Napoleon and civil liberties

Like the other dictators, Napoleon was restrictive of civil liberties in order to better control the general will of the population. Unlike many dictators of the world however, Napoleon’s aim in doing this was to insure equality in his empire as best as he could, while continuing on with his conquest. He took this idea from the ancient Romans, who inspired the Napoleonic codes. He went even farther than the Romans, abolishing hereditary nobility and class privileges. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, the Napoleonic codes were the first set of laws to be based on reason rather than ancient customs.
Though Napoleon was generally loyal to the Revolutionary ideals, incorporating many of them into the Napoleonic cods, he repressed many liberties gained during the revolution. He eliminated republicanism and required that all printers swear an oath of obedience to him, the emperor; newspapers only published what came from the government. Printers and booksellers were forbidden to circulate “anything which may involve injury to the duties of subjects toward the sovereign or the interests of the state. In addition the codes denied equal treatment to workers in disputes with employers, women were subject to their husbands, children were subject to their fathers
Napoleon favored equality before the law, and equality of opportunity as necessary for a well-run state, but he believed that political liberty was inefficient and threatened the state with anarchy. He would govern in the interest of the people as an enlightened yet absolute ruler.