Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès (3 March 1748 – 20 June 1836) was a French Roman Catholic clergyman, politician and the first President of France. He was one of the chief political theorists of the French Revolution, and instigated the coup of 20 Vendemiaire, which officially ended the reign of the semi-autocratic French Directory. The coup replaced it with a presidential democracy, and Sieyès was unanimously voted president less than a month later.