’s first constitution, which introduced a constitutional monarchy. During the Reign of Terror, he knew how to avoid drawing attention to himself. In this way, the liberally minded former priest escaped the Guillotine. At the end of the Directory, he returned to the public stage. And together with Napoleon, he dealt the Revolution its death blow.
JK
1748 - 1836
- May 3, 1748 · Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès is born in Fréjus.
- 1774 · Ordained as a priest.
- January 1789 · Publication of the pamphlet
What Is the Third Estate?
. - May 1789 · Although he is a priest, he is elected as a deputy of the Third Estate for Paris.
- September 1792 · Deputy to the National Convention for the department of Sarthe.
- November 1, 1795 · Elected a member of the Directory, but declines the office.
- May 10, 1798 · Ambassador of the French Republic to Berlin (Prussia).
- May 16, 1799 · Elected again to the Directory. This time he accepts and moves to Paris.
- November 9, 1799 · Participation in Napoleon’s coup d’état. Sieyès becomes Second Consul (until 25 December 1799).
- 1816 · As a regicide, he is forced to leave France and settles in Brussels. He returns to Paris only after the July Revolution of 1830.
- June 20, 1836 · Sieyès dies in Paris at the age of 88.
Quotes
What is the Third Estate? Everything. What has it been until now in the political order? Nothing. What does it demand? To become something.
Sieyès, January 1789
I survived.
Sieyès’s answer to the question of what he had done during the Reign of Terror.
Citizens, the Revolution is fixed on the principles with which it began. It is finished.
Declaration of the Provisional Consulate (Napoleon, Roger Ducos, Sieyès), 15 December 1799 (24 Frimaire, Year VIII)
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External links
What is the Third Estate?
The nobility and the clergy trample the Third Estate underfoot.
