loans to peasants, some of them usurious, that were universally resented. Neither group were able to participate in the debates over civil rights within the National Assembly in the late 1780s, though they lobbied extensively and mostly separately.
The decree of 6 March 1806 dealt with the Jewish issues as Napoleon saw them. Upon his return from his victory at Austerlitz, he was faced with complaints of Jewish usury from the Alsacian peasants. Napoleon declared a moratorium on all debts to Jews and ordered the Jewish question studied. These severe restrictions placed on the Ashkenazic community brought huge financial losses, some bankruptcies, and emigration. Napoleon was actually inclined to prohibit commerce with Jews , but also wanted to learn more and “summoned fifty or sixty Jews [to Paris ] to hear them. I wish that a General Synagogue be held in Paris on June 15.7"? This led to 111 Jewish delegates from France and Italy to gather at the end of July. Napoleon ’s flair for good publicity led to their reception with full honors such as had never been accorded a Jewish delegation.
Through the second portion of this decree Napoleon sought to solve the issue of the Jewish community permanently. The Assembly of Jewish Notables was to respond to a set of Napoleon 's questions. The answers were to be ratified by a Sanhedrin. The rather odd set of questions, actually insulting, that Napoleon addressed to the Assembly of Notables can only be explained through the accusations and issues raised during the previous half century, which included the corporate status of the community, special laws, usurious loans, and hostility toward non-Jews . The community would also be centralized through consistories, similar to the tight organization of the Catholic Church and provide absolute control of French Jews . His long term goal was complete assimilation through mixed marriage- goals clearly stated in notes of guidance to the French commissioners who would be present at the deliberations of the Assembly of Notables .” This portion of the 1806 decree was a mixture of carrot and stick."