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| 1758 |
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| François Quesnay published Tableau economique, which argued that agriculture was the only basis of wealth and provided a method of distributing the fruits of that wealth among the industrious and idle classes. Quesnay was Mirabeau's mentor. | 1 |
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| 1760s |
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| The decline in the merchant marine and navy led to an increased number of pirates. | 2 |
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| 1761 |
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| Illegitimacy: The practice of subjecting unwed pregnant women to physical examinations whenever the authorities chose banned. By this practice, local authorities could demand that a woman subject herself to an examination at any time. While designed to assure the pregnancy was not interfered with, this law was also used to force single women to have such examinations even if they were not known to be pregnant. The practice continued after 1761 in some parts of France despite the ban. | 3 |
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| 1762 |
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| Jean Jacques Rousseau's Social Contract and Émile published. The former argued for government based on a contract between all members of society which would guarantee harmony within that society. The latter argued for a flexible, responsive system of education, though stipulating that women's education must be relative to men's education and to women's role in society. | 4 |
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| 1764 |
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| Jesuits expelled from France, a move to discipline the Church. | 5 |
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| 1765 |
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| France abolished free trade within the country on grain. | 6 |
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| 1770–89 |
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| Prices on grain increased and a financial crisis resulted in bankruptcies. | 7 |
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| 1771 |
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| Coup Maupéou. As new chief minister, René de Maupéou, asserted the claim of Louis XV as absolute monarch. The government improved the roads into Brittany for use by the military. The Breton Parlement objected but Louis XV issued statement of absolutism and, under direction of Maupéou, abolished the Parlements in Paris and the provinces and replaced them with lower, more easily controlled courts—an unpopular reform. | 8 |
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| 1774 |
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| In the wake of famine, Turgot lifted ban on free trade of grain but the rivers in France froze, making it impossible to move grain. | 9 |
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| 1775 |
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| Flour War. Violent food riots in Paris and surrounding region. Increased male participation reflected economic problems of wage laborers and roused new government concern. | 10 |
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| 1776–83 |
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| American Revolution (See 1777, Nov. 15). France supported the colonists. | 11 |
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| 1787 |
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| French government allowed grain producers to sell directly to consumers and export grain. As a result, granaries were emptied and prices rose. (See The French Revolution, 1789–1799) | 12 |
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