Compte rendu

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The Compte rendu (full name Compte rendu du roi, which translates as "report of the king") was published in 1781 by Jacques Necker in which he drew up a balance sheet of France. It stated that the country's finances were in surplus as opposed to deficit, which was a lie, as France was greatly in debt. This was because Jacques Necker, financial minister to King Louis XVI, as well as his predecessors, had borrowed money at great rates on interest to pay for France's involvement in the many wars it had fought, including the American War of Independence in 1778 against the British occupation. It was because of this document that the French Revolution came a bit later in time. Necker had the Third Estate believe that he was a financial genius while the First and Second Estates knew that France was financially struggling and knew that the document was a lie. In the document, it appeared that France had turned a profit of around 10,000,000 livres, as well as fighting the war in America and paying no new taxes. This was done in the time before the "First Revolution" where the king was desperately trying to reform the current system. The Compte Rendu was created to show lenders that France had enough money, so they would to keep lending money at ever higher interest rates. ^[1]