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| 1. Domestic Affairs |
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| Poor relief. No policy of poor relief had existed under the Consulate. The administrators lifted the ban on private and religious charitable foundations. | 1 |
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| 1805, March 28 |
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| The Bureaux de Bienfaisance (bureaus of charity), established under the Directory, were centralized. | 2 |
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| 1806 |
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| Napoleon convened the Assembly of Jewish Notables, which redefined traditional Judaism and transformed the Jews into French citizens. Napoleon thus questioned the Jews' loyalty to France on doctrinal issues rather than simply accepting their economic loyalty, as the revolutionaries had done. The assembly led to two laws enacted on May 30, 1806, and March 17, 1808, which proclaimed this loyalty but also deprived northeastern Jews of their economic freedom. | 3 |
| Salt taxes were established, which harked back to the despised gabelle of the ancien régime. Postal rates were raised by 50 percent, and, in 1810, the state reestablished its monopoly on tobacco. The progress of warfare throughout the Napoleonic period placed a heavy financial toll on a government that had not been financially stable when Napoleon replaced the Directory. Until 1810, taxes remained moderate overall because the French relied heavily on indemnities and other monies paid by occupied territories. | 4 |
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| Jan. 1 |
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| France returned to the Gregorian calendar. | 5 |
| May 10. The principle of the university system was enunciated by law. Napoleon did not actually degree these universities until March 17, 1808. Universities offered higher education, but they also oversaw state schools at the lower level. School inspectors (a maximum of 30) reported on schools at all three levels (primary, secondary, and higher) to the academies. The system never provided a monopoly on teaching for the state, but it did provide the government with stricter control over schools. | 6 |
| Nov. 21. Berlin Decree established the Continental System, banning trade between Napoleon-controlled Europe and Britain; designed to weaken Britain's export-based economy. | 7 |
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