Abbe Emmanuel Joseph Sieyes (3 May 1748-20 June 1836) was President of the Conservative Senate of the French Consulate from 27 December 1799 to 13 February 1800, preceding Francois Barthelemy. Sieyes was an important political leader in France and an influential writer, writing What is the Third Estate? in 1789.
Biography[]
Emmanuel Joseph Sieyes was born in Frejus, France on 3 May 1748, the son of a tax collector. Sieyes became involved with the Catholic Church due to his family's piety (he had originally intended to be a soldier), and he was ordained as a priest in 1773. Sieyes became a student of the Enlightenment movement, and he wrote the What is the Third Estate? Pamphlet in 1789, advocating fair distribution of power and equal rights for the Third Estate. Sieyes was a pragmatic person during the French Revolution and, when asked what he did during the Reign of Terror, he simply said, "I lived." Sieyes renounced his Catholic faith to avoid persecution, and he would only return to politics after the Thermidorian Reaction of 1794. Sieyes planned to become the leader of France as the nation's politics became a quagmire during the late 1790s, and he decided that Napoleon Bonaparte could assist him with this goal. Sieyes helped him with executing the 1799 Coup of 18 Brumaire, and Sieyes implemented his constitution, only for Bonaparte to modify the constitution heavily. He rarely emerged from retirement during the Napoleonic era, and he fled to Belgium after the deposition of Napoleon. Sieyes returned to France after the 1830 July Revolution, and he died in Paris in 1836 at the age of 88.