Louis XV comes of age.
Fleury and Walpole.
The Jacobite uprisings.
The Bubbles.

• Judge for yourself—did England or France handle the
Bubble collapse appropriately?
• What were the policies of Fluery and Walpole regarding French-English relations?
• Identify the cause and persons behind the 1715 and
1745 revolts—
• You will learn why the Scots were punished for their role in the revolts?
• Compare the Bubbles of the early 1700s with those that have occurred in recent times…

Louis XIV died in
1715. He was an old man for the time.
Who inherited the
French throne?

Yes, Louis XV, his great grandson.

The child king Louis
XV did not rule—the government was controlled by Cardinal
Fleury and the Duke of
Orleans, a cousin of the young king .

Orleans was a pleasure loving man, who did his best to look out for his young nephew’s interests—not always the case with some regencies .

Cardinal Fluery was an old man for the time. He was 73 when he took office and
90 when he left!

Fleury loved France, and he also wanted to keep peace.

As Louis XV came of age, he turned out to be a spoiled, handsome, pleasure loving man. He would not be the king his grandfather, Louis
XIV was.

In England, Queen Anne died, and the throne was inherited by a cousin in
Germany—a member of the Geulph family, who lived in Hanover.

George I, the new king, never learned
English!

He also had to deal with uprisings from those who supported the Catholic descendents of James
II.

In 1715, the son of James II landed in
Scotland. He was called the Pretender.

He gathered followers from the highland tribes of Scotland. This revolt was called the
“revolt of ’15 (1715) and it died out.

Thirty years later, the Pretender’s son, known as “Bonnie Prince Charlie” also landed in Scotland.

This time, his supporters got to within 80 miles of
London!

Bonnie Prince Charlie fled, but this time the
Jacobite uprisings were suppressed. The
Highland clans were broken up.

The romantic legend of Bonnie Prince
Charlie continues to this day. . .

As a constitutional monarch, King
George I had a capable Prime
Minister, Walpole.

Walpole was a fascinating man, who had a motto which was “Let sleeping dogs lie.”
What do you think he meant by this?

Together,
Fleury and
Walpole tried to keep peace between their countries and others.

They are known as the bubbles! They wiped out substantial amounts of wealth and nearly ruined governments.

You, students of the 21 st century should know that a similar thing occurred with the Internet over speculation.

Trillions of dollars were lost in the internet and high tech areas. It was thought that those areas would be far more profitable than they are.

A Scottish financier named
John Law traveled to
France. He helped set up a
French national bank, which was a good thing.

He also organized the Mississippi Company, which was a company that had a monopoly on trade in many French-controlled areas, including the Mississippi River Valley in
North America.

This company then assumed the entire
French government debt.

Law also planned to completely reform the
French financial system. This was actually a good idea—but it was quickly thrown out when the Mississippi Company bubble burst.

To buy a share in this company would mean eventual great wealth—as the profit potential was immense!

Thousands bought shares and then sold them quickly for an immense profit!

But, soon, the company failed to meet its profit expectations. Investors began to unload their shares.

The French government had to step in and take back their debt, which had now grown to an immense amount.

In France, The aristocrats refused to bail out the government— they felt the debt belonged to the king .

The debt continued to grow—and over years, it will be one of the long term causes of the French Revolution.

•Walpole had warned about this scheme.
•Thousands lost their savings as had happened in France,
•BUT—big difference, the debt was considered a national debt—the nation stood behind this giant speculation scheme and absorbed the damage it did .

Fleury and Walpole were severely tested by the BUBBLES. But the bubbles did result in a better understanding of how financial machinery works.

Elements of the BUBBLES still occur in our modern world….

Enron was a company that overvalued its stock to make it more attractive to investors.
What is this called?

To cook the books means that accountants use false numbers to create a impression that the company is yielding a high rate of return .

You, too, can go to prison for over-valuing your company.

Back to politics…and the Great War of the 18 th Century. .
.

• Judge for yourself—did England or France handle the
Bubble collapse appropriately?
• You learned the policies of Fluery and Walpole in keeping peace between the two countries
• Identify the cause and persons behind the 1715 and
1745 revolts—
• You also learned how the Stuarts and the Scots were punished for their revolts.
• Compare the Bubbles of the early 1700s with those that have occurred in recent times…