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Authors: James M. Anderson
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traditional
collective practices. Communal traditions, however, were deep-seated and
resistant to change.
The Atlantic and Mediterranean port cities, all centers of
developing capitalist activity, had suffered from anti-federalist repression
and from English naval blockades. In textile towns such as Lille, the decline
was abrupt and ruinous. No matter what business they were in, tailors,
wigmakers, watchmakers—all those engaged in businesses related to deluxe items
or pursuits—lost their clientele. Even shoemakers suffered along with other
lower-class enterprises, except for the very few who managed to get contracts
to supply the military. In heavy industry such as iron and cannon manufacture,
some opportunities were provided by the continuing warfare, which tended to
focus capital and labor on the provision of armaments. For most businesses,
however, the situation appeared gloomy.
In 1790, while in Paris, Young learned that the cotton
mills in Normandy had stood still for nine months. Many spinning jennies had
been destroyed by the locals, who believed they were Satan’s invention and
would put them out of work. Trade, Young said, was in a deplorable condition.
All cities were in a sad state and remained so throughout
the revolutionary period. When Samuel Romilly returned to Bordeaux in 1802,
during a period of peace with England, he was grieved to see the silent docks
and the grass growing long between the flagstones of the quays. The sugar trade
with the West Indies continued to flourish, but in port cities connected to the
slave trade, people were alarmed over talk in the National Convention about
freeing the blacks, who provided the labor for the colonial sugar industry.
THE ASSIGNAT
Preceding the revolution, the basic money of account was
the livre, of which three made an écu, and 24 livres equaled one louis. The
livre was made up of 20 sous (the older term was sols), and the sous was
divided into 12 deniers. (The system was similar to that used in
England—pounds, shillings, and pence—until the 1970s.)
On December 19, 1789, to redeem the huge public debt and to
counterbalance the growing deficit, the revolutionary Constituent Assembly
issued treasury notes or bonds called assignats, to the amount of 400 million
livres distributed in 1,000-livre notes. These were intended as short-term
obligations pending the sale of confiscated lands formerly owned by the
nobility and the church and were distributed to creditors of the state to be
exchanged for land of equal value or redeemed at 5 percent interest. The
assignats were then to be liquidated, reducing government debt. Neither the
economy nor the royal tax revenues increased as quickly as the deputies had
hoped; assignats were made legal tender in April 1790, and subsequent issues
bore no interest.
In the autumn of 1790, the government issued another 400
million in assignats. In following years, more and more were issued in smaller
denominations of 50 livres, then 5 livres, and, finally, 10 sous. By January
1793, about 2.3 billion assignats were in circulation. The paper currency
rapidly became inflated, and people hoarded metallic coins that had been used
previously. By July 1793, a 100-livre note was only worth 23 livres.
The stringent financial measures put in place during the
Terror temporarily stabilized the value of the assignat at one-third of its
face value. However, by early 1796, under the Directory, inflation again
increased dramatically, and the assignats in circulation were worth less than 1
percent of their original value. This did not even cover the cost of printing
them. Severe inflation stopped only when all paper currency was recalled and
redeemed at the rate of 3,000 livres in assignats to one franc in gold. On May
21, 1797, all unredeemed assignats were declared void.
The value of the assignats depreciated rapidly. The
beggar symbolizes the subsequent ruin of thousands of investors.
TAXATION
The company
collective practices. Communal traditions, however, were deep-seated and
resistant to change.
The Atlantic and Mediterranean port cities, all centers of
developing capitalist activity, had suffered from anti-federalist repression
and from English naval blockades. In textile towns such as Lille, the decline
was abrupt and ruinous. No matter what business they were in, tailors,
wigmakers, watchmakers—all those engaged in businesses related to deluxe items
or pursuits—lost their clientele. Even shoemakers suffered along with other
lower-class enterprises, except for the very few who managed to get contracts
to supply the military. In heavy industry such as iron and cannon manufacture,
some opportunities were provided by the continuing warfare, which tended to
focus capital and labor on the provision of armaments. For most businesses,
however, the situation appeared gloomy.
In 1790, while in Paris, Young learned that the cotton
mills in Normandy had stood still for nine months. Many spinning jennies had
been destroyed by the locals, who believed they were Satan’s invention and
would put them out of work. Trade, Young said, was in a deplorable condition.
All cities were in a sad state and remained so throughout
the revolutionary period. When Samuel Romilly returned to Bordeaux in 1802,
during a period of peace with England, he was grieved to see the silent docks
and the grass growing long between the flagstones of the quays. The sugar trade
with the West Indies continued to flourish, but in port cities connected to the
slave trade, people were alarmed over talk in the National Convention about
freeing the blacks, who provided the labor for the colonial sugar industry.
THE ASSIGNAT
Preceding the revolution, the basic money of account was
the livre, of which three made an écu, and 24 livres equaled one louis. The
livre was made up of 20 sous (the older term was sols), and the sous was
divided into 12 deniers. (The system was similar to that used in
England—pounds, shillings, and pence—until the 1970s.)
On December 19, 1789, to redeem the huge public debt and to
counterbalance the growing deficit, the revolutionary Constituent Assembly
issued treasury notes or bonds called assignats, to the amount of 400 million
livres distributed in 1,000-livre notes. These were intended as short-term
obligations pending the sale of confiscated lands formerly owned by the
nobility and the church and were distributed to creditors of the state to be
exchanged for land of equal value or redeemed at 5 percent interest. The
assignats were then to be liquidated, reducing government debt. Neither the
economy nor the royal tax revenues increased as quickly as the deputies had
hoped; assignats were made legal tender in April 1790, and subsequent issues
bore no interest.
In the autumn of 1790, the government issued another 400
million in assignats. In following years, more and more were issued in smaller
denominations of 50 livres, then 5 livres, and, finally, 10 sous. By January
1793, about 2.3 billion assignats were in circulation. The paper currency
rapidly became inflated, and people hoarded metallic coins that had been used
previously. By July 1793, a 100-livre note was only worth 23 livres.
The stringent financial measures put in place during the
Terror temporarily stabilized the value of the assignat at one-third of its
face value. However, by early 1796, under the Directory, inflation again
increased dramatically, and the assignats in circulation were worth less than 1
percent of their original value. This did not even cover the cost of printing
them. Severe inflation stopped only when all paper currency was recalled and
redeemed at the rate of 3,000 livres in assignats to one franc in gold. On May
21, 1797, all unredeemed assignats were declared void.
The value of the assignats depreciated rapidly. The
beggar symbolizes the subsequent ruin of thousands of investors.
TAXATION
The company
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