 Though the resulting Constitution has sometimes been depicted as a pre @-@ digested French project , it was actually a result of the constitutional commission 's discussions between October 1797 and January 1798 . Except for the purge of the electoral rolls of " crypto @-@ <unk> " and other reactionaries , it might therefore have been acceptable for the moderates , obviating the need for the January coup . In any case , the " suggestions " of Delacroix were politely rejected and the constitutional commission insisted on the following three essential points : universal manhood suffrage , without fiscal qualifications ; the right of revision of the constitution at quinquennial intervals by the voters ; and finally the rejection of the principle of a bicameral legislature , in which each House would have a separate electoral base . 
