What was the name of the constitution that established the Directory?

The Constitution of the Year III was the constitution that established the Directory in France.

The National Convention adopted it on 5 Fructidor Year III, corresponding to 22 August 1795. It was designed after the fall of Robespierre and rejected the more democratic Constitution of 1793, which had been approved but never implemented. The new document aimed to create a more moderate and politically stable republic.

Its most important institutional feature was a two-chamber legislature: the Council of Five Hundred proposed laws, while the Council of Ancients approved or rejected them. Executive power was assigned to a five-member Directory, with one director replaced each year to prevent power from becoming concentrated in one person.

The constitution took effect in September 1795, and the Directory began governing in October and November. It remained in force until Napoleon Bonaparte’s coup of 18 Brumaire in November 1799. The main confusion is with the Constitution of the Year VIII, which followed Napoleon’s coup and established the Consulate rather than the Directory.