AHC: Pre French Revolution
You are a valued advisor of King Louis XVI at the start of his reign in 1774; your goal is to advise the king on how to fix the economic and political problems in France before the famine of 1788-89. Who would you advise for the position of Finance Minister? Would you want France to get involved in the American Revolutionary War? What other changes would you advise? The list of choices for Finance Minster are towards the bottom.
Here are some events, facts and statistics from this period. These I found from my sources other sources may vary and srry if I can’t be that specific in some areas.
1774
France population 22,000,000, 90% rural, 10% urban, 6% serfs
Paris population 600,000, 50% of France’s wealth ,the book trade in Paris alone is worth 45 million Livres
45% of land in France is owned by peasants, average peasant pays 42% of income in taxes
49% of land owned by nobility, 26,000 feudal lords in France,
6% of land owned by clergy, Catholic Church’s, in France, sum value including all land and other property is 2 billion Livres
Paris Parlement and Provincial Parlements ratify or reject royal edicts, are very conservative and oppose most new measures that negatively affect the nobility or clergy.
Yearly deficit 140,000,000 Livres, yearly interest on debt 8,700,000 Livres, total debt is floating in the few billion area, yearly expenditures are some where over a billion Livres
Royal Household spends 4,600,000 Livres yearly, includes all 6,000 people at Versailles
Ministers of the State each get paid 150,000 Livres a year
Yearly trade comes to a sum worth of 800,000,000 Livres
Aid sent to American colonies from 1776-82 amounts to 19,000,000 Livres and the amount spent on the war with Great Britain even higher
Major kinds of taxes in France (1774)
Tallie tax on land and personal property (nobility and clergy exempted)
Poll tax only (clergy exempted)
Vingtieme tax on all property everyone pays (there are loopholes)
Indirect taxes on transport tolls, excise taxes, salt tax
Corvee tax (only peasants pay)
Average peasant pays 42% of income in taxes
1754
King Louis XV abolishes all restrains on transport and sale of grain. The price soon droped, but after bad harvests in 1760,65,67,68 and 69 the price rose way beyond pre 1754 levels.
1770
King Louis XV revokes his edicts on free trade of grain and beings regulation again.
Choice of Finance minister: For the debate pretend that they all live until after 1789
Joseph Marie Terray- wants to reduce expenditures, except royal household, and implement a series of new taxes, dues and fee’s the doubling of tolls on internal transport.
Turgot- part of the Physiocrat movement and wants to reduce economic regulations and lower taxes. He believes that land is the only source of wealth and wants a single tax on it. Turgot also wants to abolish all indirect taxes and Guilds. He wants to get a balanced budget and does not like to take out loans.
Jacques Necker- wants some measure of government control when needed. If free trade raises the price of bread to much he wants the government to regulate it. He wants to abolish serfdom and most indirect taxes but does want to keep a few. He believes that the government when necessary should take out large loans.
Calonne- wants to invest more money in infrastructure such as roads, canals and harbors. He also wants to have free trade in grain, remove tolls on internal transport and reduce the salt tax. He wants to raise money by increasing the number of lotteries and appealing to the clergy for funds.
Lomenie De Brienne- wants to increase the tax on land for all classes, cut expenditures in each government department and reduce royal expenditures.
Sources
Rousseau and Revolution by Will Durant
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causes_of_the_French_Revolution
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Marie_Terray
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne-Robert-Jacques_Turgot,_Baron_de_Laune
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Alexandre_de_Calonne
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lomenie_de_Brienne
You are a valued advisor of King Louis XVI at the start of his reign in 1774; your goal is to advise the king on how to fix the economic and political problems in France before the famine of 1788-89. Who would you advise for the position of Finance Minister? Would you want France to get involved in the American Revolutionary War? What other changes would you advise? The list of choices for Finance Minster are towards the bottom.
Here are some events, facts and statistics from this period. These I found from my sources other sources may vary and srry if I can’t be that specific in some areas.
1774
France population 22,000,000, 90% rural, 10% urban, 6% serfs
Paris population 600,000, 50% of France’s wealth ,the book trade in Paris alone is worth 45 million Livres
45% of land in France is owned by peasants, average peasant pays 42% of income in taxes
49% of land owned by nobility, 26,000 feudal lords in France,
6% of land owned by clergy, Catholic Church’s, in France, sum value including all land and other property is 2 billion Livres
Paris Parlement and Provincial Parlements ratify or reject royal edicts, are very conservative and oppose most new measures that negatively affect the nobility or clergy.
Yearly deficit 140,000,000 Livres, yearly interest on debt 8,700,000 Livres, total debt is floating in the few billion area, yearly expenditures are some where over a billion Livres
Royal Household spends 4,600,000 Livres yearly, includes all 6,000 people at Versailles
Ministers of the State each get paid 150,000 Livres a year
Yearly trade comes to a sum worth of 800,000,000 Livres
Aid sent to American colonies from 1776-82 amounts to 19,000,000 Livres and the amount spent on the war with Great Britain even higher
Major kinds of taxes in France (1774)
Tallie tax on land and personal property (nobility and clergy exempted)
Poll tax only (clergy exempted)
Vingtieme tax on all property everyone pays (there are loopholes)
Indirect taxes on transport tolls, excise taxes, salt tax
Corvee tax (only peasants pay)
Average peasant pays 42% of income in taxes
1754
King Louis XV abolishes all restrains on transport and sale of grain. The price soon droped, but after bad harvests in 1760,65,67,68 and 69 the price rose way beyond pre 1754 levels.
1770
King Louis XV revokes his edicts on free trade of grain and beings regulation again.
Choice of Finance minister: For the debate pretend that they all live until after 1789
Joseph Marie Terray- wants to reduce expenditures, except royal household, and implement a series of new taxes, dues and fee’s the doubling of tolls on internal transport.
Turgot- part of the Physiocrat movement and wants to reduce economic regulations and lower taxes. He believes that land is the only source of wealth and wants a single tax on it. Turgot also wants to abolish all indirect taxes and Guilds. He wants to get a balanced budget and does not like to take out loans.
Jacques Necker- wants some measure of government control when needed. If free trade raises the price of bread to much he wants the government to regulate it. He wants to abolish serfdom and most indirect taxes but does want to keep a few. He believes that the government when necessary should take out large loans.
Calonne- wants to invest more money in infrastructure such as roads, canals and harbors. He also wants to have free trade in grain, remove tolls on internal transport and reduce the salt tax. He wants to raise money by increasing the number of lotteries and appealing to the clergy for funds.
Lomenie De Brienne- wants to increase the tax on land for all classes, cut expenditures in each government department and reduce royal expenditures.
Sources
Rousseau and Revolution by Will Durant
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causes_of_the_French_Revolution
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Marie_Terray
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne-Robert-Jacques_Turgot,_Baron_de_Laune
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Alexandre_de_Calonne
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lomenie_de_Brienne