Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès
Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès (3 May 1748 – 20 June 1836), usually known as the Abbé Sieyès (French: [sjejɛs]), was a French Roman Catholic abbé, clergyman, and political writer who was the chief political theorist of the French Revolution (1789–1799); he also held offices in the governments of the French Consulate (1799–1804) and the First French Empire (1804–1815). His pamphlet What Is the Third Estate? (1789) became the political manifesto of the Revolution, which facilitated transforming the Estates-General into the National Assembly, in June 1789. He was offered and refused an office in the French Directory (1795–1799). After becoming a director in 1799, Sieyès was among the instigators of the Coup of 18 Brumaire (9 November), which installed Napoleon Bonaparte in power.
Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès LH, OR | |
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Abbé Sieyès, by Jacques-Louis David (1817, Fogg Museum) | |
| President of the Conservative Senate | |
| In office 27 December 1799 – 13 February 1800 | |
| President | Napoleon Bonaparte |
| Succeeded by | François Barthélemy |
| Provisional Consul of France | |
| In office 10 November 1799 – 12 December 1799 Serving with Napoléon Bonaparte and Roger Ducos | |
| Preceded by | Office created |
| Succeeded by | Jean-Jacques-Régis de Cambacérès (as Second Consul) |
| Member of the Directory | |
| In office 17 June 1799 – 10 November 1799 | |
| Preceded by | Jean-François Rewbell |
| President of the Council of Five Hundred | |
| In office 21 November 1797 – 20 December 1797 | |
| Preceded by | François-Toussaint Villers |
| Succeeded by | Antoine Boulay de la Meurthe |
| President of the National Convention | |
| In office 20 April 1795 – 5 May 1795 | |
| Preceded by | François Antoine de Boissy d'Anglas |
| Succeeded by | Théodore Vernier |
| Member of the National Convention | |
| In office 20 September 1792 – 2 November 1795 | |
| Constituency | Var |
| Member of the Estates General for the Third Estate | |
| In office 5 May 1789 – 9 July 1789 | |
| Constituency | Var |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 3 May 1748 Fréjus, France |
| Died | 20 June 1836 (aged 88) Paris, France |
| Resting place | Père Lachaise Cemetery |
| Political party | The Plain (1791–1795) |
| Education | Saint-Sulpice Seminary |
| Profession | Priest, writer |
| Signature | |
In addition to his political and clerical life, Sieyès coined the term "sociologie", and contributed to the nascent social sciences.