To quote him ; > I did not steal the crown. I found it lying in the gutter, and I picked it up with the sword. But it was the people who placed it on my head.

To quote him ; > I did not steal the crown. I found it lying in the gutter, and I picked it up with the sword. But it was the people who placed it on my head. The man was massively popular with the populace [1] [2] and he got elected emperor with a referendum [3] to which 7 million people were called. By modern standard that barely qualifies, but for an emperor in 1804 ... A common misconception was that the revolution was to remove the all powerful head of state. It wasn't, the people just wanted a competent one and improved living conditions. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/277eu3/why_is_napoleon_so_revered_in_france_despite_the/ https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/277eu3/why_i... [2] https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/gli6nn/considering_that_one_of_the_reasons_why_the/ https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/gli6nn/consi... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1804_French_constitutional_referendum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1804_French_constitutional_ref...