Necker, Calonne and the Failed Reforms

Several royal ministers tried to fix France's finances before 1789, and their failures show why reform from above stalled. Jacques Necker, a Genevan Protestant banker, financed the American war through loans and in 1781 published a report, the Compte rendu, that made royal finances look healthier than they were. His successor Charles-Alexandre de Calonne at first spent freely to maintain confidence, but by 1786 he concluded that only radical change would work.

He proposed a land tax payable by all landowners regardless of status, along with reforms to internal trade. Because the parlements, the high law courts, were likely to resist, he summoned an Assembly of Notables in 1787, hoping they would endorse his plan. Instead the notables refused, and Calonne was dismissed. The episode revealed that the privileged would not accept sacrifices without a voice in how the state was run.