The Charter of 1815, signed on 22 April 1815, was the French constitution prepared by Benjamin Constant at the request of Napoleon I when he returned from exile on Elba. Officially named the Additional Act to the Constitutions of the Empire, the document extensively amended (in fact virtually replacing) the previous Napoleonic Constitutions (Constitution of the Year VIII, Constitution of the Year X and Constitution of the Year XII). The Additional Act reframed the Napoleonic constitution into something more along the lines of the Bourbon Restoration's Charter of 1814 of Louis XVIII, while otherwise ignoring the Bourbon charter's existence. It was very liberal in spirit, and gave the French people rights which had previously been unknown to them, such as the right to elect the mayor in communes of less than 5,000 in population. Napoleon treated it as a mere continuation of the previous constitutions, and it therefore took the form of an ordinary legislative act "additional to the constitutions of the Empire".
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👉 Charter of 1815 in the context of Benjamin Constant
Henri-Benjamin Constant de Rebecque (25 October 1767 – 8 December 1830), or simply Benjamin Constant, was a Swiss and French political thinker, activist and writer on political theory and religion.
A committed republican from 1795, Constant backed the coup d'état of 18 Fructidor (4 September 1797) and the following one on 18 Brumaire (9 November 1799). He became the leader of the Liberal opposition in 1800, during the Consulate. Having upset Napoleon and left France to go to Switzerland then to the Kingdom of Saxony, Constant nonetheless sided with him during the Hundred Days, drafting the Charter of 1815, and became politically active again during the Bourbon Restoration. He was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1818 and remained in office until his death in 1830. As the head of the Liberal opposition, known as Indépendants, Constant was one of the most notable orators of the Chamber as a proponent of the parliamentary system. During the July Revolution, he was a supporter of Louis Philippe I ascending the throne.
Charter of 1815 in the context of Constitution of the Year XII
The Constitution of the Year XII (French: Constitution de l’an XII), also called the Organic Sénatus-consulte of 28 Floréal, year XII (Sénatus-consulte organique du 28 floréal an XII), was a national constitution of the First French Republic adopted during the Year XII of the French Revolutionary Calendar (1804 in the Gregorian calendar).
It amended the earlier Constitution of the Year VIII and Constitution of the Year X, establishing the First French Empire with Napoleon Bonaparte — previously First Consul for Life, with wide-ranging powers — as Napoleon I, Emperor of the French. The Constitution established the House of Bonaparte as France's imperial dynasty, making the throne hereditary in Napoleon's family. The Constitution of the Year XII was later itself extensively amended by the Additional Act and definitively abolished with the final return of the Bourbons in 1815.
Charter of 1815 in the context of Napoleon I's second abdication
Napoleon abdicated on 22 June 1815, in favour of his son Napoleon II. On 24 June, the Provisional Government then proclaimed his abdication to France and the rest of the world.
After his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon returned to Paris, seeking to maintain political backing for his position as Emperor of the French. Assuming his political base to be secured, he aspired to continue the war. However, the parliament (formed according to the Charter of 1815) created a Provisional Government and demanded Napoleon's abdication. Napoleon initially considered a coup d'état similar to Eighteenth of Brumaire, but ultimately discarded this idea. On 25 June, after a stay at the Palace of Malmaison, Napoleon left Paris towards the coast, hoping to reach the United States of America. Meanwhile, the Provisional Government deposed his son and attempted negotiating a conditional surrender with the Coalition powers. As they failed obtaining concessions from the Coalition, which insisted on a military surrender and the restoration of Louis XVIII, Napoleon realised he could not evade the Royal Navy and surrendered to Captain Frederick Lewis Maitland, placing himself under his protection aboard HMS Bellerophon. The British Government refused Napoleon to set foot in England and arranged for his exile to the remote South Atlantic island of Saint Helena, where he lived until his death in 1821.