The Consulate was in power for the last several months of the War of the Second Coalition, which ended with the Treaty of Amiens in March 1802. In August of that year, the people of France voted in another national referendum, which made the Consulate permanent and made Bonaparte First Consul for life. He set about reintroducing elements of the monarchy, centralizing much of the functioning of daily life again in the government–which was, increasingly, himself.

France had in 1794 abolished slavery throughout its colonies. In 1802, the island group Guadeloupe reinstated slavery, touching off a slave revolt there. The Consulate passed the Law of 20 May, which officially reinstated slavery throughout the French Empire and its colonies. Among those colonies Saint-Domingue, otherwise known as Haiti. Slaves there had, in 1791, risen up in revolt and, led by Toussaint L'Ouverture, won their freedom. To restore slavery in Saint-Domingue, Bonaparte sent his brother-in-law, Gen. Charles Lecler, at the head of a force of experienced soldiers. French soldiers captured L'Ouverture, but Jean-Jacques Dessalines stepped into the void and led the native force to victory. Undeterred, Bonaparte sent in more troops, this time a force of 20,000 led by Donatien-Marie-Joseph de Vimeur, vicomte de Rochambeau (who had fought for the U.S. in its Revolutionary War). The Saint-Domingue defenders were again victorious and, in 1804, proclaimed themselves the independent republic of Haiti.

French troops had actually left the year before, their ranks decimated by not only the conflict but also yellow fever. In that same year, 1803, Bonaparte agreed to sell the Louisiana Territory to the U.S. The Louisiana Purchase, signed on April 30, gave France a pile of ready cash with which to fight against the United Kingdom.

The War of the Third Coalition began in early 1803 in part because of a dispute over Malta. The Treaty of Amiens, signed by representatives of France and the U.K., contained language that required British personnel to leave the island, which they had taken from France. Claiming a sort of quid pro quo with French troops who hadn't yet left ports in Italy, the U.K. forces in Malta refused to leave. The London Government was concerned with other goings-on in 1802 as well, particularly other actions that France had taken, such as assuming ownership of Piedmont and dictating a change in government for the Swiss Confederation–both of which were technically in breach of the Treaty of Lunéville, which had ended the war with all but the U.K. in 1801.

Napoleon had enormous power and support at this time but did face one serious plot in the form of an assassination attempt that would have replaced him with the future Louis XVIII. Engineering the plot was Georges Cadoudal (left), a longtime opponent of the Revolutionary government. In on the conspiracy were two French generals, the War of the Second Coalition hero Jean Victor Marie Moreau and the War of the First Coalition hero Charles Pichegru. Financing the plot was the U.K. government, in the person of Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger. The plot unraveled in early 1804 when French forces arrested a U.K. agent named Courson, who then confessed the details of the plot, including the identity of the conspirators. The ringleaders were arrested. Cadoudal was executed for treason. Pichegru died in prison. Moreau cut a deal with Napoleon and gained exile. Louis Antoine de Bourbon, the Duke of Enghien and a descendant of King Louis XIV, was said to be involved with the plot and was arrested and executed. The evidence against him was later found to have been fabricated.

Joseph Fouché, the once and future Minister of Police, advised Bonaparte, after this latest of several attempts on his life, that the country might do well with a more secure form of succession, guaranteed by a hereditary title. Bonaparte reluctantly agreed, as long as the rest of the government went along. On May 18, 1804, the Senate passed a bill proclaiming that France was an Empire and that Napoleon was its Emperor. Thus ended the Consulate.

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