Table of Contents
- 1 What did the British government do to help pay the costs of the French and Indian war?
- 2 How much did the US owe France after the Revolutionary war?
- 3 Why did the US not pay back France?
- 4 Does the US still owe France money from the Revolutionary War?
- 5 What was the financial situation of France during the French Revolution?
- 6 Why did the French government spend so much money at Versailles?
What did the British government do to help pay the costs of the French and Indian war?
In 1765, parliament passed the Stamp Act to help pay down the war debt and finance the British army’s presence in the Americas. It was the first internal tax directly levied on American colonists by parliament and was met with strong resistance.
How much did the US owe France after the Revolutionary war?
European belligerents had financed the conflict through loans, mainly from the United States, and as a result France owed the United States 4,137,224,354 dollars, about 80% of it directly to the U.S. Treasury and the rest to American banks.
What financial problems did the British government face after the French and Indian War?
The British thought the colonists should help pay for the cost of their own protection. Furthermore, the French and Indian War had cost the British treasury £70,000,000 and doubled their national debt to £140,000,000. Compared to this staggering sum, the colonists’ debts were extremely light, as was their tax burden.
Why did the US not pay back France?
The French Government began to secretly ship war materiel to the American revolutionaries in late 1775. The government struggled to pay off the loans, stopping payments of interest to France in 1785 and defaulting on further installments that were due in 1787.
Does the US still owe France money from the Revolutionary War?
He privately assumed the entire debt owed to the French, then resold these debts at a profit on domestic US markets. While the US no longer owed money to foreign governments, it continued to owe money to private investors both domestically and in Europe.
Why was France unable to repay its debt?
This was both a symptom and a cause, because by diminishing confidence in the ability of France to repay its debt, the French government made it unlikely that they would be able to secure future credit, either from the sale of bonds or from foreign investors.
What was the financial situation of France during the French Revolution?
A number of ill-advised financial maneuvers in the late 1700s worsened the financial situation of the already cash-strapped French government. France’s prolonged involvement in the Seven Years’ War of 1756–1763 drained the treasury, as did the country’s participation in the American Revolution of 1775–1783.
Why did the French government spend so much money at Versailles?
This was the result of massive spending on the administration of the royal bureaucracy, the financial burden of supporting the royal court at Versailles, and especially military spending, much of which had been expended on French participation in the American Revolutionary War.
Who was the controller of Finances in France?
Finally, in the early 1780s, France realized that it had to address the problem, and fast. First, Louis XVI appointed Charles de Calonne controller general of finances in 1783.