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How did Napoleon Bonaparte become Emperor Napoleon I of France in 1804?

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Jacques-Louis David: The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries — Napoleon I *The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries*, oil on canvas by Jacques-Louis David, 1812; in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

By 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte’s consolidation of power was complete, and he was widely viewed by the governing class as indispensable. In April 1804, various government bodies agreed that he should be declared Emperor and that this dignity should be hereditary within his family.12

This transition was formalized through the Constitution of the Year XII (May 1804), which established the First French Empire and officially designated him as "Emperor of the French". This title was chosen to signal a break from the ancien régime and the Bourbon monarchy, while maintaining the appearance of ruling by popular mandate. The constitution was subsequently approved in a plebiscite by more than 3.5 million votes.123

On December 2, 1804, Napoleon’s coronation took place at Notre-Dame de Paris. In a symbolic act, he took the crown from the hands of Pope Pius VII and placed it on his own head, followed by crowning his wife, Joséphine.4