Pierre Roger Ducos (25 July 174716 March 1816), better known as Roger Ducos, was a French political figure during the

Revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...

and First Empire, a member of the

National Convention The National Convention () was the constituent assembly of the Kingdom of France for one day and the French First Republic for its first three years during the French Revolution, following the two-year National Constituent Assembly and the ...

, and of the Directory.

In the Revolution

Born in

Montfort-en-Chalosse Montfort-en-Chalosse (, literally ''Montfort in Chalosse''; , before 1962: ''Montfort'') is a Communes of France, commune in the Landes (department), Landes Departments of France, department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. Populati ...

Aquitaine Aquitaine (, ; ; ; ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Aguiéne''), archaic Guyenne or Guienne (), is a historical region of southwestern France and a former Regions of France, administrative region. Since 1 January 2016 it has been part of the administ ...

(now in Landes department), he was elected deputy to the Convention by the ''

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. There are a total of 101 ...

'' of the Landes. He sat in ''

The Plain The Plain (), also known as the Marsh (), was the majority of independent deputies in the National Convention during the French Revolution. They were the most moderate and the most numerous group (around 400 deputies) of the National Conventio ...

'' (the party which had no clear attitude, and served to sway the vote). He voted for the death of

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

Louis XVI Louis XVI (Louis-Auguste; ; 23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793) was the last king of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. The son of Louis, Dauphin of France (1729–1765), Louis, Dauphin of France (son and heir- ...

, without

appeal In law, an appeal is the process in which Legal case, cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of cla ...

or delay, but was not prominent in the Convention afterwards. Ducos was a member of the

Council of Five Hundred The Council of Five Hundred () was the lower house of the legislature of the French First Republic under the Constitution of the Year III. It operated from 31 October 1795 to 9 November 1799 during the French Directory, Directory () period of t ...

, over which he presided on the 18th of Fructidor Coup (1797). At the end of his term, he became a justice of the peace, but after Barthélemy Catherine Joubert's ''

coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...

'' (the '' 30 Prairial of the year VIII'', or 18 June 1799), he was named a member of the executive Directory, thanks to the influence of Paul Barras, who counted on Ducos as his partisan.

Consulate, Empire, and exile

On 9 November 1799, Ducos accepted the ''coup d'état'' of

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

(the ''

18 Brumaire The Coup of 18 Brumaire () brought Napoleon Bonaparte to power as First Consul of the French First Republic. In the view of most historians, it ended the French Revolution and would soon lead to the coronation of Napoleon as Emperor of the ...

''), and was one of the three Provisional Consuls (with Napoleon and Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès), becoming vice-president of the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

with the arrival of a stable Consulate formula. He was many times honored under the

Empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...

, but in 1814 he abandoned Napoleon, and voted for his deposition. He sought to gain the favor of the government of the Restoration, but in 1816 was exiled on the basis of the law regarding the '' regicides''. He died in March 1816 near Ulm, from a carriage accident.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ducos, Roger 1747 births 1816 deaths 18th-century heads of state of France Deputies to the French National Convention Directeurs of the First French Republic Exiled French politicians First French Empire French Consulate 18th-century French lawyers Members of the Council of Five Hundred People from Landes (department) Regicides of Louis XVI Road incident deaths in Germany Politicians from Nouvelle-Aquitaine