Privilege and the Politics of Taxation in Eighteenth-Century France
Title | Privilege and the Politics of Taxation in Eighteenth-Century France PDF eBook |
Author | Michael Kwass |
Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
Pages | 376 |
Release | 2006-11-02 |
Genre | Business & Economics |
ISBN | 9780521030199 |
Privilege and the Politics of Taxation in Eighteenth-Century France, first published in 2000, offers a lucid interpretation of the Ancien Régime and the origins of the French Revolution. It examines what was arguably the most ambitious project of the eighteenth-century French monarchy: the attempt to impose direct taxes on formerly tax-exempt privileged elites. Connecting the social history of the state to the study of political culture, Michael Kwass describes how the crown refashioned its institutions and ideology to impose new forms of taxation on the privileged. Drawing on impressive primary research from national and provincial archives, Kwass demonstrates that the levy of these taxes, which struck elites with some force, not only altered the relationship between monarchy and social hierarchy, but also transformed political language and attitudes in the decades before the French Revolution. Privilege and the Politics of Taxation in Eighteenth-Century France sheds light on French history during this crucial period.
Liberté, Égalité, Fiscalité
Title | Liberté, Égalité, Fiscalité PDF eBook |
Author | Michael Kwass |
Publisher | |
Pages | 990 |
Release | 1994 |
Genre | France |
ISBN |
The Politics of Privilege
Title | The Politics of Privilege PDF eBook |
Author | Gail Bossenga |
Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
Pages | 288 |
Release | 2002-05-09 |
Genre | Business & Economics |
ISBN | 9780521893725 |
This study analyzes the political and fiscal origins of the French Revolution by looking at the relationship between the royal government and privileged, corporate bodies at local level. Utilizing a neo-Tocquevillian approach, it argues that the monarchy undermined its own attempts at reform by extending central authority, while at the same time it continued to rely upon corporate structures and monopolies to finance the state. The unresolvable, institutional conflicts had the effect of politicising members of the privileged elite and eventually led many of them to embrace a rhetoric of citizenship, accountability, and civic equality that had far-reaching and unanticipated consequences. When Lille's bourgeoisie consolidated a municipal revolution in 1789, they followed a programme that was politically liberal, but economically conservative. Arranged as a series of case-studies, the book illuminates the structure of political power in the Flemish provincial estates, the growth of royal taxation, the problem of municipal credit, the role of venal officeholders, and the relationship of the revolutionary bourgeoisie to monopolies of the guilds.
The Fountain of Privilege
Title | The Fountain of Privilege PDF eBook |
Author | Hilton L. Root |
Publisher | Univ of California Press |
Pages | 299 |
Release | 2024-07-26 |
Genre | History |
ISBN | 0520377753 |
The Fountain of Privilege applies contemporary economic and political theory to answer long-standing historical questions about modernization. In particular, it contrasts political stability in Georgian England with the collapse of the Old Regime in France. Why did a century of economic expansion rupture France’s political foundations while leaving those of Britain intact? Comparing the political and financial institutions of the two states, Hilton Root argues that the French monarchy’s tight control of markets created unresolvable social conflicts whereas England’s broader power base permitted the wider distribution of economic favors, resulting in more flexible and efficient markets. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1994.
Capitalism and the Emergence of Civic Equality in Eighteenth-Century France
Title | Capitalism and the Emergence of Civic Equality in Eighteenth-Century France PDF eBook |
Author | William H. Sewell Jr. |
Publisher | University of Chicago Press |
Pages | 421 |
Release | 2021-04-28 |
Genre | Business & Economics |
ISBN | 022677046X |
"William H. Sewell, Jr. turns to the experience of commercial capitalism to show how the commodity form abstracted social relations. The increased independence, flexibility, and anonymity of market relations made equality between citizens not only conceivable but attractive. Commercial capitalism thus found its way into the interstices of this otherwise rigidly hierarchical society, coloring social relations and paving the way for the establishment of civic equality"--
Revolutionary Commerce
Title | Revolutionary Commerce PDF eBook |
Author | Paul Cheney |
Publisher | Harvard University Press |
Pages | 324 |
Release | 2010-03-16 |
Genre | Business & Economics |
ISBN | 9780674047266 |
Combining the intellectual history of the Enlightenment, Atlantic history, and the history of the French Revolution, Paul Cheney explores the political economy of globalization in eighteenth-century France. The discovery of the New World and the rise of Europe's Atlantic economy brought unprecedented wealth. It also reordered the political balance among European states and threatened age-old social hierarchies within them. In this charged context, the French developed a "science of commerce" that aimed to benefit from this new wealth while containing its revolutionary effects. Montesquieu became a towering authority among reformist economic and political thinkers by developing a politics of fusion intended to reconcile France's aristocratic society and monarchical state with the needs and risks of international commerce. The Seven Years' War proved the weakness of this model, and after this watershed reforms that could guarantee shared prosperity at home and in the colonies remained elusive. Once the Revolution broke out in 1789, the contradictions that attended the growth of France's Atlantic economy helped to bring down the constitutional monarchy. Drawing upon the writings of philosophes, diplomats, consuls of commerce, and merchants, Cheney rewrites the history of political economy in the Enlightenment era and provides a new interpretation of the relationship between capitalism and the French Revolution.
The Consumer Revolution, 1650–1800
Title | The Consumer Revolution, 1650–1800 PDF eBook |
Author | Michael Kwass |
Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
Pages | 275 |
Release | 2022-02-03 |
Genre | Business & Economics |
ISBN | 0521198704 |
A bold new interpretation of 'consumer revolution' in 18th-century Europe, examining globalization and the politics of consumption in the age of Revolution.