surprise when he was given the control of a country that was full of problems. Louis XVI was supposed to be the absolute ruler of France, but actually the case was that so many rights, or privileges were retained by provinces, towns, corporate bodies, the church, and the nobility, that the king had little freedom to act. Since offices in the legal and administrative system could be obtained by purchasing and therefore give as property a new aristocracy of officials had developed. As a result of this corruption of power, the aristocracy was able to monopolize profitable employment, and they prevented the monarchy from raising taxes to meet the rising costs of government and war. Louis' XVI power, being so limited, any reforms were unable to be instituted. The first chief financial advisor for Louis XVI was Anne Robert Jacques Turgot. He had many creative ideas to reform the already worsening financial problems that France had been sinking into. Turgot tried to establish a tax on land owners that would ease the guild laws and would let industrial manufacture increase. This reform, in turn, meant a severe cut in the expenses of the monarchy.These reforms had caused an uprising in the Parliament who consisted of nobility and would, in turn, have the burden of paying most of the new taxes. Even though the Parliament hardly paid any taxes, they used their veto rights to make sure that the new taxes were never established. These are some additional problems that France's weak monarchy faced. Louis XVI had acted irrationally and fired Turgot after his reformed had failed so miserably. Jacques Necker was the next director of finances for France. His effective economizing and skilled borrowing, helped finance France's participation in the American Revolution. To gain confidence in the financial community and to help pay off some of the loans of France, he published "Compte Rendu au Roi". In this financial report, Necker, chose to ig...
