CONSTITUTION DE LA RÉPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE.
1795ref. 1507Toulouse: Douladoure. An. IV. 1795. Octavo. Stitched without wrappers likely as issued. Page edges untrimmed. Woodcut device emblematic of the French Republic to the title page. 62pp. A good copy with nibbling/loss to the top left-hand corner not affecting the text and a few minor marks to the title page and rear blank verso. The contents remain clean and in very good order. A scarce provincial printing of the Constitution of the Year III Constitution de l'an III the constitution of the French First Republic which established the Directory regime following the fall of Robespierre. Adopted by the convention on 5 Fructidor Year III 22nd August 1795 and approved by plebiscite on 6th September its preamble formed the Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man and of the Citizen of 1789. Largely the work of political theorist Pierre Daunou it established a bicameral legislature made all taxpaying French males over 25 eligible to vote in primary elections enfranchising around one million more citizens than the 1791 Constitution and contained an explicit ban on slavery. It remained in effect until the coup of 18 Brumaire 9th November 1799 which effectively ended the Revolutionary period and began the rise to power of Napoleon Bonaparte. A pleasing unsophisticated copy remaining in the same form as it would have been when it reached the hands of ordinary Frenchmen in year that it was issued. Toulouse: Douladoure. unknown
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