1.
Pierre S. du Pont
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Pierre Samuel du Pont was an American entrepreneur, businessman, philanthropist and member of the prominent du Pont family. He was president of the E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company from 1915 to 1919 and he also managed General Motors from 1915-1920, became GMs president in 1920, and served on GMs Board of Directors until 1928. Among other notable accomplishments, he was among the Founding Board of Directors of the Empire State Building which opened in 1931, Du Pont was named after his great-great-grandfather, Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours, a French economist and patriarch of the du Pont family. Pierre S. du Pont was born January 15,1870 the family estate near Wilmington and he was the eldest of three sons born to Lammot du Pont and Mary Belin. He graduated with a degree in chemistry from MIT in 1890 and he and his cousin Francis Gurney du Pont developed the first American smokeless powder in 1892 at the Carneys Point plant in New Jersey. Most of the 1890s he spent working with the management at a steel firm partly owned by DuPont, here he learned to deal with money from the companys president, Arthur Moxham. In 1899, unsatisfied with how conservative DuPonts management was, he quit and they set about buying smaller powder firms. Until 1914, during Coleman du Ponts illness, Pierre du Pont served as treasurer, executive vice-president, in 1915, a group headed by Pierre, which included outsiders, bought Colemans stock. Alfred was offended and sued Pierre for breach of trust, the case was settled in Pierres favor four years later, but his relationship with Alfred suffered greatly, and they did not speak after that. Pierre served as DuPonts president until 1919, Pierre gave the DuPont company a modern management structure and modern accounting policies and made the concept of return on investment primary. During World War I, the company very quickly due to advance payments on Allied munition contracts. He also established many other DuPont interests in other industries and he was featured on the cover of Time magazine January 31,1927 issue. That same year he was elected a member of the Delaware Society of the Cincinnati. Pierre du Pont resigned the chairmanship of GM in response to GM President Alfred Sloans dispute with Raskob over Raskobs involvement with the Democratic National Committee, when du Pont retired from its Board of Directors, GM was the largest company in the world. Du Pont was one of the first of many of his members to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Both his younger brothers, Irénée du Pont and Lammot du Pont II, Du Pont, his relations and the DuPont corporation were generous benefactors over the years, and helped set up multiple endowments, fellowships, scholarships and faculty chairs for the university. When MIT moved to its current location in Cambridge in 1917, Pierre, T. Coleman du Pont and Charles Hayden donated $215,000 to house the Department of Mining Engineering and Metallurgy. Du Pont served on boards and committees, and from 1916-1951 he was a member of the MIT Corporation
2.
Greenville, Delaware
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Greenville is a census-designated place in New Castle County, Delaware, United States. The population was 2,326 at the 2010 census, the CDP is an affluent bedroom community and a suburb of Wilmington, Delaware and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The community is home to many Du Pont family descendants. Greenville is located at 39°46′44″N 75°35′54″W, according to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 2.74 square miles, of which 2.72 square miles is land and 0.02 square miles is water. As of the census of 2010, there were 2,326 people,1,076 households, the population density was 849 people per square mile. There were 1,395 housing units at a density of 509.1 per square mile. The racial makeup of the CDP was 85. 7% White,4. 8% African American,7. 2% Asian,0. 9% from other races, hispanic or Latino of any race were 3. 4% of the population. 34. 5% of all households were made up of individuals and 12. 6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older, the average household size was 2.16 and the average family size was 2.79. In the CDP, the population was out with 21. 1% under the age of 18,3. 7% from 18 to 24,22. 5% from 25 to 44,28. 8% from 45 to 64. The median age was 46.6 years, for every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.6 males. According to the American Community Survey, the income for a household in the CDP is $133,864. The per capita income for the CDP was $109,521, none of the families and 2. 5% of the population are living below the poverty line. Greenville and Henlopen Acres are the two richest places in Delaware, all but tied for highest personal incomes, averaging over $80,000 per annum
3.
French Revolution
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Through the Revolutionary Wars, it unleashed a wave of global conflicts that extended from the Caribbean to the Middle East. Historians widely regard the Revolution as one of the most important events in human history, the causes of the French Revolution are complex and are still debated among historians. Following the Seven Years War and the American Revolutionary War, the French government was deeply in debt, Years of bad harvests leading up to the Revolution also inflamed popular resentment of the privileges enjoyed by the clergy and the aristocracy. Demands for change were formulated in terms of Enlightenment ideals and contributed to the convocation of the Estates-General in May 1789, a central event of the first stage, in August 1789, was the abolition of feudalism and the old rules and privileges left over from the Ancien Régime. The next few years featured political struggles between various liberal assemblies and right-wing supporters of the intent on thwarting major reforms. The Republic was proclaimed in September 1792 after the French victory at Valmy, in a momentous event that led to international condemnation, Louis XVI was executed in January 1793. External threats closely shaped the course of the Revolution, internally, popular agitation radicalised the Revolution significantly, culminating in the rise of Maximilien Robespierre and the Jacobins. Large numbers of civilians were executed by revolutionary tribunals during the Terror, after the Thermidorian Reaction, an executive council known as the Directory assumed control of the French state in 1795. The rule of the Directory was characterised by suspended elections, debt repudiations, financial instability, persecutions against the Catholic clergy, dogged by charges of corruption, the Directory collapsed in a coup led by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1799. The modern era has unfolded in the shadow of the French Revolution, almost all future revolutionary movements looked back to the Revolution as their predecessor. The values and institutions of the Revolution dominate French politics to this day, the French Revolution differed from other revolutions in being not merely national, for it aimed at benefiting all humanity. Globally, the Revolution accelerated the rise of republics and democracies and it became the focal point for the development of all modern political ideologies, leading to the spread of liberalism, radicalism, nationalism, socialism, feminism, and secularism, among many others. The Revolution also witnessed the birth of total war by organising the resources of France, historians have pointed to many events and factors within the Ancien Régime that led to the Revolution. Over the course of the 18th century, there emerged what the philosopher Jürgen Habermas called the idea of the sphere in France. A perfect example would be the Palace of Versailles which was meant to overwhelm the senses of the visitor and convince one of the greatness of the French state and Louis XIV. Starting in the early 18th century saw the appearance of the sphere which was critical in that both sides were active. In France, the emergence of the public sphere outside of the control of the saw the shift from Versailles to Paris as the cultural capital of France. In the 1750s, during the querelle des bouffons over the question of the quality of Italian vs, in 1782, Louis-Sébastien Mercier wrote, The word court no longer inspires awe amongst us as in the time of Louis XIV
4.
DuPont
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In the 20th century, DuPont developed many polymers such as Vespel, neoprene, nylon, Corian, Teflon, Mylar, Kapton, Kevlar, Zemdrain, M5 fiber, Nomex, Tyvek, Sorona, Corfam, and Lycra. DuPont developed Freon for the refrigerant industry, and later more environmentally friendly refrigerants and it also developed synthetic pigments and paints including ChromaFlair. In 2014, DuPont was the fourth largest chemical company based on market capitalization. Its stock price is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, DuPont was founded in 1802 by Éleuthère Irénée du Pont, using capital raised in France and gunpowder machinery imported from France. It began as a manufacturer of gunpowder, as du Pont noticed that the industry in North America was lagging behind Europe, the Eleutherian Mills site is now a museum and a National Historic Landmark. DuPont continued to expand, moving into the production of dynamite, in 1902, DuPonts president, Eugene du Pont, died, and the surviving partners sold the company to three great-grandsons of the original founder. Charles Lee Reese was appointed as director and the company began centralizing their research departments, the company subsequently purchased several smaller chemical companies, and in 1912 these actions gave rise to government scrutiny under the Sherman Antitrust Act. The courts declared that the dominance of the explosives business constituted a monopoly. The court ruling resulted in the creation of the Hercules Powder Company, at the time of divestment, DuPont retained the single base nitrocellulose powders, while Hercules held the double base powders combining nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine. DuPont subsequently developed the Improved Military Rifle line of smokeless powders, in 1910, DuPont published a brochure entitled Farming with Dynamite. DuPont also established two of the first industrial laboratories in the United States, where began the work on cellulose chemistry, lacquers. DuPont Central Research was established at the DuPont Experimental Station, across the Brandywine Creek from the powder mills. In 1914, Pierre S. du Pont invested in the automobile industry. The following year he was invited to sit on GMs board of directors, the DuPont company would assist the struggling automobile company further with a $25 million purchase of GM stock. In 1920, Pierre S. du Pont was elected president of General Motors, under du Ponts guidance, GM became the number one automobile company in the world. However, in 1957, because of DuPonts influence within GM, in the 1920s, DuPont continued its emphasis on materials science, hiring Wallace Carothers to work on polymers in 1928. Carothers invented neoprene, a rubber, the first polyester superpolymer. The invention of Teflon followed a few years later, DuPont introduced phenothiazine as an insecticide in 1935
5.
Huguenot
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Huguenots are the ethnoreligious group of French Protestants who follow the Reformed tradition. It was used frequently to members of the French Reformed Church until the beginning of the 19th century. The term has its origin in 16th-century France, Huguenot numbers peaked near an estimated two million by 1562, concentrated mainly in the southern and western parts of France. As Huguenots gained influence and more openly displayed their faith, Catholic hostility grew, in spite of political concessions, a series of religious conflicts followed, known as the French Wars of Religion, fought intermittently from 1562 to 1598. The Huguenots were led by Jeanne dAlbret, her son, the future Henry IV, the wars ended with the Edict of Nantes, which granted the Huguenots substantial religious, political, and military autonomy. Huguenot rebellions in the 1620s prompted the abolishment of their political and they retained religious provisions of the Edict of Nantes until the rule of Louis XIV. Nevertheless, a minority of Huguenots remained and faced continued persecution under Louis XV. By the death of Louis XV in 1774, French Calvinism was almost completely wiped out, persecution of Protestants officially ended with the Edict of Versailles, signed by Louis XVI in 1787. Two years later, with the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen of 1789 and they also spread to the Dutch Cape Colony in South Africa, the Dutch East Indies, the Caribbean, New Netherland, and several of the English colonies in North America. Small contingents of families went to Orthodox Russia and Catholic Quebec, a term used originally in derision, Huguenot has unclear origins. Geneva was John Calvins adopted home and the centre of the Calvinist movement, the label Huguenot was purportedly first applied in France to those conspirators involved in the Amboise plot of 1560, a foiled attempt to wrest power in France from the influential House of Guise. The move would have had the effect of fostering relations with the Swiss. Thus, Hugues plus Eidgenosse by way of Huisgenoten supposedly became Huguenot, a version of this complex hypothesis is promoted by O. I. A. Roche, who writes in his book, The Days of the Upright, A History of the Huguenots, that Huguenot is, a combination of a Dutch and a German word. Gallicised into Huguenot, often used deprecatingly, the word became, Some disagree with such double or triple non-French linguistic origins, arguing that for the word to have spread into common use in France, it must have originated in the French language. The Hugues hypothesis argues that the name was derived by association with Hugues Capet, king of France and he was regarded by the Gallicans and Protestants as a noble man who respected peoples dignity and lives. Janet Gray and other supporters of the hypothesis suggest that the name huguenote would be equivalent to little Hugos. It was in place in Tours that the prétendus réformés habitually gathered at night
6.
French nobility
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The French nobility was a privileged social class in France during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period to the revolution in 1790. The nobility was revived in 1805 with limited rights as an elite class from the First Empire to the fall of the July Monarchy in 1848. Hereditary titles, without privileges, continued to be granted until the Second Empire fell in 1870 and they survive among their descendants as a social convention and as part of the legal name of the corresponding individuals. In the political system of pre-Revolutionary France, the nobility made up the Second Estate of the Estates General, although membership in the noble class was mainly inherited, it was not a fully closed order. New individuals were appointed to the nobility by the monarchy, or they could purchase rights and titles, sources differ about the actual number of nobles in France, however, proportionally, it was among the smallest noble classes in Europe. For the year 1789, French historian François Bluche gives a figure of 140,000 nobles and states that about 5% of nobles could claim descent from feudal nobility before the 15th century, with a total population of 28 million, this would represent merely 0. 5%. Historian Gordon Wright gives a figure of 300,000 nobles, in terms of land holdings, at the time of the revolution, noble estates comprised about one-fifth of the land. The French nobility had specific legal and financial rights and prerogatives, the first official list of these prerogatives was established relatively late, under Louis XI after 1440, and included the right to hunt, to wear a sword and, in principle, to possess a seigneurie. Nobles were also granted an exemption from paying the taille, except for lands they might possess in some regions of France. Furthermore, certain ecclesiastic, civic, and military positions were reserved for nobles and these feudal privileges are often termed droits de féodalité dominante. With the exception of a few isolated cases, serfdom had ceased to exist in France by the 15th century, in early modern France, nobles nevertheless maintained a great number of seigneurial privileges over the free peasants that worked lands under their control. They could, for example, levy the tax, an annual tax on lands leased or held by vassals. Nobles could also charge banalités for the right to use the lords mills, ovens, alternatively, a noble could demand a portion of vassals harvests in return for permission to farm land he owned. In the 17th century this system was established in Frances North American possessions. However, the also had responsibilities. Nobles were required to honor, serve, and counsel their king and they were often required to render military service. The rank of noble was forfeitable, certain activities could cause dérogeance, most commercial and manual activities were strictly prohibited, although nobles could profit from their lands by operating mines and forges. The nobility in France was never a closed class
7.
Burgundy
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Burgundy is a historical territory and a former administrative region of east-central France, entities that trace their name from the Burgundians, a Germanic people. Historically, Burgundy has referred to political entities, including kingdoms. The first known inhabitants of the area that became Burgundy were Celts, during the 4th century, the Burgundians, a Germanic people, who may have originated in Bornholm, settled in the western Alps. They founded the Kingdom of the Burgundians, which was conquered in the 6th century by another Germanic tribe, under Frankish dominion, the Kingdom of Burgundy continued for several centuries. Later, the region was divided between the Duchy of Burgundy and the Free County of Burgundy, burgundys modern existence is rooted in the dissolution of the Frankish Empire. In the 880s, there were four Burgundies, which were the Kingdom of Upper and Lower Burgundy, the duchy, during the Middle Ages, Burgundy was the seat of some of the most important Western churches and monasteries, among them Cluny, Cîteaux, and Vézelay. During the Hundred Years War, King John II of France gave the duchy to his youngest son, the duchy soon became a major rival to the crown. The court in Dijon outshone the French court both economically and culturally, in 1477, at the battle of Nancy during the Burgundian Wars, the last duke Charles the Bold was killed in battle, and the Duchy itself was annexed by France and became a province. However the northern part of the empire was taken by the Austrian Habsburgs, with the French Revolution in the end of the 18th century, the administrative units of the provinces disappeared, but were reconstituted as regions during the Fifth Republic in the 1970s. The modern-day administrative region comprises most of the former duchy, as of he region of Burgundy is both larger than the old Duchy of Burgundy and smaller than the area ruled by the Dukes of Burgundy, from the modern Netherlands to the border of Auvergne. Today, Burgundy is made up of the old provinces, Burgundy, Côte-dOr, Saône-et-Loire and this corresponds to the old duchy of Burgundy. However, the old county of Burgundy is not included inside the Burgundy region, also, a small part of the duchy of Burgundy is now inside the Champagne-Ardenne region. Nivernais, now the department of Nièvre, the climate of this region is essentially oceanic, with a continental influence. The regional council of Burgundy is the legislative assembly, the council has been chaired by the Socialist François Patriat since 2004. The councils seat is in the capital city Dijon, at 17 boulevard de la Trémouille, Burgundy is one of Frances main wine producing areas. The region is divided into the Côte-dOr, where the most expensive and prized Burgundies are found, and Beaujolais, Chablis, with regard to cuisine, the region is famous for the Burgundian dishes coq au vin, beef bourguignon, and époisses de Bourgogne cheese. Earlier, the part of Burgundy was heavily industrial, with coal mines near Montceau-les-Mines and iron foundries. These industries declined in the half of the twentieth century
8.
Louis XV of France
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Louis XV, known as Louis the Beloved, was a monarch of the House of Bourbon who ruled as King of France and Navarre from 1 September 1715 until his death. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five, Cardinal Fleury was his chief minister from 1726 until the Cardinals death in 1743, at which time the young king took sole control of the kingdom. During his reign, Louis returned the Austrian Netherlands, territory won at the Battle of Fontenoy of 1745, Louis also ceded New France in North America to Spain and Great Britain at the conclusion of the Seven Years War in 1763. He incorporated the territories of Lorraine and Corsica into the kingdom of France and he was succeeded by his grandson Louis XVI in 1774. French culture and influence were at their height in the first half of the eighteenth century, however, many scholars believe that Louis XVs decisions damaged the power of France, weakened the treasury, discredited the absolute monarchy, and made it more vulnerable to distrust and destruction. Evidence for this view is provided by the French Revolution, which broke out 15 years after his death, norman Davies characterized Louis XVs reign as one of debilitating stagnation, characterized by lost wars, endless clashes between the Court and Parliament, and religious feuds. A few scholars defend Louis, arguing that his negative reputation was based on propaganda meant to justify the French Revolution. Jerome Blum described him as a perpetual adolescent called to do a mans job, Louis XV was born in the Palace of Versailles on 15 February 1710 during the reign of Louis XIV. His grandfather, Louis Le Grand Dauphin, had three sons with his wife Marie Anne Victoire of Bavaria, Louis, Duke of Burgundy, Philippe, Duke of Anjou, and Charles, Duke of Berry. Louis XV was the son of the Duke of Burgundy and his wife Marie Adélaïde of Savoy, the eldest daughter of Victor Amadeus II, Duke of Savoy. At birth, Louis XV received a title for younger sons of the French royal family. In April 1711, Louis Le Grand Dauphin suddenly died, making Louis XVs father, the Duke of Burgundy, at that time, Burgundy had two living sons, Louis, Duke of Brittany and his youngest son, the future Louis XV. A year later, Marie Adélaïde, Duchess of Burgundy, contracted smallpox and her husband, said to be heartbroken by her death, died the same week, also having contracted smallpox. Within a week of his death, it was clear that the two children had also been infected. The elder son was treated by bloodletting in an unsuccessful effort to save him. Fearing that the Dauphin would die, the Court had both the Dauphin and the Duke of Anjou baptised, the Dauphin died the same day,8 March 1712. His younger brother, the Duke of Anjou, was treated by his governess, Madame de Ventadour. The two year old Dauphin survived the smallpox, on 1 September 1715, Louis XIV died of gangrene, having reigned for 72 years
9.
Madame de Pompadour
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She took charge of the king’s schedule and was a valued aide and advisor, despite her frail health and many political enemies. She secured titles of nobility for herself and her relatives, and built a network of clients and she was particularly careful not to alienate the Queen, Marie Leszczyńska. On February 8,1756, the Marquise de Pompadour was named as the lady in waiting to the queen, a position considered the most prestigious at the court. She was a patron of architecture and decorative arts, such as porcelain. She was a patron of the philosophes of the Enlightenment, including Voltaire, Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, otherwise known as Reinette to her friends, was born on 29 December 1721 in Paris to François Poisson and his wife Madeleine de La Motte. It is suspected that her father was either the rich financier Pâris de Montmartel or the tax collector Le Normant de Tournehem. Her younger brother was Abel-François Poisson de Vandières, who became the Marquis de Marigny. Poisson was intelligent, beautiful and refined and she spent her early childhood at the Ursuline convent in Poissy where she received a good education. At the age of 9 in 1730 she returned to Paris under the care of her mother Madame Poisson, the fortune teller told her then that she would one day be the mistress of King Louis XV. From then on Madame Poisson thought, her daughter was destined for greatness and she must provide the means and opportunities to help her achieve it. So her mother took charge of her education at home by hiring tutors who taught her to recite entire plays by heart, play the clavichord, dance, sing, paint. She became an actress and singer, and also attended Pariss Club de lEntresol. On 15 December 1740, Tournehem made his nephew his sole heir, disinheriting all his nephews and nieces. These included the estate at Étiolles, a gift from her guardian. With her husband, she had two children, a boy who died a year after his birth in 1741 and Alexandrine-Jeanne, born 10 August 1744 and died June 1754. Contemporary opinion supported by artwork from the considered the young Mme dÉtiolles to be beautiful, with her small mouth. Her young husband was soon infatuated with her and she was celebrated in the world of Paris. She founded her own salon, at Étiolles, and was joined by many philosophes, as Jeanne Antoinette became known in society, King Louis XV came to hear of her
10.
Voltaire
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Voltaire was a versatile writer, producing works in almost every literary form, including plays, poems, novels, essays, and historical and scientific works. He wrote more than 21,000 letters and over two books and pamphlets. He was an advocate of civil liberties, despite the risk this placed him in under the strict censorship laws of the time. As a satirical polemicist, he made use of his works to criticize intolerance, religious dogma. Some speculation surrounds Voltaires date of birth, because he claimed he was born on 20 February 1694 as the son of a nobleman. Two of his older brothers—Armand-François and Robert—died in infancy and his brother, Armand. Nicknamed Zozo by his family, Voltaire was baptized on 22 November 1694, with François de Castagnère, abbé de Châteauneuf, and Marie Daumard, the wife of his mothers cousin, standing as godparents. He was educated by the Jesuits at the Collège Louis-le-Grand, where he was taught Latin, theology, and rhetoric, later in life he became fluent in Italian, Spanish, and English. By the time he left school, Voltaire had decided he wanted to be a writer, against the wishes of his father, Voltaire, pretending to work in Paris as an assistant to a notary, spent much of his time writing poetry. When his father out, he sent Voltaire to study law. Nevertheless, he continued to write, producing essays and historical studies, Voltaires wit made him popular among some of the aristocratic families with whom he mixed. In 1713, his father obtained a job for him as a secretary to the new French ambassador in the Netherlands, the marquis de Châteauneuf, at The Hague, Voltaire fell in love with a French Protestant refugee named Catherine Olympe Dunoyer. Their scandalous affair was discovered by de Châteauneuf and Voltaire was forced to return to France by the end of the year, Most of Voltaires early life revolved around Paris. From early on, Voltaire had trouble with the authorities for critiques of the government and these activities were to result in two imprisonments and a temporary exile to England. One satirical verse, in which Voltaire accused the Régent of incest with his own daughter, the Comédie-Française had agreed in January 1717 to stage his debut play, Œdipe, and it opened in mid-November 1718, seven months after his release. Its immediate critical and financial success established his reputation, both the Régent and King George I of Great Britain presented Voltaire with medals as a mark of their appreciation. He mainly argued for tolerance and freedom of thought. He campaigned to eradicate priestly and aristo-monarchical authority, and supported a constitutional monarchy that protects peoples rights, the author adopted the name Voltaire in 1718, following his incarceration at the Bastille
11.
Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, Baron de Laune
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Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, Baron de lAulne, commonly known as Turgot, was a French economist and statesman. Originally considered a physiocrat, he is today best remembered as an advocate for economic liberalism. He is thought to be the first economist to have recognized the law of diminishing returns in agriculture. Born in Paris, he was the youngest son of Michel-Étienne Turgot, provost of the merchants of Paris, and Madeleine Francoise Martineau de Brétignolles, and came from an old Norman family. As one of four children, he had a sister and two older brothers, one of whom, Étienne-François Turgot, was a naturalist, and served as administrator of Malta. Anne Robert Jacques was educated for the Church, and at the Sorbonne and he delivered two remarkable Latin dissertations, On the Benefits which the Christian Religion has conferred on Mankind, and On the Historical Progress of the Human Mind. In 1750 he decided not to take orders, giving as his reason that he could not bear to wear a mask all his life. The first sign we have of his interest in economics is a letter on money, written to his fellow-student the abbé de Cicé. The first complete statement of the Idea of Progress is that of Turgot, for Turgot progress covers not simply the arts and sciences but, on their base, the whole of culture – manner, mores, institutions, legal codes, economy, and society. In 1752 he became substitut, and later conseiller in the parlement of Paris, in 1754 he was a member of the chambre royale which sat during an exile of the parlement. It was during this period that he met the leaders of the school, Quesnay and Vincent de Gournay, and with them Dupont de Nemours. In 1743 and 1756 he accompanied Gournay, the intendant of commerce, in 1760, while travelling in the east of France and Switzerland, he visited Voltaire, who became one of his chief friends and supporters. All this time he was studying various branches of science, between 1755 and 1756 he composed various articles for the Encyclopédie, and between 1757 and 1760 an article on Valeurs des monnaies, probably for the Dictionnaire du commerce of the abbé Morellet. In 1759 appeared his work Eloge de Gournay, in August 1761 Turgot was appointed intendant of the genéralité of Limoges, which included some of the poorest and most over-taxed parts of France, here he remained for thirteen years. He was already imbued with the theories of Quesnay and Gournay. He published his Avis sur lassiette et la repartition de la taille, Quesnay and Mirabeau had advocated a proportional tax, but Turgot proposed a distributive tax. Turgots opinion was that a compromise had to be reached between both methods, at the same time he did much to encourage agriculture and local industries, among others establishing the manufacture of porcelain at Limoges. It may be noted that Turgot always made the curés the agents of his charities and it was in 1770 that he wrote his famous Lettres sur la liberté du commerce des grains, addressed to the controller-general, the abbé Terray
12.
Physiocracy
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Their theories originated in France and were most popular during the second half of the 18th century. Physiocracy is perhaps the first well-developed theory of economics, the movement was particularly dominated by François Quesnay and Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot. It immediately preceded the first modern school, classical economics, which began with the publication of Adam Smiths The Wealth of Nations in 1776, the most significant contribution of the physiocrats was their emphasis on productive work as the source of national wealth. This is in contrast to earlier schools, in particular mercantilism, however, for the physiocrats, only agricultural labor created this value in the products of society. All industrial and non-agricultural labor was unproductive appendages to agricultural labor, at the time the physiocrats were formulating their ideas, economies were almost entirely agrarian. That is presumably why the theory considered only agricultural labor to be valuable, profit in capitalist production was really only the rent obtained by the owner of the land on which the agricultural production was taking place. The physiocrats damned cities for their artificiality and praised more natural styles of living and they called themselves Les Économistes, but are generally referred to as physiocrats to distinguish them from the many schools of economic thought that followed them. Physiocracy is an agrarianist philosophy which developped in the context of the prevalent European rural society of the time, in the late Roman Republic, the dominant senatorial class was not allowed to engage in banking or commerce but relied on their latifundia, large plantations, for income. They circumvented this rule through freedmen proxies who sold surplus agricultural goods, another inspiration came from Chinas economic system, then the largest in the world. Chinese society broadly distinguished four occupations, with scholar-bureaucrats at the top, leading physiocrats like François Quesnay were avid Confucianists who advocated Chinas agrarian policies. Some scholars have advocated connections with the school of agriculturalism, which promoted utopian communalism, one of the integral part of physiocracy, laissez faire, was adopted from Quesnays writings on China, being a translation of the Chinese term wu wei. The concept natural order of physiocracy originated from Way of Nature of Chinese Taoism, Le Pesant asserted that wealth came from self-interest and markets are connected by money flows. Thus he realized that lowering prices in times of shortage – common at the time – is dangerous economically as it acted as a disincentive to production. Generally, Le Pesant advocated less government interference in the grain market, for instance, if the government bought corn abroad, some people would speculate that there is likely to be a shortage and would buy more corn, leading to higher prices and more of a shortage. This was an example of advocacy of free trade. Vaubans use of statistics contrasted with earlier methods in economics. Around the time of the Seven Years War between France and England, the movement grew. Several journals appeared, signaling an increasing audience in France for new economic ideas, the other, François Quesnay, was among those writing prolifically in contemporaneous journals
13.
Tariffs
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A tariff is a tax on imports or exports. In other languages and very occasionally in English, tariff or its equivalent may also be used to any list of prices. A customs duty or due is the tax levied on the import or export of goods in international trade. In economic sense, a duty is also a kind of consumption tax, a duty levied on goods being imported is referred to as an import duty. Similarly, a duty levied on exports is called an export duty, a tariff, which is actually a list of commodities along with the leviable rate of customs duty, is popularly referred to as a customs duty. This is no longer the case, Customs duty is calculated on the determination of the assessable value in case of those items for which the duty is levied ad valorem. This is often the transaction value unless a customs officer determines assessable value in accordance with the Harmonized System, However, for certain items like petroleum and alcohol, customs duty is realized at a specific rate applied to the volume of the import or export consignments. For the purpose of assessment of duty, products are given an identification code that has come to be known as the Harmonized System code. This code was developed by the World Customs Organization based in Brussels, a Harmonized System code may be from four to ten digits. For example,17.03 is the HS code for molasses from the extraction or refining of sugar, However, within 17.03, the number 17.03.90 stands for Molasses. Introduction of Harmonized System code in 1990s has largely replaced the Standard International Trade Classification, in drawing up the national tariff, the revenue departments often specifies the rate of customs duty with reference to the HS code of the product. A Customs authority in each country is responsible for collecting taxes on the import into or export of goods out of the country, Evasion of customs duties takes place mainly in two ways. In one, the trader under-declares the value so that the value is lower than actual. In a similar vein, a trader can evade customs duty by understatement of quantity or volume of the product of trade, a trader may also evade duty by misrepresenting traded goods, categorizing goods as items which attract lower customs duties. The Evasion of customs duty may take place with or without the collaboration of customs officials, Evasion of customs duty does not necessarily constitute smuggling. Many countries allow a traveler to bring goods into the country duty-free and these goods may be bought at ports and airports or sometimes within one country without attracting the usual government taxes and then brought into another country duty-free. Some countries impose allowances which limit the number or value of items that one person can bring into the country. These restrictions often apply to tobacco, wine, spirits, cosmetics, gifts, often foreign diplomats and UN officials are entitled to duty-free goods
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Free trade
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Free trade is a policy followed by some international markets in which countries governments do not restrict imports from, or exports to, other countries. Free trade is exemplified by the European Economic Area and the Mercosur, most nations are today members of the World Trade Organization multilateral trade agreements. However, most governments still impose some protectionist policies that are intended to support local employment, governments may also restrict free trade to limit exports of natural resources. Other barriers that may hinder trade include import quotas, taxes, two simple ways to understand the proposed benefits of free trade are through David Ricardos theory of comparative advantage and by analyzing the impact of a tariff or import quota. An economic analysis using the law of supply and demand and the effects of a tax can be used to show the theoretical benefits. Underdeveloped nations today, Chang believes, are players in a much more competitive system. If the chief justification for a tariff is to stimulate infant industries and this theory, known as import substitution industrialization, is largely considered ineffective for currently developing nations. The chart at the right analyzes the effect of the imposition of a tariff on some imaginary good. Prior to the tariff, the price of the good in the market is Pworld. The tariff increases the price to Ptariff. The higher price causes domestic production to increase from QS1 to QS2 and this has three main effects on societal welfare. Consumers are made worse off because the consumer surplus becomes smaller, producers are better off because the producer surplus is made larger. The government also has additional tax revenue, however, the loss to consumers is greater than the gains by producers and the government. The magnitude of this loss is shown by the two pink triangles. Removing the tariff and having free trade would be a net gain for society, an almost identical analysis of this tariff from the perspective of a net producing country yields parallel results. From that countrys perspective, the tariff leaves producers worse off and consumers better off, under similar analysis, export tariffs, import quotas, and export quotas all yield nearly identical results. Free trade creates winners and losers, but theory and empirical evidence show that the size of the winnings from free trade are larger than the losses, applying free trade to the high cost producer can lead to trade diversion and a net economic loss. This is why many economists place such high importance on negotiations for global tariff reductions, the literature analysing the economics of free trade is extremely rich with extensive work having been done on the theoretical and empirical effects
15.
Adam Smith
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Adam Smith FRSA was a Scottish economist, philosopher, and author. He was a philosopher, a pioneer of political economy. He is best known for two works, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, and An Inquiry into the Nature. The latter, usually abbreviated as The Wealth of Nations, is considered his magnum opus and the first modern work of economics. Smith studied social philosophy at the University of Glasgow and at Balliol College, Oxford, after graduating, he delivered a successful series of public lectures at Edinburgh, leading him to collaborate with David Hume during the Scottish Enlightenment. Smith obtained a professorship at Glasgow teaching moral philosophy, and during this time he wrote, in his later life, he took a tutoring position that allowed him to travel throughout Europe, where he met other intellectual leaders of his day. Smith laid the foundations of free market economic theory. The Wealth of Nations was a precursor to the academic discipline of economics. In this and other works, he developed the concept of division of labour, Smith was controversial in his own day and his general approach and writing style were often satirised by Tory writers in the moralising tradition of William Hogarth and Jonathan Swift. In 2005, The Wealth of Nations was named among the 100 Best Scottish Books of all time, the minor planet 12838 Adamsmith was named in his memory. Smith was born in Kirkcaldy, in the County of Fife and his father, also Adam Smith, was a Scottish Writer to the Signet, advocate, and prosecutor and also served as comptroller of the Customs in Kirkcaldy. In 1720 he married Margaret Douglas, daughter of the landed Robert Douglas of Strathendry and his father died two months after he was born, leaving his mother a widow. The date of Smiths baptism into the Church of Scotland at Kirkcaldy was 5 June 1723, and this has often been treated as if it were also his date of birth, Smith was close to his mother, who probably encouraged him to pursue his scholarly ambitions. He attended the Burgh School of Kirkcaldy—characterised by Rae as one of the best secondary schools of Scotland at that period—from 1729 to 1737, he learned Latin, mathematics, history, Smith entered the University of Glasgow when he was fourteen and studied moral philosophy under Francis Hutcheson. Here, Smith developed his passion for liberty, reason, in 1740 Smith was the graduate scholar presented to undertake postgraduate studies at Balliol College, Oxford, under the Snell Exhibition. Adam Smith considered the teaching at Glasgow to be far superior to that at Oxford, according to William Robert Scott, The Oxford of time gave little if any help towards what was to be his lifework. Nevertheless, Smith took the opportunity while at Oxford to teach several subjects by reading many books from the shelves of the large Bodleian Library. When Smith was not studying on his own, his time at Oxford was not a happy one, near the end of his time there, Smith began suffering from shaking fits, probably the symptoms of a nervous breakdown
16.
Nicolas Baudeau
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Nicolas Baudeau was a Catholic cleric, theologian and economist, who was born in Amboise, France. He became a monk at Chancelade Abbey, where he taught theology, in 1765 he founded the first economics periodical to be published in France, Éphémérides du citoyen, and was at first an opponent of the physiocrats. In 1766, however, he became a proponent of physiocracy and he died in Paris in 1792. The French word économiste first appeared in print in a book by Baudeau, Baudeau argued that the governmental provision of alms to the poor was a more important goal than the passing of laws prohibiting poverty. In 1768, Baudeau was recruited by Ignacy Jakub Massalski, the Bishop of Vilnius, the main focus of his work there had to do with facilitating exports of Polish grain to France. Baudeau died in 1792 in Paris, baudeaus Works from the French Wikisource
17.
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
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It was one of the largest and most populous countries of 16th- and 17th-century Europe. At its peak in the early 17th century, the Commonwealth spanned some 450,000 square miles, the Union possessed many features unique among contemporary states. Its political system was characterized by strict checks upon monarchical power and these checks were enacted by a legislature controlled by the nobility. This idiosyncratic system was a precursor to modern concepts of democracy, constitutional monarchy, although the two component states of the Commonwealth were formally equal, Poland was the dominant partner in the union. After several decades of prosperity, it entered a period of protracted political, military and its growing weakness led to its partitioning among its neighbors, Austria, Prussia and the Russian Empire, during the late 18th century. The official name of the state was The Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, in the 17th century and later it was also known as the Most Serene Commonwealth of Poland, the Commonwealth of the Polish Kingdom, or the Commonwealth of Poland. Its inhabitants referred to it in speech as the Rzeczpospolita. Western Europeans often simply called it Poland and in most past and modern sources it is referred to as the Kingdom of Poland, the terms, the Commonwealth of Poland and the Commonwealth of Two Nations were used in the Reciprocal Guarantee of Two Nations. English term Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and German Polen-Litauen are seen as renderings of the Commonwealth of Two Nations variant, other names include the Republic of Nobles and the First Commonwealth, the latter relatively common in Polish historiography. Poland and Lithuania underwent a series of wars and alliances during the 14th century. Several agreements between the two were struck before the permanent 1569 Union of Lublin and this agreement was one of the signal achievements of Sigismund II Augustus, last monarch of the Jagiellon dynasty. Sigismund believed he could preserve his dynasty by adopting elective monarchy, the Commonwealth reached its Golden Age in the early 17th century. The Commonwealth was able to hold its own against Sweden, the Tsardom of Russia, and vassals of the Ottoman Empire, Commonwealth power began waning after a series of blows during the following decades. A major rebellion of Ukrainian Cossacks in the portion of the Commonwealth began in 1648. It resulted in a Ukrainian request, under the terms of the Treaty of Pereyaslav, Russian annexation of part of Ukraine gradually supplanted Polish influence. In the late 17th century, the weakened Commonwealths King John III Sobieski allied himself with Leopold I to deal crushing defeats to the Ottoman Empire. In 1683, the Battle of Vienna marked the turning point in the 250-year struggle between the forces of Christian Europe and the Islamic Ottoman Empire. For its centuries-long opposition to Muslim advances, the Commonwealth would gain the name of Antemurale Christianitatis, during the next 16 years, the Great Turkish War would drive the Turks permanently south of the Danube River, never again to threaten central Europe
18.
Commission of National Education
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The Commission of National Education was the central educational authority in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, created by the Sejm and the King Stanisław August Poniatowski on October 14,1773. Because of its vast authority and autonomy, it is considered the first Ministry of Education in European history, the chief reason behind its creation was that in Poland and Lithuania, the Jesuits ran an extensive system of educational institutions. Although the Jesuit schools were fairly efficient and provided the Polish youth with a good education, in addition, in 1773 the Pope decided to close down the Jesuit order. This threatened a complete breakdown of education in the Commonwealth, the Commission was formally created on October 14,1773. It was one of the newly set-up Grand Commissions, organisations with the status of a ministry and its main mastermind and chief figure was a Catholic priest, Hugo Kołłątaj, other notable supporters included Ignacy Potocki and Adam K. Czartoryski. Initially, the body consisted of 4 senators and 4 members of the Sejm. The first head of the KEN was Prince Bishop Michał Jerzy Poniatowski and they were joined by Pierre Samuel Du Pont de Nemours, the Secretary of the King of Poland. In 1773 the KEN was granted much of the property of the Jesuit order, including all the schools. Due to this fact, the Commission had not only benefited from the necessary infrastructure, the Commission supervised two universities,74 secondary schools and about 1600 parish schools. The third Commonwealths university, the Lwów University, has been lost to the Austrian Partition, to cope with the problem the Society of Elementary Books was, therefore, established. The Society sponsored competitions for creating the best textbooks, the scientists—working on the new Polish language textbooks—had, at times, to come up with the necessary vocabulary entries. Much of the vocabulary they invented is still in use up to this day, the Commission also devised several documents, outlining the whole educational process. However, several of the new principles were considered too novel for that age and these included, inter alia, the principle of equality of both sexes in education. In 1780, the Opposition refused to sign the Statute on Elementary Schools, in 1774 the Commission took over the Załuski Library. After the formative period, during which the prerogatives of the Commission were established, the three universities in Warsaw, Vilnius and Kraków were granted the right of curatorship over schools of lower degree. This included the schools remained under the influence of the Roman Church. Gradually, the teachers, who were frequently former Jesuit priests, were exchanged for young lay teachers - graduates of the three academies, thanks to this move, the opposition inside the local schools was finally broken. After 1789 the supporters of reforms in the Polish Sejm gradually started to lose their influence, similarly, the KEN was deprived of many of its former privileges
19.
Treaty of Paris (1783)
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The treaty set the boundaries between the British Empire and the United States, on lines exceedingly generous to the latter. Details included fishing rights and restoration of property and prisoners of war, only Article 1 of the treaty, which is the legal underpinning of United States existence as a sovereign country, remains in force. Peace negotiations began in April 1782, and continued through the summer, representing the United States were Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, Henry Laurens, and John Adams. David Hartley and Richard Oswald represented Great Britain, the treaty was signed at the Hotel dYork in Paris on September 3,1783, by Adams, Franklin, Jay, and Hartley. Regarding the American Treaty, the key episodes came in September,1782, France was exhausted by the war, and everyone wanted peace except Spain, which insisted on continuing the war until it could capture Gibraltar from the British. Vergennes came up with the deal that Spain would accept instead of Gibraltar, the United States would gain its independence but be confined to the area east of the Appalachian Mountains. Britain would take the north of the Ohio River. In the area south of that would be set up an independent Indian state under Spanish control and it would be an Indian barrier state. However, the Americans realized that they could get a deal directly from London. John Jay promptly told the British that he was willing to negotiate directly with them, cutting off France, the British Prime Minister Lord Shelburne agreed. He was in charge of the British negotiations and he now saw a chance to split the United States away from France. The western terms were that the United States would gain all of the area east of the Mississippi River, north of Florida, the northern boundary would be almost the same as today. The United States would gain fishing rights off Canadian coasts, and it was a highly favorable treaty for the United States, and deliberately so from the British point of view. Prime Minister Shelburne foresaw highly profitable trade between Britain and the rapidly growing United States, as indeed came to pass. Great Britain also signed agreements with France and Spain. In the treaty with Spain, the territories of East and West Florida were ceded to Spain, Spain also received the island of Minorca, the Bahama Islands, Grenada, and Montserrat, captured by the French and Spanish, were returned to Britain. The treaty with France was mostly about exchanges of captured territory, the United States Congress of the Confederation ratified the Treaty of Paris on January 14,1784. Copies were sent back to Europe for ratification by the parties involved
20.
Louis XVI of France
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Louis XVI, born Louis-Auguste, was the last King of France and Navarre before the French Revolution, during which he was also known as Louis Capet. In 1765, at the death of his father, Louis, Dauphin of France, son and heir apparent of Louis XV of France, Louis XVI was guillotined on 21 January 1793. The first part of his reign was marked by attempts to reform France in accordance with Enlightenment ideas and these included efforts to abolish serfdom, remove the taille, and increase tolerance toward non-Catholics. The French nobility reacted to the reforms with hostility. Louis implemented deregulation of the market, advocated by his liberal minister Turgot. In periods of bad harvests, it would lead to food scarcity which would prompt the masses to revolt, from 1776, Louis XVI actively supported the North American colonists, who were seeking their independence from Great Britain, which was realized in the 1783 Treaty of Paris. The ensuing debt and financial crisis contributed to the unpopularity of the Ancien Régime and this led to the convening of the Estates-General of 1789. In 1789, the storming of the Bastille during riots in Paris marked the beginning of the French Revolution. Louiss indecisiveness and conservatism led some elements of the people of France to view him as a symbol of the tyranny of the Ancien Régime. The credibility of the king was deeply undermined, and the abolition of the monarchy, Louis XVI was the only King of France ever to be executed, and his death brought an end to more than a thousand years of continuous French monarchy. Louis-Auguste de France, who was given the title Duc de Berry at birth, was born in the Palace of Versailles. Out of seven children, he was the son of Louis, the Dauphin of France. His mother was Marie-Josèphe of Saxony, the daughter of Frederick Augustus II of Saxony, Prince-Elector of Saxony and King of Poland. A strong and healthy boy, but very shy, Louis-Auguste excelled in his studies and had a taste for Latin, history, geography, and astronomy. He enjoyed physical activities such as hunting with his grandfather, and rough-playing with his brothers, Louis-Stanislas, comte de Provence. From an early age, Louis-Auguste had been encouraged in another of his hobbies, locksmithing, upon the death of his father, who died of tuberculosis on 20 December 1765, the eleven-year-old Louis-Auguste became the new Dauphin. His mother never recovered from the loss of her husband, and died on 13 March 1767, throughout his education, Louis-Auguste received a mixture of studies particular to religion, morality, and humanities. His instructors may have also had a hand in shaping Louis-Auguste into the indecisive king that he became
21.
Marie Antoinette
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Marie Antoinette (/ˈmæriˌæntwəˈnɛt/, /ˌɑ̃ːntwə-/, /ˌɑ̃ːtwə-/, US /məˈriː-/, French, born Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna, was the last Queen of France and Navarre before the French Revolution. She was born an Archduchess of Austria, and was the fifteenth and second youngest child of Empress Maria Theresa and Francis I, in April 1770, upon her marriage to Louis-Auguste, heir apparent to the French throne, she became Dauphine of France. After eight years of marriage, Marie Antoinette gave birth to a daughter, Marie-Thérèse Charlotte, the Diamond Necklace affair damaged her reputation further. On 10 August 1792, the attack on the Tuileries forced the family to take refuge at the Assembly. On 21 September 1792, the monarchy was abolished, after a two-day trial begun on 14 October 1793, Marie Antoinette was convicted by the Revolutionary Tribunal of high treason, and executed by guillotine on Place de la Révolution on 16 October 1793. Maria Antonia was born on 2 November 1755, at the Hofburg Palace and she was the youngest daughter of Empress Maria Theresa, ruler of the Habsburg Empire, and her husband Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor. Her godparents were Joseph I and Mariana Victoria, King and Queen of Portugal, Archduke Joseph, shortly after her birth, she was placed under the care of the Governess of the Imperial children, Countess von Brandeis. Maria Antonia was raised with her older sister Maria Carolina. As to her relationship with her mother, it was difficult, despite the private tutoring she received, results of her schooling were less than satisfactory. At the age of ten she could not write correctly in German or in any language used at court, such as French. Under the teaching of Christoph Willibald Gluck, Maria Antonia developed into a good musician and she learned to play the harp, the harpsichord and the flute. During the familys gatherings in the evenings, she would sing and she also excelled at dancing, had an exquisite poise, and loved dolls. Following the Seven Years War and the Diplomatic Revolution of 1756, Empress Maria Theresa decided to end hostilities with her longtime enemy, on 14 May she met her husband at the edge of the forest of Compiègne. Upon her arrival in France, she adopted the French version of her name, a further ceremonial wedding took place on 16 May 1770 in the Palace of Versailles and, after the festivities, the day ended with the ritual bedding. The lack of consummation of the marriage plagued the reputation of both Louis-Auguste and Marie Antoinette for the seven years. The initial reaction to the marriage between Marie Antoinette and Louis-Auguste was mixed, on the one hand, the Dauphine was beautiful, personable and well-liked by the common people. Her first official appearance in Paris on 8 June 1773 was a resounding success, on the other hand, those opposed to the alliance with Austria, and others, for personal reasons, had a difficult relationship with Marie Antoinette. Madame du Barry, for example, was Louis XVs mistress and had political influence over him
22.
Tuileries
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The Tuileries Palace was a royal and imperial palace in Paris which stood on the right bank of the River Seine. It was the usual Parisian residence of most French monarchs, from Henry IV to Napoleon III, built in 1564, it was gradually extended until it closed off the western end of the Louvre courtyard and displayed an immense façade of 266 metres. After the accidental death of Henry II of France in 1559 and she sold the medieval Hôtel des Tournelles, where her husband had died, and began building the palace of Tuileries in 1564, using architect Philibert de lOrme. The name derives from the tile kilns or tuileries which had occupied the site. The palace was formed by a range of long, narrow buildings. During the reign of Henry IV, the building was enlarged to the south, so it joined the long gallery, the Grande Galerie. During the reign of Louis XIV major changes were made to the Tuileries Palace, from 1659 to 1661 it was extended to the north by the addition of the Théâtre des Tuileries. From 1664 to 1666 the architect Louis Le Vau and his assistant François dOrbay made other significant changes, a new grand staircase was installed in the entrance of the north wing of the palace, and lavishly decorated royal apartments were constructed in the south wing. The kings rooms were on the floor, facing toward the Louvre. At the same time, Louis gardener, André Le Nôtre, the Court moved into the Tuileries Palace in November 1667, but left in 1672, and soon thereafter went to the Palace of Versailles. The Tuileries Palace was virtually abandoned and used only as a theatre, the boy-king Louis XV was moved from Versailles to the Tuileries Palace on 1 January 1716, four months after ascending to the throne. He moved back to Versailles on 15 June 1722, three months before his coronation, both moves were made at the behest of the Regent, the duc dOrléans. The king also resided at the Tuileries for short periods during the 1740s, on 6 October 1789, during the French Revolution, Louis XVI and his family were forced to leave Versailles and brought to the Tuileries where they were kept under surveillance. For the next two years the palace remained the residence of the king. The Tuileries covered riding ring, the Salle du Manège, home to the royal equestrian academy, the royal family tried to escape after dark, on 20 June 1791, but were captured at Varennes and brought back to the Tuileries. The Paris National Guard defended the King, but the daughter of King Louis XVI claimed that many of the guard were already in favor of the revolution, in November 1792, the Armoire de fer incident took place at the Tuileries palace. This was the discovery of a place at the royal apartments. The incident created a scandal that served to discredit the King
23.
August 10 (French Revolution)
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The Insurrection of 10 August 1792 was one of the defining events in the history of the French Revolution. The storming of the Tuileries Palace by the National Guard of the insurrectional Paris Commune and revolutionary fédérés from Marseilles, King Louis XVI and the royal family took shelter with the Legislative Assembly, which was suspended. The formal end of the monarchy that occurred six weeks later was one of the first acts of the new National Convention, the war declared on 20 April 1792 against the King of Bohemia and Hungary started badly. The initial battles were a disaster for the French, and Prussia joined Austria in active alliance against France, the blame for the disaster was thrown first upon the king and his ministers, and secondly upon the Girondin party. The King vetoed the decrees and dismissed Girondins from the Ministry, events came to a head on 16 June when Lafayette sent a letter to the Assembly, recommending the suppression of the anarchists and political clubs in the capital. The Kings veto of the Legislative Assemblys decrees was published on 19 June, the popular journée of 20 June 1792 was organized to put pressure on the King. The King, appearing before the crowd, put on the bonnet rouge of liberty and drank to the health of the nation and it was a brave but belated gesture. It could do nothing against the universal distrust in which the hero of 89 was now held, the deputies indicted the general for deserting his command. The king rejected all suggestions of escape from the man who had so long presided over his imprisonment, the crowd burnt him in effigy in the Palais-Royal. There was no place for such as Lafayette beside that republican emblem, within six weeks he was arrested whilst in flight to England, and immured in an Austrian prison. He failed because it clashed with national sentiment, the inaction in which he had kept the armies for more than 2 months past seemed inexplicable. It had given the Prussians time to finish their preparations and concentrate upon the Rhine undisturbed, six days later the Assembly declared La patrie est en danger. Banners were placed in the squares, bearing the words. That they devastate our fatherland through fire and murder, in a word, that they overcome you with chains dyed with the blood of those whom you hold the most dear. Citizens, the country is in danger. it is in the name of the King that liberty is being attacked, by this means he put the idea of deposing the King into the minds of the public. His speech, which made an impression, was circulated by the Assembly through all the departments. Evading the royal veto on a camp, the Assembly had invited National Guards from the provinces, on their way to the front, to come to Paris. These fédérés tended to have radical views than the deputies who had invited them
24.
Guillotine
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A guillotine is an apparatus designed for efficiently carrying out executions by beheading. The device consists of a tall, upright frame in which a weighted and angled blade is raised to the top, the condemned person is secured with stocks at the bottom of the frame, positioning the neck directly below the blade. The blade is released, to fall swiftly and forcefully decapitating the victim with a single pass so that the head falls into a basket below. The name dates from period, but similar devices had been used elsewhere in Europe over several centuries. The guillotine continued to be used long after the revolution and remained Frances standard method of execution until the abolition of capital punishment in 1981. The last person to be executed in France was Hamida Djandoubi, the use of beheading machines in Europe long predates such use in the French revolution in 1792. An early example of the principle is found in the High History of the Holy Grail, although the device is imaginary, its function is clear. The text says, Within these three openings are the set for them. And behold what I would do to them if their three heads were therein, even thus will I cut off their heads when they shall set them into those three openings thinking to adore the hallows that are beyond. The Halifax Gibbet was a structure of two wooden uprights, capped by a horizontal beam, of a total height of 4.5 metres. The blade was an axe head weighing 3.5 kg, attached to the bottom of a wooden block that slid up. This device was mounted on a square platform 1.25 metres high. It is not known when the Halifax Gibbet was first used, the first recorded execution in Halifax dates from 1280, the machine remained in use until Oliver Cromwell forbade capital punishment for petty theft. It was used for the last time, for the execution of two criminals on a day, on 30 April 1650. Holinsheds Chronicles of 1577 included a picture of The execution of Murcod Ballagh near to Merton in Ireland 1307 showing a similar execution machine, the Maiden was constructed in 1564 for the Provost and Magistrates of Edinburgh, and was in use from April 1565 to 1710. One of those executed was James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton, in 1581, Schmidt recommended using an angled blade as opposed to a round one. On 10 October 1789, physician Joseph-Ignace Guillotin proposed to the National Assembly that capital punishment always take the form of decapitation by means of a simple mechanism, sensing the growing discontent, Louis XVI banned the use of the breaking wheel. A committee was formed under Antoine Louis, physician to the King, Guillotin was also on the committee
25.
Reign of Terror
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The Reign of Terror or The Terror, is the label given by some historians to a period of violence during the French Revolution. Different historians place the date at either 5 September 1793 or June 1793 or March 1793 or September 1792 or July 1789. Between June 1793 and the end of July 1794, there were 16,594 official death sentences in France, but the total number of deaths in France in 1793–96 in only the civil war in the Vendée is estimated at 250,000 counter-revolutionaries and 200,000 republicans. During 1794, revolutionary France was beset with conspiracies by internal, within France, the revolution was opposed by the French nobility, which had lost its inherited privileges. The Catholic Church opposed the revolution, which had turned the clergy into employees of the state, in addition, the French First Republic was engaged in a series of wars with neighboring powers, and parts of France were engaging in civil war against the loyalist regime. The latter were grouped in the parliamentary faction called the Mountain. Through the Revolutionary Tribunal, the Terrors leaders exercised broad powers, the Reign was a manifestation of the strong strain on centralized power. Many historians have debated the reasons the French Revolution took such a turn during the Reign of Terror of 1793–94. The public was frustrated that the equality and anti-poverty measures that the revolution originally promised were not materializing. Jacques Rouxs Manifesto of the Enraged on 25 June 1793, describes the extent to which, four years into the revolution, the foundation of the Terror is centered on the April 1793 creation of the Committee of Public Safety and its militant Jacobin delegates. Those in power believed the Committee of Public Safety was an unfortunate, according to Mathiez, they touched only with trepidation and reluctance the regime established by the Constituent Assembly so as not to interfere with the early accomplishments of the revolution. Similar to Mathiez, Richard Cobb introduced competing circumstances of revolt, counter-revolutionary rebellions taking place in Lyon, Brittany, Vendée, Nantes, and Marseille were threatening the revolution with royalist ideas. Cobb writes, the revolutionaries themselves, living as if in combat… were easily persuaded that only terror, Terror was used in these rebellions both to execute inciters and to provide a very visible example to those who might be considering rebellion. Cobb agrees with Mathiez that the Terror was simply a response to circumstances, at the same time, Cobb rejects Mathiezs Marxist interpretation that elites controlled the Reign of Terror to the significant benefit of the bourgeoisie. Instead, Cobb argues that social struggles between the classes were seldom the reason for actions and sentiments. Widespread terror and a consequent rise in executions came after external and internal threats were vastly reduced, with the backing of the national guard, they persuaded the convention to arrest 29 Girondist leaders, including Jacques Pierre Brissot. On 13 July the assassination of Jean-Paul Marat – a Jacobin leader, georges Danton, the leader of the August 1792 uprising against the king, was removed from the committee. The Jacobins identified themselves with the movement and the sans-culottes
26.
Robespierre
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Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre was a French lawyer and politician. He was one of the best-known and most influential figures associated with the French Revolution, as a member of the Estates-General, the Constituent Assembly and the Jacobin Club, Robespierre was an outspoken advocate for the poor and for democratic institutions. He campaigned for universal suffrage in France, price controls on basic food commodities. But although he was an ardent opponent of the penalty, he played an important role in arranging the execution of King Louis XVI. He is perhaps best known for his role in the French Revolutions Reign of Terror and he was named as a member of the powerful Committee of Public Safety launched by his political ally Georges Danton and exerted his influence to suppress the left-wing Hébertists. The Terror ended a few later with Robespierres arrest and execution in July. Robespierres personal responsibility for the excesses of the Terror remains the subject of debate among historians of the French Revolution. Influenced by 18th-century Enlightenment philosophes such as Rousseau and Montesquieu, Robespierre was a capable articulator of the beliefs of the left-wing bourgeoisie and his steadfast adherence and defense of the views he expressed earned him the nickname lIncorruptible. Robespierres reputation has gone through cycles of re-appraisal. During the Soviet Era, Robespierre was used as an example of a Revolutionary figure and his reputation peaked in the 1920s with the influence of French historian Albert Mathiez. In more recent times, his reputation has suffered as historians have associated him with an attempt at a radical purification of politics through the killing of enemies, Maximilien Robespierre was born in Arras in the old French province of Artois. His family has been traced back to the 12th century in Picardy and it has been suggested that he was of Irish descent, his surname possibly a corruption of Robert Speirs. His paternal grandfather, also named Maximilien de Robespierre, established himself in Arras as a lawyer and his father, François Maximilien Barthélémy de Robespierre, was a lawyer at the Conseil dArtois. He married Jacqueline Marguerite Carrault, the daughter of a brewer, Maximilien was the oldest of four children and was conceived out of wedlock. His siblings were Charlotte, Henriette, and Augustin, on 7 July 1764, Madame de Robespierre gave birth to a stillborn son, she died nine days later. Devastated by his wifes death, François de Robespierre subsequently left Arras, the children would visit each other on Sundays. Already literate at age 8, Maximilien started attending the collège of Arras, in October 1769, on the recommendation of the bishop, he received a scholarship at the Collège Louis-le-Grand, University of Paris in Paris. Robespierre studied there until age 23, receiving his training as a lawyer, upon his graduation, he received a special prize of 600-livre for twelve years of exemplary academic success and personal good conduct
27.
Thermidor
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Thermidor was the eleventh month in the French Republican Calendar. The month was named after the French word thermal which comes from the Greek word thermos which means heat, Thermidor was the second month of the summer quarter. It started July 19 or 20 and it ended August 17 or 18. It follows the Messidor and precedes the Fructidor, during Year 2, it was sometimes called Fervidor. The new regime, known as The Directory, introduced more conservative policies aimed at stabilizing the revolutionary government, leon Trotsky, in his book The Revolution Betrayed, refers to the rise of Joseph Stalin and the accompanying post-revolutionary bureaucracy as the Soviet Thermidor. The food Lobster Thermidor was named, directly or indirectly, after the month, Thermidor is also the name of a story revolving around the end of the French Revolution in Neil Gaimans The Sandman, issue #29. Thermidor and Thermidor 2 were robots on Robot Wars, a man by the name of Thermidor is the leader of the ORCA reactionary group in the video game Armored Core, For Answer. Additionally, in the game, ORCA launches an offensive on 13 Thermidor, as the game narration states that for many. There is a recorded by J-pop artist Nana Mizuki by the name of Thermidor. Its lyrics talk about a person in love that is also rethinking his or her feelings after realizing that the person they love has changed. Its lyrics mimic the modern definition of Thermidor, like all French Republican Calendar months, Thermidor lasted 30 days and was divided into three 10-day weeks called décades. Every day had the name of a plant, except the 5th and 10th day of every decade
28.
Pierre Poivre
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Pierre Poivre was a French horticulturist born in Lyon, he was a missionary to China and Cochinchina, Intendant of the Islands of Mauritius and Bourbon, and wearer of the cordon of St. Michel. He was an uncle to renowned French naturalist Pierre Sonnerat, in his early 20s he was a missionary in Far Eastern locations that included Cochinchina, Guangzhou and Macau. In 1745 as a member of the French East India Company, while on a journey to the East Indies, the injury required the amputation of part of his right arm. In the 1760s, Poivre became administrator of Isle de France, on Mauritius, he is renowned for the construction of a botanical garden consisting of trees, shrubs and plants imported from tropical sites worldwide. Here he was succeeded as director by botanist Jean-Nicolas Céré. In order to obtain the spices, Poivre had to arrange clandestine smuggling forays in order to obtain plants, Poivre was also responsible for introducing spice plants to the Seychelles. Poivres book, The Voyages of a Philosopher, was read with interest by Thomas Jefferson, pierres surname means pepper in French, leading some authors to identify him as the subject of the Peter Piper rhyme. Poivre Atoll, located in the Amirantes Island Group, is named in his honor, Voyages of a Philosopher by Pierre Poivre, Fortuné-Barthélemy de Félice,1769
29.
18 Fructidor
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The Coup of 18 Fructidor, Year V, was a seizure of power by members of the French Directory on 4 September 1797 when their opponents, the Royalists, were gaining strength. Three Directors, Paul Barras, Jean-François Rewbell and Louis Marie de La Révellière-Lépeaux, royalist candidates had gained the great majority of seats in the recent elections, where a third of the seats were at stake. They were poised to win the round of elections and assume control of the Directory. Jean-Charles Pichegru, a figure widely assumed to be acting in sympathy to the monarchy, to support the coup, General Lazare Hoche, then commander of the Army of Sambre-et-Meuse, arrived in the capital with his troops, while Napoleon sent an army under Pierre Augereau. Deputies were arrested and 53 were exiled to Cayenne in French Guiana, since death from tropical disease was likely, it was referred to as the dry guillotine. The 42 opposition newspapers were closed, the chambers were purged, and elections were partly cancelled. Among those deported to Cayenne were Pichegru, François Barbé-Marbois François-Marie, marquis de Barthélemy, Lazare Carnot made good his escape. The two vacant places in the Directory were filled by Philippe Merlin de Douai and Nicolas-Louis François de Neufchâteau, the government then returned to Jacobin methods. The law against the relatives of émigrés was reenacted, and military tribunals were established to condemn émigrés who should return to France, the nonjuring priests were again persecuted. Many hundreds were sent to Cayenne or imprisoned in the hulks of Ré. La Révellière-Lépeaux seized the opportunity to propagate his religion, many churches were turned into Theophilanthropic temples. The government strained its power to secure the recognition of the décadi as the day of public worship, freedom of the press ceased, newspapers were confiscated and journalists were deported in large numbers. A formal bankruptcy of the state, resulting in the cancelling of two-thirds of the interest on the public debt, the 80-gun ship of the line Foudroyant was briefly named Dix-huit fructidor in honour of the event. Site sur A-D Laffon de Ladebat Site sur le coup détat du 18 fructidor Les pionniers de la guillotine sèche en Guyane française sous le Directoire Philippe de Ladebat, éd
30.
Thomas Jefferson
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Thomas Jefferson was an American Founding Father who was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence and later served as the third President of the United States from 1801 to 1809. Previously, he was elected the second Vice President of the United States, Jefferson was primarily of English ancestry, born and educated in colonial Virginia. He graduated from the College of William & Mary and briefly practiced law and he became the United States Minister to France in May 1785, and subsequently the nations first Secretary of State in 1790–1793 under President George Washington. Jefferson and James Madison organized the Democratic-Republican Party to oppose the Federalist Party during the formation of the First Party System, as President, Jefferson pursued the nations shipping and trade interests against Barbary pirates and aggressive British trade policies. He also organized the Louisiana Purchase, almost doubling the countrys territory, as a result of peace negotiations with France, his administration reduced military forces. Jeffersons second term was beset with difficulties at home, including the trial of former Vice President Aaron Burr, American foreign trade was diminished when Jefferson implemented the Embargo Act of 1807, responding to British threats to U. S. shipping. In 1803, Jefferson began a process of Indian tribe removal to the newly organized Louisiana Territory. Jefferson mastered many disciplines, which ranged from surveying and mathematics to horticulture and he was a proven architect in the classical tradition. Jeffersons keen interest in religion and philosophy earned him the presidency of the American Philosophical Society and he shunned organized religion, but was influenced by both Christianity and deism. He was well versed in linguistics and spoke several languages and he founded the University of Virginia after retiring from public office. He was a letter writer and corresponded with many prominent and important people throughout his adult life. His only full-length book is Notes on the State of Virginia, Jefferson owned several plantations which were worked by hundreds of slaves. Most historians now believe that, after the death of his wife in 1782, he had a relationship with his slave Sally Hemings and fathered at least one of her children. Various modern scholars are more critical of Jeffersons private life, pointing out the discrepancy between his ownership of slaves and his political principles, for example. Presidential scholars, however, consistently rank Jefferson among the greatest presidents, Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13,1743, at the family home in Shadwell in the Colony of Virginia, the third of ten children. He was of English and possibly Welsh descent and was born a British subject and his father Peter Jefferson was a planter and surveyor who died when Jefferson was fourteen, his mother was Jane Randolph. Peter Jefferson moved his family to Tuckahoe Plantation in 1745 upon the death of a friend who had named him guardian of his children, the Jeffersons returned to Shadwell in 1752, where Peter died in 1757, his estate was divided between his sons Thomas and Randolph. Thomas inherited approximately 5,000 acres of land, including Monticello and he assumed full authority over his property at age 21
31.
Napoleon
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Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the French Revolutionary Wars. As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 until 1814, Napoleon dominated European and global affairs for more than a decade while leading France against a series of coalitions in the Napoleonic Wars. He won most of these wars and the vast majority of his battles, one of the greatest commanders in history, his wars and campaigns are studied at military schools worldwide. Napoleons political and cultural legacy has ensured his status as one of the most celebrated and he was born Napoleone di Buonaparte in Corsica to a relatively modest family from the minor nobility. When the Revolution broke out in 1789, Napoleon was serving as an officer in the French army. Seizing the new opportunities presented by the Revolution, he rose through the ranks of the military. The Directory eventually gave him command of the Army of Italy after he suppressed a revolt against the government from royalist insurgents, in 1798, he led a military expedition to Egypt that served as a springboard to political power. He engineered a coup in November 1799 and became First Consul of the Republic and his ambition and public approval inspired him to go further, and in 1804 he became the first Emperor of the French. Intractable differences with the British meant that the French were facing a Third Coalition by 1805, in 1806, the Fourth Coalition took up arms against him because Prussia became worried about growing French influence on the continent. Napoleon quickly defeated Prussia at the battles of Jena and Auerstedt, then marched the Grand Army deep into Eastern Europe, France then forced the defeated nations of the Fourth Coalition to sign the Treaties of Tilsit in July 1807, bringing an uneasy peace to the continent. Tilsit signified the high watermark of the French Empire, hoping to extend the Continental System and choke off British trade with the European mainland, Napoleon invaded Iberia and declared his brother Joseph the King of Spain in 1808. The Spanish and the Portuguese revolted with British support, the Peninsular War lasted six years, featured extensive guerrilla warfare, and ended in victory for the Allies. The Continental System caused recurring diplomatic conflicts between France and its client states, especially Russia, unwilling to bear the economic consequences of reduced trade, the Russians routinely violated the Continental System and enticed Napoleon into another war. The French launched an invasion of Russia in the summer of 1812. The resulting campaign witnessed the collapse of the Grand Army, the destruction of Russian cities, in 1813, Prussia and Austria joined Russian forces in a Sixth Coalition against France. A lengthy military campaign culminated in a large Allied army defeating Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig in October 1813, the Allies then invaded France and captured Paris in the spring of 1814, forcing Napoleon to abdicate in April. He was exiled to the island of Elba near Rome and the Bourbons were restored to power, however, Napoleon escaped from Elba in February 1815 and took control of France once again. The Allies responded by forming a Seventh Coalition, which defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in June, the British exiled him to the remote island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, where he died six years later at the age of 51
32.
Louisiana Purchase
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The Louisiana Purchase was the acquisition of the Louisiana territory by the United States from France in 1803. The U. S. paid fifty million francs and a cancellation of debts worth eighteen million francs for a total of sixty-eight million francs, the Louisiana territory included land from fifteen present U. S. states and two Canadian provinces. Its non-native population was around 60,000 inhabitants, of whom half were African slaves, the Kingdom of France controlled the Louisiana territory from 1699 until it was ceded to Spain in 1762. Napoleon in 1800, hoping to re-establish an empire in North America, however, Frances failure to put down the revolt in Saint-Domingue, coupled with the prospect of renewed warfare with the United Kingdom, prompted Napoleon to sell Louisiana to the United States. The Americans originally sought to purchase only the city of New Orleans and its adjacent coastal lands. The Louisiana Purchase occurred during the term of the third President of the United States, before the purchase was finalized, the decision faced Federalist Party opposition, they argued that it was unconstitutional to acquire any territory. Constitution did not contain provisions for acquiring territory, but he asserted that his constitutional power to negotiate treaties was sufficient. Throughout the second half of the 18th century, Louisiana was a pawn on the chessboard of European politics and it was controlled by the French, who had a few small settlements along the Mississippi and other main rivers. Following French defeat in the Seven Years War, Spain gained control of the territory west of the Mississippi, the United States controlled the area east of the Mississippi and north of New Orleans. The main issue for the Americans was free transit of the Mississippi to the sea, as the lands were being gradually settled by a few American migrants, many Americans, including Jefferson, assumed that the territory would be acquired piece by piece. The risk of power taking it from a weakened Spain made a profound reconsideration of this policy necessary. New Orleans was already important for shipping goods to and from the areas of the United States west of the Appalachian Mountains. Pinckneys Treaty, signed with Spain on October 27,1795, gave American merchants right of deposit in New Orleans, Americans used this right to transport products such as flour, tobacco, pork, bacon, lard, feathers, cider, butter, and cheese. The treaty also recognized American rights to navigate the entire Mississippi, in 1798 Spain revoked this treaty, prohibiting American use of New Orleans, and greatly upsetting the Americans. In 1801, Spanish Governor Don Juan Manuel de Salcedo took over from the Marquess of Casa Calvo, Napoleon Bonaparte had gained Louisiana for French ownership from Spain in 1800 under the Third Treaty of San Ildefonso, but the treaty was kept secret. Louisiana remained nominally under Spanish control, until a transfer of power to France on November 30,1803, another ceremony was held in St. Louis a few months later, in part because during winter conditions the news of the New Orleans formalities did not reach Upper Louisiana. The March 9–10,1804, event is remembered as Three Flags Day, James Monroe and Robert R. Livingston had traveled to Paris to negotiate the purchase of New Orleans in January 1803. Their instructions were to negotiate or purchase control of New Orleans and its environs, the Louisiana Purchase was by far the largest territorial gain in U. S. history
33.
New Orleans
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New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The population of the city was 343,829 as of the 2010 U. S. Census, the New Orleans metropolitan area had a population of 1,167,764 in 2010 and was the 46th largest in the United States. The New Orleans–Metairie–Bogalusa Combined Statistical Area, a trading area, had a 2010 population of 1,452,502. The city is named after the Duke of Orleans, who reigned as Regent for Louis XV from 1715 to 1723, as it was established by French colonists and it is well known for its distinct French and Spanish Creole architecture, as well as its cross-cultural and multilingual heritage. New Orleans is also famous for its cuisine, music, and its celebrations and festivals, most notably Mardi Gras. The city is referred to as the most unique in the United States. New Orleans is located in southeastern Louisiana, straddling the Mississippi River, the city and Orleans Parish are coterminous. The city and parish are bounded by the parishes of St. Tammany to the north, St. Bernard to the east, Plaquemines to the south, and Jefferson to the south and west. Lake Pontchartrain, part of which is included in the city limits, lies to the north, before Hurricane Katrina, Orleans Parish was the most populous parish in Louisiana. As of 2015, it ranks third in population, trailing neighboring Jefferson Parish, La Nouvelle-Orléans was founded May 7,1718, by the French Mississippi Company, under the direction of Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, on land inhabited by the Chitimacha. It was named for Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, who was Regent of the Kingdom of France at the time and his title came from the French city of Orléans. The French colony was ceded to the Spanish Empire in the Treaty of Paris, during the American Revolutionary War, New Orleans was an important port for smuggling aid to the rebels, transporting military equipment and supplies up the Mississippi River. Bernardo de Gálvez y Madrid, Count of Gálvez successfully launched a campaign against the British from the city in 1779. New Orleans remained under Spanish control until 1803, when it reverted briefly to French oversight, nearly all of the surviving 18th-century architecture of the Vieux Carré dates from the Spanish period, the most notable exception being the Old Ursuline Convent. Napoleon sold Louisiana to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, thereafter, the city grew rapidly with influxes of Americans, French, Creoles, and Africans. Later immigrants were Irish, Germans, and Italians, Major commodity crops of sugar and cotton were cultivated with slave labor on large plantations outside the city. The Haitian Revolution ended in 1804 and established the republic in the Western Hemisphere. It had occurred several years in what was then the French colony of Saint-Domingue
34.
Antoine Lavoisier
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Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier was a French nobleman and chemist central to the 18th-century chemical revolution and had a large influence on both the history of chemistry and the history of biology. He is widely considered in popular literature as the father of modern chemistry and it is generally accepted that Lavoisiers great accomplishments in chemistry largely stem from his changing the science from a qualitative to a quantitative one. Lavoisier is most noted for his discovery of the role oxygen plays in combustion and he recognized and named oxygen and hydrogen and opposed the phlogiston theory. Lavoisier helped construct the system, wrote the first extensive list of elements. He predicted the existence of silicon and was also the first to establish that sulfur was an element rather than a compound and he discovered that, although matter may change its form or shape, its mass always remains the same. Lavoisier was a member of a number of aristocratic councils. All of these political and economic activities enabled him to fund his scientific research, at the height of the French Revolution, he was accused by Jean-Paul Marat of selling adulterated tobaccoand of other crimes, and was eventually guillotined a year after Marats death. Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier was born to a family of the nobility in Paris on 26 August 1743. The son of an attorney at the Parliament of Paris, he inherited a fortune at the age of five with the passing of his mother. Lavoisier began his schooling at the Collège des Quatre-Nations, University of Paris in Paris in 1754 at the age of 11, in his last two years at the school, his scientific interests were aroused, and he studied chemistry, botany, astronomy, and mathematics. Lavoisier entered the school of law, where he received a degree in 1763. Lavoisier received a law degree and was admitted to the bar, however, he continued his scientific education in his spare time. Lavoisiers education was filled with the ideals of the French Enlightenment of the time and he attended lectures in the natural sciences. Lavoisiers devotion and passion for chemistry were largely influenced by Étienne Condillac and his first chemical publication appeared in 1764. From 1763 to 1767, he studied geology under Jean-Étienne Guettard, in collaboration with Guettard, Lavoisier worked on a geological survey of Alsace-Lorraine in June 1767. In 1768 Lavoisier received an appointment to the Academy of Sciences. In 1769, he worked on the first geological map of France, on behalf of the Ferme générale Lavoisier commissioned the building of a wall around Paris so that customs duties could be collected from those transporting goods into and out of the city. Lavoisier attempted to introduce reforms in the French monetary and taxation system to help the peasants, Lavoisier consolidated his social and economic position when, in 1771 at age 28, he married Marie-Anne Pierrette Paulze, the 13-year-old daughter of a senior member of the Ferme générale
35.
Gunpowder
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Gunpowder, also known as black powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It is a mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate, the sulfur and charcoal act as fuels, and the saltpeter is an oxidizer. Black powder firearms are in limited use today in hunting, shooting, Black powder has been replaced for most industrial uses by high explosives such as dynamite. Black powder is assigned the UN number UN0027 and has a class of 1. 1D. It has a point of approximately 427–464 °C. The specific flash point may vary based on the composition of the gunpowder. Gunpowders specific gravity is 1. 70–1.82 or 1. 92–2.08, Gunpowder is classified as a low explosive because of its relatively slow decomposition rate and consequently low brisance. Low explosives deflagrate at subsonic speeds, whereas high explosives detonate, ignition of the powder packed behind a bullet must generate enough pressure to force it from the muzzle at high speed, but not enough to rupture the gun barrel. Gunpowder thus makes a good propellant, but is suitable for shattering rock or fortifications. Gunpowder was widely used to fill artillery shells and in mining and civil engineering to blast rock until the half of the 19th century. Black powder is used as a delay element in various munitions where its slow-burning properties are valuable. The spread of gunpowder across Asia from China is widely attributed to the Mongols, the earliest record of a written formula for gunpowder appears in the 11th century Song dynasty text, Wujing Zongyao. This discovery led to the invention of fireworks and the earliest gunpowder weapons in China, in the centuries following the Chinese discovery, gunpowder weapons began appearing in the Muslim world and Europe. The technology spread from China through the Middle East or Central Asia, the earliest Western accounts of gunpowder appear in texts written by English philosopher Roger Bacon in the 13th century. The most ardent protagonists were Nathaniel Halhad, Johann Backmann, Quintin Craufurd, however, due to lack of sufficient proof, these theories have not been widely accepted. A major problem confronting the study of the history of gunpowder is ready access to sources close to the events described. The translation difficulty has led to errors or loose interpretations bordering on artistic licence, early writings potentially mentioning gunpowder are sometimes marked by a linguistic process where old words acquired new meanings. For instance, the Arabic word naft transitioned from denoting naphtha to denoting gunpowder, saltpeter was known to the Chinese by the mid-1st century AD and there is strong evidence of the use of saltpeter and sulfur in various largely medicinal combinations
36.
Komisja Edukacji Narodowej
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The Commission of National Education was the central educational authority in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, created by the Sejm and the King Stanisław August Poniatowski on October 14,1773. Because of its vast authority and autonomy, it is considered the first Ministry of Education in European history, the chief reason behind its creation was that in Poland and Lithuania, the Jesuits ran an extensive system of educational institutions. Although the Jesuit schools were fairly efficient and provided the Polish youth with a good education, in addition, in 1773 the Pope decided to close down the Jesuit order. This threatened a complete breakdown of education in the Commonwealth, the Commission was formally created on October 14,1773. It was one of the newly set-up Grand Commissions, organisations with the status of a ministry and its main mastermind and chief figure was a Catholic priest, Hugo Kołłątaj, other notable supporters included Ignacy Potocki and Adam K. Czartoryski. Initially, the body consisted of 4 senators and 4 members of the Sejm. The first head of the KEN was Prince Bishop Michał Jerzy Poniatowski and they were joined by Pierre Samuel Du Pont de Nemours, the Secretary of the King of Poland. In 1773 the KEN was granted much of the property of the Jesuit order, including all the schools. Due to this fact, the Commission had not only benefited from the necessary infrastructure, the Commission supervised two universities,74 secondary schools and about 1600 parish schools. The third Commonwealths university, the Lwów University, has been lost to the Austrian Partition, to cope with the problem the Society of Elementary Books was, therefore, established. The Society sponsored competitions for creating the best textbooks, the scientists—working on the new Polish language textbooks—had, at times, to come up with the necessary vocabulary entries. Much of the vocabulary they invented is still in use up to this day, the Commission also devised several documents, outlining the whole educational process. However, several of the new principles were considered too novel for that age and these included, inter alia, the principle of equality of both sexes in education. In 1780, the Opposition refused to sign the Statute on Elementary Schools, in 1774 the Commission took over the Załuski Library. After the formative period, during which the prerogatives of the Commission were established, the three universities in Warsaw, Vilnius and Kraków were granted the right of curatorship over schools of lower degree. This included the schools remained under the influence of the Roman Church. Gradually, the teachers, who were frequently former Jesuit priests, were exchanged for young lay teachers - graduates of the three academies, thanks to this move, the opposition inside the local schools was finally broken. After 1789 the supporters of reforms in the Polish Sejm gradually started to lose their influence, similarly, the KEN was deprived of many of its former privileges
37.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
38.
Hagley Museum and Library
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The Hagley Museum and Library is a nonprofit educational institution in Wilmington, Delaware. On the hillside below the mansion lies a Renaissance-revival garden, with terraces and statuary, the facility sits at the midpoint of the DuPont Historic Corridor. The Museum also explores personal stories of the 19th-century DuPont Company employees, how they lived, Hagleys library houses a major research collection of manuscripts, archives, photographs, pamphlets, and books documenting the history of American business and technology. A member of the Independent Research Libraries Association, the library serves scholars from this country, the library and archival collections owned by Hagley are open to the public for research, a catalog and partial digital archive are available online. The center offers a program and competitive fellowships, and organizes seminars. In 1802, French immigrant Eleuthère Irénée du Pont founded black powder mills on the banks of Brandywine Creek, the E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Companys black powder factory became the largest in the world. In 1921, the mills along the Brandywine closed and parcels of the property were sold, plans for a museum were established 31 years later, on the occasion of the DuPont Companys 150th anniversary in 1952. Hagley historians only know that the name was already in use well before E. I. du Pont expanded downstream from Eleutherian Mills in 1813 by purchasing the land became the Hagley Yards. Dawes had acquired the property in 1783, since the name Hagley did not appear on the documents transferring ownership at that time, it seems likely that Dawes gave this name to the Brandywine location. It seems likely that Delawares Hagley was named for an English estate that was known in the second half of the eighteenth century. It is likely that Dawes chose the name based on an English narrative poem entitled The Seasons by James Thomson, Hagley Hall was the seat of Thomsons patron the Baron Lyttelton, and the poems description of a sylvan dale is strikingly reminiscent of the Brandywine Valley. The Seasons was popular in Philadelphia at the time that Rumford Dawes acquired and named Hagley, the English Hagley estate is located in the West Midlands countryside about ten miles southwest of Birmingham. Perhaps coincidently, Delawares Hagley is about 8 miles south of Chadds Ford Township, the Museum was featured on Mysteries at the Museum television show. November 1952, The Eleutherian Mills-Hagley Foundation, a non-profit, educational corporation received its charter from the State of Delaware, may 1957, Hagley Museum was dedicated with the opening of the Henry Clay Mill building. 1961, The Longwood Library, founded in 1953 by Pierre S. duPont, merged with Hagley Museum,1962, Eleutherian Mills, the du Pont familys ancestral home, was opened to the public. 1966, Designation of museum property as a National Historic Landmark,1969, Restoration of the first DuPont company office was completed. 1971, Restoration of the E. I. du Pont Garden began, first fireworks show produced for Hagley members in honor of the museums 25th anniversary. The annual fireworks continues on two weekends in June,1984, Hagley Museum and Library was designated as the official name of the institution
39.
Anne Robert Jacques Turgot
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Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, Baron de lAulne, commonly known as Turgot, was a French economist and statesman. Originally considered a physiocrat, he is today best remembered as an advocate for economic liberalism. He is thought to be the first economist to have recognized the law of diminishing returns in agriculture. Born in Paris, he was the youngest son of Michel-Étienne Turgot, provost of the merchants of Paris, and Madeleine Francoise Martineau de Brétignolles, and came from an old Norman family. As one of four children, he had a sister and two older brothers, one of whom, Étienne-François Turgot, was a naturalist, and served as administrator of Malta. Anne Robert Jacques was educated for the Church, and at the Sorbonne and he delivered two remarkable Latin dissertations, On the Benefits which the Christian Religion has conferred on Mankind, and On the Historical Progress of the Human Mind. In 1750 he decided not to take orders, giving as his reason that he could not bear to wear a mask all his life. The first sign we have of his interest in economics is a letter on money, written to his fellow-student the abbé de Cicé. The first complete statement of the Idea of Progress is that of Turgot, for Turgot progress covers not simply the arts and sciences but, on their base, the whole of culture – manner, mores, institutions, legal codes, economy, and society. In 1752 he became substitut, and later conseiller in the parlement of Paris, in 1754 he was a member of the chambre royale which sat during an exile of the parlement. It was during this period that he met the leaders of the school, Quesnay and Vincent de Gournay, and with them Dupont de Nemours. In 1743 and 1756 he accompanied Gournay, the intendant of commerce, in 1760, while travelling in the east of France and Switzerland, he visited Voltaire, who became one of his chief friends and supporters. All this time he was studying various branches of science, between 1755 and 1756 he composed various articles for the Encyclopédie, and between 1757 and 1760 an article on Valeurs des monnaies, probably for the Dictionnaire du commerce of the abbé Morellet. In 1759 appeared his work Eloge de Gournay, in August 1761 Turgot was appointed intendant of the genéralité of Limoges, which included some of the poorest and most over-taxed parts of France, here he remained for thirteen years. He was already imbued with the theories of Quesnay and Gournay. He published his Avis sur lassiette et la repartition de la taille, Quesnay and Mirabeau had advocated a proportional tax, but Turgot proposed a distributive tax. Turgots opinion was that a compromise had to be reached between both methods, at the same time he did much to encourage agriculture and local industries, among others establishing the manufacture of porcelain at Limoges. It may be noted that Turgot always made the curés the agents of his charities and it was in 1770 that he wrote his famous Lettres sur la liberté du commerce des grains, addressed to the controller-general, the abbé Terray
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John Law (economist)
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John Law was a Scottish economist who believed that money was only a means of exchange that did not constitute wealth in itself and that national wealth depended on trade. He was appointed Controller General of Finances of France under the Duke of Orleans, regent for the youthful king and he was responsible for the Mississippi Company bubble and a chaotic economic collapse in France, which has been compared to the early-17th century tulip mania in Holland. The Mississippi Bubble was contemporaneous with the South Sea Company bubble of England, Law was a gambler and a brilliant mental calculator. He was known to win games by mentally calculating the odds. He originated economic ideas such as The Scarcity Theory of Value, Laws views held that money creation will stimulate the economy, that paper money is preferable to metallic money, and that shares are a superior form of money since they pay dividends. Law was born into a family of bankers and goldsmiths from Fife, his father had purchased Lauriston Castle, Law joined the family business at age fourteen and studied the banking business until his father died in 1688. Law subsequently neglected the firm in favour of more extravagant pursuits and he subsequently lost large sums of money in gambling. On 9 April 1694, John Law fought a duel with another British Dandy, Wilson had challenged Law over the affections of Elizabeth Villiers. Law killed Wilson with a pass and thrust of his sword. He was arrested, charged with murder and stood trial at the Old Bailey and he appeared before the infamously sadistic hanging-judge, Salathiel Lovell and was found guilty of murder, and sentenced to death. He was initially incarcerated in Newgate Prison to await execution and his sentence was later commuted to a fine, upon the ground that the offence only amounted to manslaughter. Wilsons brother appealed and had Law imprisoned, but he managed to escape to Amsterdam, Law urged the establishment of a national bank to create and increase instruments of credit and the issue of banknotes backed by land, gold, or silver. The first manifestation of Laws system came when he had returned to Scotland and he published a text entitled Money and Trade Considered, with a Proposal for Supplying the Nation with Money. Laws propositions of creating a bank in Scotland were ultimately rejected. He spent ten years moving between France and the Netherlands, dealing in financial speculations, problems with the French economy presented the opportunity to put his system into practice. He had the idea of abolishing minor monopolies and private farming of taxes and he would create a bank for national finance and a state company for commerce, ultimately to exclude all private revenue. This would create a monopoly of finance and trade run by the state. The council called to consider Laws proposal, including such as Samuel Bernard
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Richard Cantillon
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Richard Cantillon was an Irish-French economist and author of Essai sur la Nature du Commerce en Général, a book considered by William Stanley Jevons to be the cradle of political economy. Although little information exists on Cantillons life, it is known that he became a successful banker and his success was largely derived from the political and business connections he made through his family and through an early employer, James Brydges. During the late 1710s and early 1720s, Cantillon speculated in, however, his success came at a cost to his debtors, who pursued him with lawsuits, criminal charges, and even murder plots until his death in 1734. Essai remains Cantillons only surviving contribution to economics and it was written around 1730 and circulated widely in manuscript form, but was not published until 1755. His work was translated into Spanish by Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos, probably in the late 1770s, despite having much influence on the early development of the physiocrat and classical schools of thought, Essai was largely forgotten until its rediscovery by Jevons in the late 19th century. Cantillon was influenced by his experiences as a banker, and especially by the bubble of John Laws Mississippi Company. He was also influenced by prior economists, especially William Petty. Essai is considered the first complete treatise on economics, with contributions to the science. These contributions include, his cause and effect methodology, monetary theories, his conception of the entrepreneur as a risk-bearer, and the development of spatial economics. Cantillons Essai had significant influence on the development of political economy, including the works of Adam Smith, Anne Turgot, Jean-Baptiste Say, Frédéric Bastiat. While details regarding Richard Cantillons life are scarce, it is thought that he was sometime during the 1680s in County Kerry. He was son to land-owner Richard Cantillon of Ballyheigue, sometime in the middle of the first decade of the 18th century Cantillon moved to France, where he attained French citizenship. By 1711, Cantillon found himself in the employment of British Paymaster General James Brydges, in Spain, Cantillon remained in Spain until 1714, cultivating a number of business and political connections, before returning to Paris. Cantillon then became involved in the industry working for a cousin. Two years later, thanks in part to financial backing by James Brydges, Cantillon bought his cousin out. At this time, Cantillon became involved with British mercantilist John Law through the Mississippi Company, in return, Law promised the French government to finance their debt at low rates of interest. Law began a financial speculative bubble by selling shares of the Mississippi Company, Richard Cantillon amassed a great fortune from his speculation, buying Mississippi Company shares early and selling them at inflated prices. Cantillon replied, I shall not go away, but I will make your system succeed, to that end, in 1718 Law, Cantillon, and wealthy speculator Joseph Gage formed a private company centred on financing further speculation in North American real estate
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Victor de Riqueti, marquis de Mirabeau
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Victor de Riqueti, Marquis de Mirabeau was a French economist of the Physiocratic school. He was the father of great Honoré, Comte de Mirabeau and is, in distinction and he had a younger brother, Jean-Antoine Riqueti de Mirabeau. Mirabeau was brought up very sternly by his father, and in 1728 joined the army and he took keenly to campaigning, but never rose above the rank of captain, owing to his being unable to get leave at court to buy a regiment. Also in 1743, Mirabeau was made a Knight of the Royal, in 1749, his son Honoré Gabriel was born. This work was followed in 1750 by a book on the Utilité des états provinciaux, in 1756 Mirabeau made his first appearance as a political economist by the publication of his Ami des hommes ou Traité de la population. At Bignon the school of the physiocrats was really established, and the marquis in 1765 bought the Journal de lagriculture, du commerce, et des finances, which became the organ of the school. He was recognized as a leader of political thinkers by Prince Leopold of Tuscany, afterwards emperor, and by Gustav III of Sweden, one of his own daughters had encouraged his wife to take this step. He was determined to keep the case quiet, if possible, for the sake of Mme de Pailly, a Swiss lady whom he had loved since 1756. But his wife would not let him rest, her plea was rejected in 1777, but she renewed her suit, and, though the great Mirabeau had pleaded his fathers case, was successful in 1781. This trial quite broke the health of the marquis, as well as his fortune, he sold his estate at Bignon, and hired a house at Argenteuil, where he lived quietly till his death. The marquiss younger brother, Jean Antoine Riquetti, the bailli, served with distinction in the navy, in 1763 he became general of the galleys of Malta. In 1767 he returned to France and took charge of the château de Mirabeau, Mirabeau was nicknamed Friend of Man, after his work LAmi des Hommes. Also Henri Ripert, Le Marquis de Mirabeau, ses theories politiques et économiques This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh
