279:. However, since these land sales were their original intent, the assignats were issued only in large denominations (50, 100, 200, and 1000 livres) that worked poorly as a daily medium of exchange. Moreover, the National Assembly never mandated that assignats and Old Regime coins (which remained in circulation) had to be exchanged on par. Already in fall 1790, the National Assembly itself was paying a 7.5% commission to exchange large denomination assignats for smaller coins. By the end of 1791, the discount rate was often 20% or more. These limits on the bills' practical use, and further issues eventually totalling 3.75 billion francs, coupled with the organized opposition of counter-revolutionaries, led to their losing value. On 1 February 1792 the assignats depreciated almost with 50%. Patriotic revolutionaries blamed the assignats' depreciation on foreign conspiracies. Clavière held the coalition of states responsible for the collapse of the assignat.
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By
September 1790, the assignat had become a true circulating paper currency, and 800 million livres worth of non-interest bearing notes were added to the initial issue, in denominations of 50, 60 70, 80, 90, 100, 500, and 2000 livres with legal-tender status. The lower denominations were produced in
225:
By
September 1790, all authorized assignats had been paid out by the government. Supporters of the paper money argued that since the assignats were secured by land, more notes could be safely issued as long as they were retired and burned at the same rate that the lands securing them were sold. On 29
171:
lobbied for large issues of assignats representing national wealth and operating as legal tender. On 17 April 1790, the notes were declared legal tender but their interest was reduced to 3%. For daily life smaller denominations of 200 and 300 livres were needed. The assignats would compensate for the
216:
before the end of the year for all actions, c.q. banknotes, which could be acquired by anyone and used for ordinary business transactions. Necker, suspected of reactionary tendencies, resolutely against the transformation of the assignat into paper currency, handed in his resignation on 3 September.
352:
in the name of "economic freedom" and the assignats lost almost all value over the next year. Toward the end of 1794 seven billion in assignats were in circulation. The assignat fell from 31% of its face value in August 1794 to 24% in
November, 17% in February, and 8% in April 1795. By the end of
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wrote that the
British, Belgian, and Swiss counterfeited the currency industrially: "Seventeen manufacturing establishments were in full operation in London, with a force of four hundred men devoted to the production of false and forged Assignats." On 17 October 1792, no less than 2,400 million
261:
When the cost of reimbursing Old Regime venal office holders for their properties (judgeships, military ranks etc.) added yet more to the
Revolution's inherited debts, the National Assembly voted by a narrow margin to issue additional assignats in September 1790, initially of an additional 800
106:
failed. A general bankruptcy seemed certain. On 21 December 1789 a first decree was voted through, ordering the issue (in April 1790) of 400,000 livres' worth of assignats, certificates of indebtedness, with an interest rate of 5%, secured and repayable based on the auctioning of the
343:
By June 1794 the total number of assignats aggregated nearly 8 billion, of which only 2,464 million had returned to the treasury and been destroyed, after an emission of 1,205 million assignats on 19 June; the assignat was losing more and more value. In August, the
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was executed. On 2 December Clavière was arrested; he committed suicide within a week. On 24 February 1794 the extension of the "maximum" to all commodities only increased the confusion. Trade was paralysed and all manufacturing establishments were closed down.
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opposed it. While their proponents, like other eighteenth-century advocates of "land banks," argued that land was a more stable source of value than was gold or silver, the assignats' opponents saw them as based on an illegitimate seizure of property.
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of the state. With these the creditors could purchase national land, the assignats having, for this purpose, the preference over other forms of money. If the creditor did not care to purchase land, it was supposed that he could obtain the
140:
for them from those who desired land. Those assignats which were returned to the state as purchase-money were to be cancelled, and the whole issue, it was argued, would consequently disappear as the national lands were distributed.
82:, to address imminent bankruptcy. They were originally backed by the value of properties now held by the nation; those of the crown taken over on 7 October, and those of the Catholic Church, which were confiscated, on the motion of
176:
was prepared for future issues of paper money. As soon as the assignats started to circulate, their value decreased by 5 percent. Du Pont de
Nemours feared the emission of assignats would double the price of bread.
741:
The Money and the
Finances of the French Revolution of 1789: Assignats and Mandats: A True History: Including an Examination of Dr. Andrew D. White's Paper Money Inflation in France by Stephen Devalson Dillaye, p.
230:
Necker foretold that the paper money, with which the dividends were about to be paid, would soon be of no value. Since no one had truly the right to make assignats, everyone would soon begin to do so.
665:
Whatmore, Richard (1996) "Commerce, Constitutions, and the
Manners of a Nation: Etienne Clavière's Revolutionary Political Economy, 1788–1793". History of European Ideas 22.5–6 (1996): 351–368. Web.
275:, the administration of the church property was transferred to the municipalities. Through the sale of these properties, assignats were used to successfully retire a significant portion of the
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argued that the assignats would drive out silver and other forms of coin, raise prices relative to paper, and thereby dangerously restrict commerce. All of these writers preferred the issue of
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May, 1795, the circulation was increased to ten billion, at the end of July, to fourteen billion. By 1796 the issues had reached 45.5 billion francs, excluding counterfeits, and the
86:, by the Assembly on 2 November 1789. Credit was wrecked, according to Talleyrand; for Mirabeau "the deficit was the treasure of the nation". In September the treasury was empty.
321:
By August 1793 the amount of assignats in circulation had doubled to 5 billion. Rising prices and food shortages exacerbated public unrest in
September. Bills such as the
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mandated that bills and coins exchange on par, but this law could never be enforced. Instead, the assignats continued depreciating. On 10 April 1793 Robespierre accused
217:
The massive and dangerous issue of 1,9 billion he succeeded to get down to 800 million, but the attacks may have influenced his resignation. Necker was not backed by
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on 27 August that the assignats were a paper money which would bankrupt France. Talleyrand had also attacked them on the grounds that they risked the same fate as
361:, a currency in the form of land warrants to replace the assignats, although these too quickly failed and were received back by the state at a steep discount.
83:
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160:(assignats-monnaie) in April 1790 to address the liquidity crisis provoked by the political, social, and cultural instability of the Revolution.
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958:: Œuvres complètes de Maximilien Robespierre. Speech Robespierre against Brissot and the girondins Delivered to the Convention on 10 April 1793
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in a speech: "Dumouriez and his supporters have brought a fatal blow to the public fortune, preventing circulation of assignats in
Belgium".
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September 1790, the National Assembly authorized a further issue of 800 million livres and abolished interest on the assignats altogether.)
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stressed what he believed was the lesson of American experience of paper, which had undermined metal money and sent prices spiralling.
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large numbers in order to ensure wide circulation. This change stimulated the economy but also increased inflationary pressures.
996:
Bordo, Michael D.; White, Eugene N. (1991). "A Tale of Two Currencies: British and French Finance during the Napoleonic Wars".
845:
Tales from the Vault: Money of the French Revolution – the Assignat by Douglas Mudd, ANA Money Museum curator / museum director
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752:'Contre l'émission de dix-neuf cents millions d'assignats', Œuvres complètes de Jacques Necker (Paris, 1821), vii, 430–447.
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scarcity of coin and would revive industry and trade. Once the assignats were paid, they had to be burnt. A
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111:". The assignats were immediately a source of political controversy. Constitutional monarchists such as
497:) was used in Russia from 1769 until 1 January 1849. This had no connection to the French Revolution.
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271:("national goods") and auctioned by district-level authorities. On 10 March 1790, on the proposition
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A Cursory View of the Assignats and Remaining Resources of French Finance ... by Francis d' Ivernois
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Histoire de la révolution française: depuis l'Assemblée des notables ... by Jacques Necker, p. 35
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On 27 August 1790 the Assembly decided another issue of 1,9 billion assignats which would become
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992:, How It Came, What It Brought, and How It Ended BY ANDREW DIGESON WHITE (1933). Mises Institute
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million francs. By September 1791, the value of the assignats had depreciated by 18–20 percent.
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369:. By the 1830s–1840s, the assignats and other papers issued during the Revolution had become
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One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
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558:(1993) La grande inflation : La monnaie en France de Louis XVI à Napoléon, pp. 97–98
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Guide to the French Currency Collection 1791–1796. University of Chicago Library (2012)
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at interest through the Caisse d'Escompte, a revised tax-system, and increased loans.
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The French Revolution: An Economic Interpretation by Florin Aftalion, pp. 80, 95
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The French Revolution: An Economic Interpretation by Florin Aftalion, p. xii
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The French Revolution: An Economic Interpretation by Florin Aftalion, p. 76
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The French Revolution: An Economic Interpretation by Florin Aftalion, p. 59
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40:) was a monetary instrument, an order to pay, used during the time of the
132:
17:
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Cobbett's Parliamentary History of England: From the Norman ..., Band 31
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Stuff and Money in the Time of the French Revolution by Rebecca L. Spang
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The Thermidorian regime and the Directory 1794–1799, CUP (1972), p. 10.
27:
Monetary instrument during the French Revolution and Revolutionary Wars
860:. Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press. pp. 57–96.
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934:. Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press. p. 159.
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890:"The Assignats: A Study in the Finances of the French Revolution"
710:"The Assignats: A Study in the Finances of the French Revolution"
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On 8 November 1793 the director of the manufacture of assignats
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Press in the French Revolution by John Thomas Gilchrist, p. 261
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Opinion de M. de Montesquiou sur les assignats-monnoie..., p. 3
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Considerations on the Principal Events of the French Revolution
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proposed "national goods" should be given back to the nation.
611:
The French Revolution, the Assignats, and the Counterfeiters
1050:(London and Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2015).
221:, his strongest opponent who called for "national money".
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French Finances, 1770–1795: From Business to Bureaucracy
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98:, but his intention to change the private bank into a
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Stuff and Money in the Time of the French Revolution
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Stuff and Money in the Time of the French Revolution
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Stuff and Money in the Time of the French Revolution
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Crouzet, F. (1993) La grande inflation, pp. 104–105
439:. Roman Republic also issued coins denominated in
265:The properties backing the assignats were renamed
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593:
812:A.D. White (1878) The Assignat|Ann Arbor Library
294:William Playfair § Counterfeiting operation
254:of 4 Jan 1792, still bearing Royal markings: 15
240:
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920:Crouzet, F. (1993) La grande inflation, p. 110
791:Crouzet, F. (1993) La grande inflation, p. 115
567:Crouzet, F. (1993) La grande inflation, p. 101
234:, charged with the issue of assignats, feared
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131:The assignats were first to be paid to the
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427:VI (14 Sept 1798). The currency used was
327:of 1793 aimed to address this situation.
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78:in France from 1789 to 1796, during the
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761:De l'opinion de M. Camus, (Paris, 1789)
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777:. Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy. pp.
88:Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-PĂ©rigord
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423:). They were issued by the law of 23
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148:The value of Assignats (1789–1796)
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485:is similar to the Russian word
990:Fiat Money Inflation in France
638:Ingram, Thomas Allan (1911). "
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1108:1789 establishments in France
894:Journal of Political Economy
714:Journal of Political Economy
437:currency of the Papal States
94:proposed to borrow from the
70:Assignats were paper money (
998:Journal of Economic History
771:Stael, Germaine de (1818).
409:revolutionary French forces
407:Between 1798 and 1799, the
306:, and the declaration of a
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1098:Economic history of France
1071:The Great French Inflation
332:fr:Simon-François Lamarche
291:
1010:10.1017/s002205070003895x
63:from the 1792 issue: 400
46:French Revolutionary Wars
489:which means "banknote".
930:Spang, Rebecca (2015).
856:Spang, Rebecca (2015).
649:Encyclopædia Britannica
346:Thermidorian Convention
888:Levasseur, E. (1894).
708:Levasseur, E. (1894).
298:After the outbreak of
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232:Montesquiou-FĂ©zensac
152:Originally meant as
76:Constituent Assembly
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1103:Banknotes of Europe
1046:Spang, Rebecca L.,
1039:Harris, Seymour E.
491:Assignatsionny rubl
312:National Convention
537:Warrant of payment
529:Numismatics portal
302:, the fall of the
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495:assignation ruble
474:assignation ruble
402:assignat (1798).
371:collectors' items
350:Maximum Price Act
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219:Comte de Mirabeau
186:National Assembly
96:Caisse d'Escompte
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487:assignatsia
348:lifted the
238:and greed.
1092:Categories
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900:(2): 185.
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543:References
419:(Italian:
355:Directoire
292:See also:
138:face value
44:, and the
1026:152475204
640:Assignats
481:The term
425:Fructidor
421:assegnati
417:assignats
339:June 1794
316:Dumouriez
288:1793–1799
198:Condorcet
164:1790–1792
133:creditors
18:Assignats
1082:Assignat
501:See also
483:assignat
472:Russian
363:Napoleon
308:Republic
304:monarchy
252:Assignat
121:Bergasse
84:Mirabeau
61:Assignat
32:assignat
1018:2122576
646:(ed.).
636::
476:(1807)
441:baiocco
359:Mandats
357:issued
281:Dillaye
117:Cazalès
1043:(1930)
1036:(1970)
1024:
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642:". In
630:
451:Russia
433:giulio
310:, the
273:PĂ©tion
182:Necker
174:surety
92:Necker
65:livres
52:France
1022:S2CID
1014:JSTOR
781:–258.
445:scudo
429:paolo
377:Italy
194:Camus
154:bonds
113:Maury
443:and
256:sols
200:and
123:and
1006:doi
902:doi
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722:doi
431:or
300:war
190:Law
30:An
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892:.
866:^
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119:,
115:,
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1028:.
1008::
910:.
904::
898:2
878:.
730:.
724::
718:2
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20:)
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