Privilege and the Politics of Taxation in Eighteenth-Century France
Privilege and the Politics of Taxation in Eighteenth-Century France
£47.00
GBPPrivilege 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.
- Presents archival data on the thorny topic of taxation
- Bridges social history and political culture
- Treats the origins of the French revolution
Product details
November 2006Paperback
9780521030199
372 pages
230 × 152 × 21 mm
0.574kg
6 b/w illus. 4 tables
Available
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Table of Contents
- List of illustrations
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Acknowledgements
- List of abbreviations
- Introduction: why taxes?
- Part I. Reassessing Privilege:
- 1. The economy of privilege and the challenge of universal taxation
- 2. A kingdom of taxpayers
- Part II. The Politics of Taxation and the Language of Dispute:
- 3. Petitioning for 'justice': tax disputes in the administrative sphere
- 4. Taking 'liberty' to the public: tax disputes in the institutional sphere
- 5. Taxation, Enlightenment and the printed word: debate in the literary sphere
- Part III. From Resistance to Revolution:
- 6. Turning taxpayers into citizens: reform, revolution and the birth of modern political representation
- Conclusion: liberté, égalité, fiscalité
- Select bibliography
- Index.
