Editing Anne Robert Jacques Turgot

{{Short description|French economist and statesman (1727–1781)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Anne Robert Jacques Turgot
| image               = Portrait de Turgot.jpg
| caption             = Portrait by [[François-Hubert Drouais]], {{circa|1775}}
| office              = [[Chief Minister of France|First Minister of State]]
| monarch             = [[Louis XVI of France|Louis XVI]]
| term_start          = 24 August 1774
| term_end            = 12 May 1776
| predecessor         = [[René Nicolas Charles Augustin de Maupeou|René Nicolas de Maupeou]]
| successor           = [[Jean-Frédéric Phélypeaux, Count of Maurepas|The Count of Maurepas]]
| office2             = [[Controller-General of Finances]]
| term_start2         = 24 August 1774
| term_end2           = 12 May 1776
| monarch2            = [[Louis XVI of France|Louis XVI]]
| predecessor2        = [[Joseph Marie Terray]]
| successor2          = [[Jean Étienne Bernard Clugny de Nuits|Baron de Nuits]]
| office3             = [[List of Naval Ministers of France|Secretaries of State for the Navy]]
| term_start3         = 20 July 1774
| term_end3           = 24 August 1774
| monarch3            = [[Louis XVI of France|Louis XVI]]
| predecessor3        = [[Pierre Étienne Bourgeois de Boynes|Marquis de Boynes]]
| successor3          = [[Antoine de Sartine]]
| birth_date          = {{Birth date|1727|05|10|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Paris]], France
| death_date          = {{Death date and age|1781|03|18|1727|05|10|df=y}}
| death_place         = Paris, France
| nationality         = French
| module              = {{Infobox economist | embed = yes
   | school_tradition = [[Physiocrats]]
   | institution      =
   | field            = [[Political economics]]
   | alma_mater       = [[University of Paris|Sorbonne]]
   | influences       = [[Montesquieu]] · [[Quesnay]]
   | influenced       =
   | contributions    =
}}
| signature           = Signatur Anne Robert Jacques Turgot.PNG
| blank1              = influenced
| data1               = [[Condorcet]] · [[Joseph de Maistre|Maistre]] · [[Rothbard]] · [[Schumpeter]] · [[Adam Smith|Smith]] · [[Karl Marx|Marx]] · [[John Maynard Keynes|Keynes]]
}}
{{liberalism sidebar}}
[[File:Blason-famille fr Turgot.svg|thumb|Arms of Baron Turgot: ''Ermine fretty of ten pieces gules, nailed or''<ref>{{cite book|title=Bulletin de la Société d'émulation du Bourbonnais|date=1920|publisher=Société d'émulation du Bourbonnais|location=Moulins|page=[https://archive.org/details/bulletin00moulgoog/page/n314 291]|url=https://archive.org/details/bulletin00moulgoog|quote=d'hermine, treillissé de gueules de dix pièces turgot.|access-date=16 September 2017|language=fr}}</ref>]]
'''Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, Baron de l'Aulne'''{{efn|Also spelled "de Laune" or "de Launes".}} ({{IPAc-en|t|ʊər|ˈ|ɡ|oʊ}} {{respell|toor|GOH}}; {{IPA|fr|an ʁɔbɛʁ ʒak tyʁɡo|lang}}; 10 May 1727{{snd}}18 March 1781), commonly known as '''Turgot''', was a French economist and statesman. Sometimes considered a [[physiocrat]],<ref>{{cite book|last1= Vardi|first1=Lianne|title=The Physiocrats and the World of the Enlightenment|date=2012|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|pages=1–2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ODwc2UsZAccC|isbn=9781107021198|access-date=5 March 2020|archive-date=3 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210603150024/https://books.google.com/books?id=ODwc2UsZAccC&q=turgot&pg=PA1|url-status=live | quote = William Doyle uses physiocracy to explain the freeing of the grain trade and treats Turgot as a physiocrat. [...] Jessica Riskin does the same [...]}}</ref> he is today best remembered as an early advocate for [[economic liberalism]].<ref>{{cite book|last1= Vardi|first1=Lianne|title=The Physiocrats and the World of the Enlightenment|date=2012|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|pages=9–10|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=ODwc2UsZAccC&q=turgot&pg=PA1|isbn=9781107021198|access-date=15 October 2020 |archive-date=3 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210603150024/https://books.google.com/books?id=ODwc2UsZAccC&q=turgot&pg=PA1|url-status=live}}</ref> He is thought to have been the first political economist to have postulated something like the [[law of diminishing marginal returns]] in agriculture.<ref>{{Citation |title=Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot (1727–1781) |url=http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/bios/Turgot.html |encyclopedia=[[The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics]] |edition=2nd |series=[[Library of Economics and Liberty]] |publisher=[[Liberty Fund]] |year=2008 |access-date=16 July 2013 |archive-date=2 December 2019 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20191202210659/https://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/bios/Turgot.html |url-status= live }}<!-- NOTE: This is an original article not available from any other source. --></ref>

== Education ==
Born in [[Paris]], Turgot was the youngest son of [[Michel-Étienne Turgot]], "[[Provost (civil)|provost]] of the merchants" of Paris, and Madeleine Francoise Martineau de Brétignolles, and came from an old [[Normandy|Norman]] family.<ref>Turgot is a [[Normans|Norman]] surname, former first name ([[Old Norse]]: ''Thorgaut'') [http://www.viking.no/e/france/family-names.html Norman family names of Viking origin] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200219224345/http://www.viking.no/e/france/family-names.html |date=19 February 2020 }} [http://www.geopatronyme.com/cgi-bin/carte/nomcarte.cgi?nom=turgot&client=cdip Surname localization in France] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190517053054/http://www.viking.no/e/france/family-names.html |date=17 May 2019 }}</ref> As one of four children, he had a younger sister and two older brothers, one of whom, [[Étienne-François Turgot]] (1721–1789), was a naturalist, and served as administrator of [[Malta]] and governor of [[French Guiana]]. Anne Robert Jacques was educated for the Church, and at the [[Collège de Sorbonne|Sorbonne]], to which he was admitted in 1749 (being then styled ''abbé de Brucourt'').  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''.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=1 |wstitle=Turgot, Anne Robert Jacques |volume=27 |pages=415–17}}</ref> In 1750 he decided not to take holy orders, giving as his reason that "he could not bear to wear a mask all his life."<ref>{{Citation|author=H. Packwood Adams|title=The French revolution|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pV9EAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA31|year=1914|publisher=McClurg|page=31|access-date=13 March 2016|archive-date=2 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140702093619/http://books.google.com/books?id=pV9EAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA31|url-status=live}}</ref>

The first sign of Turgot's interest in economics is a letter (1749) on paper money, written to his fellow-student the abbé de Cicé, refuting the abbé [[Jean Terrasson]]'s defence of [[John Law (economist)|John Law]]'s system. He was fond of verse-making, and tried to introduce into French verse the rules of Latin prosody, his translation of the fourth book of the ''[[Aeneid]]'' into classical [[hexameter]] verses being greeted by [[Voltaire]] as "the only ''prose'' translation in which he had found any enthusiasm."<ref name="EB1911"/>

==Idea of progress==
The first complete statement of the [[Idea of Progress]] is that of Turgot, in his "A Philosophical Review of the Successive Advances of the Human Mind" (1750). 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.<ref>Robert Nisbet, ''History of the Idea of Progress''  (1980) ch 5</ref>

==Early appointments==
In 1752, he became ''substitut'', and later ''conseiller'' in the [[parlement of Paris]], and in 1753 ''[[maître des requêtes]]''. In 1754 he was a member of the ''chambre royale'' which sat during an exile of the ''parlement''. In Paris he frequented the [[Salon (gathering)|salons]], especially those of [[Françoise d'Issembourg d'Happoncourt, Madame de Graffigny|Mme de Graffigny]] – whose niece, Mlle de Ligniville ("Minette"), later [[Anne-Catherine de Ligniville, Madame Helvétius|Mme Helvétius]], he is supposed at one time to have wished to marry; they remained lifelong friends – [[Marie Thérèse Rodet Geoffrin|Mme Geoffrin]], [[Marie Anne de Vichy-Chamrond, marquise du Deffand|Mme du Deffand]], [[Jeanne Julie Eleonore de Lespinasse|Mlle de Lespinasse]] and the Duchesse d'Enville. It was during this period that he met the leaders of the "[[physiocrat]]ic" school, [[Francois Quesnay|Quesnay]] and [[Vincent de Gournay]], and with them Dupont de Nemours, the [[André Morellet|abbé Morellet]] and other economists.<ref name="EB1911"/>

In 1743 and 1756, he accompanied Gournay, the [[intendant]] of commerce, during Gournay's tours of inspection in the provinces.  (Gournay's bye-word on the government's proper involvement in the economy – ''"[[Laissez faire|laisser faire, laisser passer]]"'' – would pass into the vocabulary of economics.) 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, and languages both ancient and modern. In 1753 he translated the ''Questions sur le commerce'' from the English of [[Josias Tucker]], and in 1754 he wrote his ''Lettre sur la tolérance civile'', and a pamphlet, ''Le Conciliateur'', in support of religious tolerance. Between 1755 and 1756 he composed various articles for the ''[[Encyclopédie]]'',<ref>"Fairs and markets" and "Fondations"</ref> and between 1757 and 1760 an article on ''Valeurs des monnaies'', probably for the ''Dictionnaire du commerce'' of the abbé Morellet.<ref name="EB1911"/> In 1759 appeared his work ''Eloge de Gournay''.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/rde_0769-0886_1990_num_8_1_1057|title=Notices sur les auteurs des 17 volumes de « discours » de l'Encyclopédie (suite et fin)|first1=Frank A.|last1=Kafker|first2=Jacques|last2=Chouillet|date=26 July 1990|journal=Recherches sur Diderot et sur l'Encyclopédie|volume=8|issue=1|pages=101–121|via=www.persee.fr|access-date=26 July 2021|archive-date=24 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924214701/http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/rde_0769-0886_1990_num_8_1_1057|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Intendant of Limoges, 1761–1774==
[[File:TurgotTardieu.jpg|thumb|Turgot (by Tardieu)]]
In August 1761, Turgot was appointed ''intendant'' (tax collector) 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 deeply imbued with the theories of Quesnay and Gournay, and set to work to apply them as far as possible in his province. His first plan was to continue the work, already initiated by his predecessor Tourny, of making a fresh survey of the land ([[cadastre]]), in order to arrive at a more just assessment of the ''[[taille]]''; he also obtained a large reduction in the contribution of the province. He published his ''Avis sur l'assiette et la repartition de la taille'' (1762–1770), and as president of the ''Société d'agriculture de Limoges'' offered prizes for essays on the principles of taxation. Quesnay and [[Honoré Mirabeau|Mirabeau]] had advocated a [[Flat tax|proportional tax]] (''impôt de quotité''),<ref>"The ''impôt de quotité'' is the result of the application of a tax where the result cannot be calculated in advance.</ref> but Turgot proposed a [[Progressive tax|distributive tax]] (''impôt de repartition''). Another reform was the substitution for the ''[[corvée]]'' of a tax in money levied on the whole province, the construction of roads being handed over to contractors, by which means Turgot was able to leave his province with a good system of highways, while distributing more justly the expense of their construction.<ref name="EB1911"/>

In 1769, he wrote his ''Mémoire sur les prêts à intérêt'', on the occasion of a scandalous financial crisis at [[Angoulême]], the particular interest of which is that in it the question of lending money at [[interest]] was for the first time treated scientifically, and not merely from the ecclesiastical point of view. Turgot's opinion was that a compromise had to be reached between both methods. Among other works written during Turgot's intendancy were the ''Mémoire sur les mines et carrières'', and the ''Mémoire sur la marque des fers'', in which he protested against state regulation and interference and advocated free competition. At the same time he did much to encourage agriculture and local industries, among others establishing the manufacture of [[Limoges porcelain|porcelain at Limoges]]. During the famine of 1770–1771 he enforced on landowners "the obligation of relieving the poor" and especially the ''[[Metayage|métayers]]'' ([[sharecropping|sharecroppers]]) dependent upon them, and organized in every province ''ateliers'' and ''bureaux de charité'' for providing work for the able-bodied and relief for the infirm, while at the same time he condemned indiscriminate [[Charity (virtue)|charity]]. Turgot always made the curés the agents of his charities and reforms when possible. It was in 1770 that he wrote his famous ''Lettres sur la liberté du commerce des grains'', addressed to the controller-general, the [[Joseph Marie Terray|abbé Terray]]. Three of these letters have disappeared, having been sent to [[Louis XVI of France|Louis XVI]] by Turgot at a later date and never recovered, but those remaining argue that free trade in grain is in the interest of landowner, farmer and consumer alike, and in forcible terms demand the removal of all restrictions.<ref name="EB1911"/>

==''Réflexions''==
{{wikisource|Reflections on the Formation and the Distribution of Riches}} Turgot's best known work, ''[[Reflections on the Formation and Distribution of Wealth]]'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://socserv2.socsci.mcmaster.ca/~econ/ugcm/3ll3/turgot/reflecti|title=Reflections on the Formation and Distribution of Wealth|access-date=17 May 2006|archive-date=8 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170808102659/http://socserv2.socsci.mcmaster.ca/~econ/ugcm/3ll3/turgot/reflecti|url-status=live}}</ref> was written early in the period of his intendancy, ostensibly for the benefit of two young Chinese scholars who had studied in Paris, Louis Ko (Gao Leisi, 1732–1790) and Étienne Yang (Yang Dewang, 1733–98), on the occasion of their return to China.<ref>{{cite web |date={{date|2014/05/25}} |title=Les Chinois de Turgot |author1=Me Nguyen |author2=Benoît Malbranque |website=Institute Coppet |url=https://www.institutcoppet.org/les-chinois-de-turgot/}}</ref><ref>The literary device adopted by Turgot allows for the presentation of the subject from the ground up, without appearing to undervalue the reader's intelligence. Compare the ''[[Persian Letters]]'' of [[Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu|Montesquieu]], with their solemn explication of European customs to an outsider, in Montesquieu a vehicle for satire.</ref> Written in 1766, it appeared in 1769–1770 in Dupont's journal, the ''Ephémérides du citoyen'', and was published separately in 1776. Dupont, however, made various alterations in the text, in order to bring it more into accordance with Quesnay's doctrines, which led to a coolness between him and Turgot.<ref name="EB1911"/><ref>{{Citation|author=Peter D. Groenewegen|title=Eighteenth-century Economics: Turgot, Beccaria and Smith and Their Contemporaries|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XthfFstAWOIC&pg=PA265|year=2002|publisher=Psychology Press|page=265|isbn=9780203458785|access-date=13 March 2016|archive-date=2 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140702094002/http://books.google.com/books?id=XthfFstAWOIC&pg=PA265|url-status=live}}</ref>

In the ''Réflexions'', after tracing the origin of commerce, Turgot develops Quesnay's theory that land is the only source of wealth, and divides society into three classes, the productive or agricultural, the salaried (the ''classe stipendiée'') or artisan class, and the land-owning class (''classe disponible''). He also proposes a notable [[Theory of fructification|theory of the interest rate]]. After discussing the evolution of the different systems of cultivation, the nature of exchange and barter, money, and the functions of [[Capital (economics)|capital]], he sets forth the theory of the ''impôt unique'', i.e. that only the net product (''produit net'') of the land should be taxed. In addition he demanded the complete freedom of commerce and industry.<ref name="EB1911"/>

==As minister, 1774–1776==

===Appointment===

[[Image:Turgot-statue.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Statue of Turgot at the [[Hôtel de Ville, Paris]]]]
Turgot was summoned to the ministry of Louis XVI two months after his accession, and was appointed a month later as Controller-General of Finance.  The king even defended the middle-class economist against the reaction of the aristocracy.<ref>{{cite book
 | title=The Great French Revolution, 1789–1793
 | chapter=Chapter 5
 | author=Peter Kropotkin
 | year=1909
 | translator=N. F. Dryhurst
 | publisher=New York: Vanguard Printings
 | url=http://www.revoltlib.com/?id=217
}}</ref> Turgot owed his appointment as minister of the navy in July 1774 to [[Jean-Frédéric Phélypeaux, comte de Maurepas|Maurepas]], the "Mentor" of [[Louis XVI of France|Louis XVI]], to whom he was warmly recommended by the abbé Very, a mutual friend. His appointment met with general approval, and was hailed with enthusiasm by the ''[[philosophes]]''. A month later (24 August) he was appointed [[Controller-General of Finances]].

===On government spending===

His first act was to submit to the king a statement of his guiding principles: "No bankruptcy, no increase of taxation, no borrowing." Turgot's policy, in face of the desperate financial position, was to enforce the most rigid economy in all departments. All departmental expenses were to be submitted for the approval of the controller-general, a number of [[sinecure]]s were suppressed, the holders of them being compensated, and the abuse of the ''acquits au comptant'' was attacked, while Turgot appealed personally to the king against the lavish giving of places and pensions. He also contemplated a thorough-going reform of the ''[[Ferme Générale]]'', but contented himself, as a beginning, with imposing certain conditions on the leases as they were renewed – such as a more efficient personnel, and the abolition for the future of the abuse of the ''croupes'' (the name given to a class of pensions), a reform which Terray had shirked on finding how many persons in high places were interested in them, and annulling certain leases, such as those of the manufacture of gunpowder and the administration of the royal mails, the former of which was handed over to a company with the scientist [[Lavoisier]] as one of its advisers, and the latter superseded by a quicker and more comfortable service of ''diligences'' which were nicknamed [[Stagecoach|''"turgotines"'']].

Turgot also prepared a regular budget. His measures succeeded in considerably reducing the deficit, and raised the national credit to such an extent that in 1776, just before his fall, he was able to negotiate a loan with some [[Netherlands|Dutch]] bankers at 4%; but the deficit was still so large as to prevent him from attempting at once to realize his favourite scheme of substituting for indirect taxation a [[Land value tax|single tax on land]]. Turgot suppressed, however, a number of ''[[octroi]]s'' and minor duties,{{efn|For an account of Turgot's financial administration, see Ch. Gomel, ''Causes financiéres'', vol. 1.}} and opposed, on grounds of economy, [[France in the American Revolutionary War|the involvement of France]] in the [[American Revolutionary War]], though without success.<ref name="EB1911"/>

===On free trade===

Turgot at once set to work to establish free trade in grain, but his edict, which was signed on 13 September 1774, met with strong opposition even in the ''[[conseil du roi]]''. A striking feature was the preamble, setting forth the doctrines on which the edict was based, which won the praise of the ''philosophes'' and the ridicule of the wits; this Turgot rewrote three times, it is said, in order to make it "so clear that any village judge could explain it to the peasants." The opposition to the edict was strong. Turgot was hated by those who had been interested in the speculations in grain under the regime of the abbé Terray, among whom were included some of the princes of the blood. Moreover, the ''commerce des blés'' had been a favourite topic of the [[Salon (gathering)|salons]] for some years past, and the witty [[Ferdinando Galiani|Galiani]], the opponent of the [[physiocrats]], had a large following. The opposition was now continued by [[Simon-Nicholas Henri Linguet|Linguet]] and by [[Jacques Necker|Necker]], who in 1775 published his ''Essai sur la législation et le commerce des grains''.

===Suppression of Dijon bread riots===

Turgot's biggest challenge was the poor harvest of 1774, which led to a noticeable rise in the price of bread in the winter and early spring of 1774–1775.  In April and early May, when peasants begged the governor of [[Dijon]] for bread, he uttered those famous words that would later be recalled during the French Revolution: "The grass has sprouted, go to the fields and browse on it." Houses of the wealthy were seized and occupied, flour-mills were destroyed, and furniture was smashed. Those extraordinary bread-riots are known as the ''[[guerre des farines]]'', which ominously predicted the coming [[French Revolution]]. Turgot showed great firmness and decision in repressing the riots, but also some caution in using soldiers, as he had said that "every levy of soldiers led to a riot."  In this, he even had conflict with the royalty, as Louis XVI wanted to go out onto the balcony and meet the crowds, to say that there would be a reduction in the price of bread, but Turgot admonished him against this, and the bread remained at high prices.<ref>{{cite book
 | title=The Great French Revolution, 1789–1793
 | chapter=Chapter 5
 | author=Peter Kropotkin
 | year=1909
 | translator=N. F. Dryhurst
 | quote=Louis XVI, wanted to go out on the balcony of the palace to speak to them, to tell them that he would reduce the price of bread; but Turgot, like a true economist, opposed this. The reduction in the price of bread was not made.
 | publisher=New York: Vanguard Printings
 | url=http://www.revoltlib.com/?id=217
}}</ref> His position was strengthened by the entry of [[Guillaume-Chrétien de Lamoignon de Malesherbes|Malesherbes]] into the ministry (July 1775).<ref name="EB1911"/>

===On feudal obligations and protections===

All this time Turgot had been preparing his famous ''Six Edicts'', which were finally presented to the ''conseil du roi'' (January 1776).  [[Peter Kropotkin]] described these edicts as "very modest proposals" and summarized these as "abolition of statute labor, abolition of trade-wardens and a timid attempt to make the two privileged classes – the nobility and clergy – pay some of the taxes."<ref>{{cite book
 | title=The Great French Revolution, 1789–1793
 | chapter=Chapter 6
 | author=Peter Kropotkin
 | year=1909
 | translator=N. F. Dryhurst
 | publisher=New York: Vanguard Printings
 | url=http://www.revoltlib.com/?id=218
}}</ref>  Of the six edicts four were of minor importance, but the two which met with violent opposition were, firstly, the edict suppressing the ''[[corvée]]s'', and secondly, that suppressing the ''jurandes'' and ''maîtrises'', by which the craft [[guild]]s maintained their privileges. In the preamble to the former Turgot boldly announced as his object the abolition of privilege, and the subjection of all three [[Estates of the realm]] to taxation; the clergy were afterwards excepted, at the request of Maurepas.

In the preamble to the [[edict on the jurandes]] Turgot laid down as a principle the right of every man to work without restriction.{{efn|Turgot was opposed to all labour associations of employers or employed, in accordance with his belief in free competition.}} He obtained the registration of the edicts by the ''[[lit de justice]]'' of 12 March, but by that time he had nearly everybody against him. His attacks on privilege had won him the hatred of the nobles and the ''[[parlement]]s''; his attempted reforms in the royal household, that of the court; his free trade legislation, that of the ''[[financiers]]''; his views on tolerance and his agitation for the suppression of the phrase that was offensive to [[Protestants]] in the king's [[coronation]] oath, that of the clergy; and his edict on the ''jurandes'', that of the rich bourgeoisie of Paris and others, such as the [[prince de Conti]], whose interests were involved. [[Marie Antoinette|The queen]] disliked him for opposing the grant of favours to her [[protégé]]s, and he had offended [[Gabrielle de Polastron, comtesse de Polignac|Mme. de Polignac]] in a similar manner.<ref name="EB1911"/> The queen played a key role in his disgrace later.<ref>{{harvnb|Fraser|2006|p=250}}</ref>

===Proposals for a representative government===

With the physiocrats, he believed in an [[Enlightened absolutism|enlightened political absolutism]], and looked to the king to carry through all reforms. As to the parlements, he opposed all interference on their part in legislation, considering that they had no competency outside the sphere of justice. He recognized the danger of the recap of the old parlement, but was unable effectively to oppose it since he had been associated with the dismissal of [[René Nicolas Charles Augustin de Maupeou|Maupeou]] and Terray, and seems to have underestimated its power. He was opposed to the summoning of the [[French States-General|states-general]] advocated by Malesherbes (6 May 1775), possibly on the ground that the two privileged orders would have too much power in them. His own plan is to be found in his ''Mémoire sur les municipalités'', which was submitted informally to the king.

In Turgot's proposed system, [[landed proprietor]]s alone were to form the [[constituency|electorate]], no distinction being made among the three orders; the members of the town and country municipalités were to elect representatives for the district municipalités, which in turn would elect to the provincial municipalités, and the latter to a grande municipalité, which should have no legislative powers, but should concern itself entirely with the administration of taxation. With this was to be combined a whole system of education, relief of the poor, and other activities. Louis XVI recoiled from this as being too great a leap in the dark, and such a fundamental difference of opinion between king and minister was bound to lead to a breach sooner or later.<ref>{{cite book
 | title=The Great French Revolution, 1789–1793
 | chapter=Chapter 5
 | author=Peter Kropotkin
 | year=1909
 | translator=N. F. Dryhurst
 | publisher=New York: Vanguard Printings
 | quote="Representative Government," such as was established by the English after their revolution, and was advocated in the writings of the contemporary philosophers, also began to be spoken of. With this end in view, Turgot had even prepared a scheme of provincial assemblies, to be followed later on by representative government for all France in which the propertied classes would have been called upon to constitute a parliament. Louis XVI shrank from this proposal, and dismissed Turgot; but from that moment all educated France began to talk of a Constitution and national representation.
 | url=http://www.revoltlib.com/?id=217
}}</ref> Turgot's only choice, however, was between "tinkering" at the existing system in detail and a complete revolution, and his attack on privilege, which might have been carried through by a popular minister and a strong king, was bound to form part of any effective scheme of reform.<ref name="EB1911"/>

===American Revolution===

As minister of the navy from 1774 to 1776, Turgot opposed financial support for the [[American Revolution]]. He believed in the virtue and inevitable success of the revolution but warned that France could neither financially nor socially afford to overtly aid it. French intellectuals saw America as the hope of mankind and magnified American virtues to demonstrate the validity of their ideals along with seeing a chance to avenge their defeat in the [[Seven Years' War]]. Turgot, however, emphasized what he believed were American inadequacies. He complained that the new American state constitutions failed to adopt the physiocratic principle of distinguishing for purposes of taxation between those who owned land and those who did not, the principle of direct taxation of property holders had not been followed, and a complicated legal and administrative structure had been created to regulate commerce. On the social level, Turgot and his progressive contemporaries suffered further disappointment: a religious oath was required of elected officials and slavery was not abolished. Turgot died in 1781 before the conclusion of the war. Although disappointed, Turgot never doubted revolutionary victory.<ref>Wendell (1979)</ref>

===Place in the Ministry===

All might yet have gone well if Turgot could have retained the confidence of the king, but the king could not fail to see that Turgot had not the support of the other ministers. Even his friend Malesherbes thought he was too rash, and was, moreover, himself discouraged and wished to resign. The alienation of Maurepas was also increasing. Whether through jealousy of the [[wikt:ascendancy|ascendancy]] which Turgot had acquired over the king, or through the natural incompatibility of their characters, he was already inclined to take sides against Turgot, and the reconciliation between him and the queen, which took place about this time, meant that he was henceforth the tool of the Polignac [[clique]] and the [[Étienne François, duc de Choiseul|Choiseul]] party. About this time, too, appeared a pamphlet, ''Le Songe de M. Maurepas'', generally ascribed to the comte de Provence ([[Louis XVIII of France|Louis XVIII]]), containing a bitter [[caricature]] of Turgot.<ref name="EB1911"/>

[[File:Anne Robert Jacques Turgot.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Turgot after a portrait by [[Charles-Nicolas Cochin]]]]

==Fall==
The immediate cause of Turgot's fall is uncertain. Some{{ww|date=March 2025}} speak of a plot, of forged letters containing attacks on the queen shown to the king as Turgot's, of a series of notes on Turgot's budget prepared, it is said{{ww|date=March 2025}}, by [[Jacques Necker|Necker]], and shown to the king to prove his incapacity. Others{{ww|date=March 2025}} attribute it to the queen, and there is no doubt{{citationneeded|date=March 2025}} that she hated Turgot for supporting [[Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes|Vergennes]] in demanding the recall of the comte de Guînes, the [[Ambassador (diplomacy)|ambassador]] in [[London]], whose cause she had ardently espoused at the prompting of the Choiseul clique. Others{{ww|date=March 2025}} attribute it to an intrigue of Maurepas. On the resignation of [[Guillaume-Chrétien de Lamoignon de Malesherbes|Malesherbes]] (April 1776), whom Turgot wished to replace by the abbé Very, Maurepas proposed to the king as his successor a [[wikt:nonentity|nonentity]] named Amelot.

Turgot, on hearing of this, wrote an indignant letter to the king, in which he reproached him for refusing to see him, pointed out in strong terms the dangers of a weak ministry and a weak king, and complained bitterly of Maurepas's irresolution and subjection to court intrigues; this letter the king, though asked to treat it as confidential, is said to have shown to Maurepas, whose dislike for Turgot it still further embittered. With all these enemies, Turgot's fall was certain, but he wished to stay in office long enough to finish his project for the reform of the royal household before resigning. To his dismay, he was not allowed to do that. On 12 May 1776 he was ordered to send in his resignation. He at once retired to [[La Roche-Guyon]], the château of the Duchesse d'Enville, returning shortly to Paris, where he spent the rest of his life in scientific and literary studies, being made vice-president of the [[Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres]] in 1777.<ref name="EB1911"/>

==Commentary on Turgot==
According to the [[Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition]]:
{{quote|In character Turgot was simple, honourable and upright, with a passion for justice and truth. He was an idealist, his enemies would say a [[wikt:doctrinaire|doctrinaire]], and certainly the terms "natural rights," "natural law," frequently occur in his writings. His friends speak of his charm and gaiety in intimate intercourse, but among strangers he was silent and awkward, and produced the impression of being reserved and disdainful. On one point both friends and enemies agree, and that is his [[wikt:brusquerie|brusquerie]] and his lack of tact in the management of men; {{ill|August Oncken|de}} points out with some reason the schoolmasterish tone of his letters, even to the king. As a statesman he has been very variously estimated, but it is generally agreed that a large number of the reforms and ideas of the Revolution were due to him; the ideas did not as a rule originate with him, but it was he who first gave them prominence. As to his position as an economist, opinion is also divided. Oncken, to take the extreme of condemnation, looks upon him as a bad physiocrat and a confused thinker, while [[Leon Say]] considers that he was the founder of modern political economy, and that "though he failed in the 18th century he triumphed in the 19th."<ref name="EB1911"/>}}

[[Andrew Dickson White]] wrote in [https://archive.org/details/cu31924011368218 ''Seven Great Statesmen in the Warfare of Humanity with Unreason''] (1915):

<blockquote>
TURGOT...I present today one of the three greatest statesmen who fought unreason in France between the close of the Middle Ages and the outbreak of the French Revolution – Louis XI and Richelieu being the two other. And not only this: were you to count the greatest men of the modern world upon your fingers, he would be of the number – a great thinker, writer, administrator, philanthropist, statesman, and above all, a great character and a great man. And yet, judged by ordinary standards, a failure. For he was thrown out of his culminating position, as Comptroller-General of France, after serving but twenty months, and then lived only long enough to see every leading measure to which he had devoted his life deliberately and malignantly undone; the flagrant abuses which he had abolished restored, apparently forever; the highways to national prosperity, peace, and influence, which he had opened, destroyed; and his country put under full headway toward the greatest catastrophe the modern world has seen.
</blockquote>

<blockquote>
He now, in 1749, at the age of twenty two, wrote... a letter which has been an object of wonder among political thinkers ever since. Its subject was paper money. Discussing the ideas of John Law, and especially the essay of Terrasson which had supported them, he dissected them mercilessly, but in a way useful not only in those times but in these. ...As regards currency inflation ... It still remains one of the best presentations of this subject ever made; and what adds to our wonder is that it was not the result of a study of authorities, but was worked out wholly from his own observation and thought. Up to this time there were no authorities and no received doctrine on the subject; there were simply records of financial practice more or less vicious; it was reserved for this young student, in a letter not intended for publication, to lay down for the first time the great law in which the modern world, after all its puzzling and costly experiences, has found safety.
</blockquote>

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==Further reading==
* {{Citation |last=Brewer |first=Anthony |title=Turgot: Founder of Classical Economics |journal=[[Economica]] |year=1987 |volume=54 |issue=216 |pages=417–28 |doi=10.2307/2554177 |jstor=2554177 }}.
* {{Citation |last=Dakin |first=Douglas |author-link=Douglas Dakin |title=Turgot and the Ancien Régime in France |location=London |publisher=Methuen |year=1939 }}.
* {{cite book |last1=Fraser |first1=Antonia |title=Marie Antoinette: the journey |date=2006 |publisher=Anchor Canada |location=[Toronto] |isbn=9780385662871}}.
* {{Citation |last=Groenewegen |first=Peter D. |year=2002 |title=Eighteenth-Century Economics: Turgot, Beccaria and Smith and their Contemporaries |location=London |publisher=Routledge |isbn=0415279402 }}.
* {{cite encyclopedia |last= Hart|first=David |editor-first=Ronald |editor-last=Hamowy |editor-link=Ronald Hamowy |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism |chapter=Turgot, Anne-Robert-Jacques (1727–1781)  |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=yxNgXs3TkJYC |year=2008 |publisher= [[SAGE Publications|Sage]]; [[Cato Institute]] |location= Thousand Oaks, CA |doi=10.4135/9781412965811.n315 |isbn= 978-1412965804 |oclc=750831024| lccn = 2008009151 |pages=515–16 }}
* {{Citation |last=Kaplan |first=Steven L. |title=Bread, Politics and Political Economy in the Reign of Louis XV |location=[[The Hague]] |publisher=Martinus Nijhoff |year=1976 |isbn=9024718732 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/breadpoliticspol00stev }}.
* {{Citation |last=Lifschitz |first=Avi |title=Language as the Key to the Epistemological Labyrinth: Turgot's Changing View of Human Perception |journal=Historiographia Linguistica |year=2004 |volume=31 |issue=2/3 |pages=345–65 |doi=10.1075/hl.31.2.07lif |url=https://philpapers.org/archive/LAT-2.pdf }}
* {{Citation |last=Meek |first=Ronald L. |title=Social Science and the Ignoble Savage |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=New York |year=1976 |isbn=0521209692 }}.
* {{Citation |last=Palmer |first=R. R. |title=Turgot, Paragon of the Continental Enlightenment |journal=[[Journal of Law and Economics]] |year=1976 |volume=19 |issue=3 |pages=607–19 |doi=10.1086/466889 |s2cid=154818247 }}.
* {{cite book|last1=Rothbard|first1=Murray N.|author-link1=Murray Rothbard|editor1-last=Holcombe|editor1-first=Randall G.|editor1-link=Randall G. Holcombe|title=The Great Austrian Economists|date=1999|publisher=[[Ludwig von Mises Institute]]|location=[[Auburn, Alabama]]|isbn=0945466048|chapter=Chapter 3. A.R.J. Turgot: Brief, Lucid, and Brilliant|chapter-url= https://mises.org/system/tdf/The%20Great%20Austrian%20Economists_2.pdf?file=1&type=document}}
* [[Luc-Normand Tellier|Tellier, Luc-Normand]], ''Face aux Colbert : les Le Tellier, Vauban, Turgot ... et l'avènement du libéralisme'', Presses de l'Université du Québec, 1987, 816 pages. [http://www.puq.ca/catalogue/livres/face-aux-colbert-1409.html Etext]
* {{Citation |last=Turgot (baron de l'Aulne) |first=Anne-Robert-Jacques |title= The Turgot Collection: Writings, Speeches, and Letters of Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, Baron de Laune |url=https://mises.org/library/turgot-collection-writings-speeches-and-letters-anne-robert-jacques-turgot-baron-de-laune |publisher=[[Ludwig von Mises Institute]] |year=2011 |page=560 |isbn=9781933550947}}.
* {{Citation |last=Wendel |first=Jacques M. |title=Turgot and the American Revolution |journal=Modern Age |year=1979 |volume=23 |issue=3 |pages=282–89 }}.

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Wikisource author}}
{{commons|Anne Robert-Jacques Turgot|Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, Baron de Laune}}
* [[q:Andrew Dickson White|Andrew Dickson White's]] [[q:Andrew Dickson White#Seven Great Statesmen in the Warfare of Humanity with Unreason (1915)|''Seven Great Statesmen in the Warfare of Humanity with Unreason'' (1915)]] at Wikiquote
* [http://socserv2.socsci.mcmaster.ca/~econ/ugcm/3ll3/turgot/index.html Turgot Page] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170204152431/http://socserv2.socsci.mcmaster.ca/~econ/ugcm/3ll3/turgot/index.html |date=4 February 2017 }} at McMaster
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15092c.htm Jacques Turgot] at ''Catholic Encyclopedia''
* [http://www.quebecoislibre.org/06/060730-3.htm Turgot on progress and political economy]
* [http://www.taieb.net/auteurs/Turgot/Turgot01.html Notice Biographique] by Paulette Taïeb.
* [http://www.herodote.net/histoire05121.htm 12 mai 1776: "Renvoi de Turgot"] by  ''Hérodote''
* [http://www.turgot.org/ The Institut Turgot] in Paris
* [http://www.condorcet.nl/DutchConnection.html Turgot & 18th and 19th century Dutch economics and politics]
* [http://archive.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard243.html The Brilliance of Turgot] by Murray N. Rothbard.
* {{Librivox author |id=11196}}

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{{Succession box
|title=[[List of Naval Ministers of France|Secretaries of State for the Navy]]
|before=[[Pierre Étienne Bourgeois de Boynes]]
|after=[[Antoine de Sartine]]
|years= 20 July 1774{{snd}}24 August 1774}}
{{Succession box
|title=[[List of Finance Ministers of France|Controllers-General of Finances]]
|before=[[Joseph Marie Terray]]
|after=[[Jean Étienne Bernard Clugny de Nuits]]
|years=24 August 1774{{snd}}12 May 1776 }}
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{{Physiocrats}}
{{Finance Ministers of France}}
{{Age of Enlightenment}}
{{Portalbar|Economics|France|Liberalism|Libertarianism|Politics}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Turgot, Anne Robert Jacques, Baron De Laune}}
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