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Some of history’s most prominent enlightened despots were Frederick II the Great, Peter I the Great, Catherine II the Great, Maria Theresa, Joseph II, Leopold II and most importantly Napoleon Bonaparte, or Napoleon I. Napoleon has been considered to be an enlightened despot because of his religious policies, economic policies, educational policies, and the Code Napoleon. Napoleon was not a democrat -- nor was he a republican. He was an enlightened despot, the sort of man Voltaire might have found appealing. Enlightened Despotism is the form in which absolutism appeared in the second half of the seventeenth century, which was marked by the acceptance into the practice of absolutism of the concepts or demands of the Enlightenment. Enlightened Despotism strives toward a fundamental reform of the state and the society according to the principles of reason; wants to actualize freedom of belief and opinion, and equality before the law; introduces the liberalization of the economy; advances the natural sciences, the social sciences, and the arts; seeks to re-organize the structure of education; and partakes of Natural Law's doctrine of the social contract in order to justify itself. Napoleon Bonaparte, an Enlightened Despot was very wise when it came to dealing with religion. He always took full advantage of religion to advance politically. An example of this is the fact that whatever new land he conquered, he adopted the religion of that land in order to gain the acceptance of the general population. In France, he was Catholic. In Egypt, he was Muslim.
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