Formation of provincial assemblies in France in 1787

Abstract

Administrative reform in France begins in an economic crisis. Calonne, then Lomnie de Brienne proposed to introduce a new local administration to improve the collection of taxes, new local authorities were asked to entrust control over their distribution and collection, as well as the management of public and road works. A three-tier system of elective assemblies was introduced in the municipality, in the district or department, and in the province. The article examines the process of the formation of provincial assemblies and the identification of their functions in the summer of 1787. For this, the adoption of regulations of provincial assemblies and their reflection in the press will be considered, the functions of assemblies according to the rules and functions noted in the minutes of assemblies in different regions will be compared and analyzed. The article analyzes the edicts on the creation of provincial assemblies in the kingdom in the summer of 1787, regulations of the provinces of Champagne and Rouen, regulations on the functions of assemblies, minutes of meetings of provincial assemblies, the French and Dutch press. In the course of writing the article, comparative and problem-chronological methods were used. The events of the end of the Ancien Rgime were developed in Russian historiography, but the issues of transformation in the administrative sphere were less studied, which will be discussed in this article. Provincial assemblies, created to improve the situation, have not fully fulfilled their task. Despite the delineation of functions between the old and the new administration, conflicts will arise that worsened the situation in the country. The new administration did not have enough time, already in 1788 elections to the States General began.