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He was born at Versailles, the son of Jerôme de Pontchartrain , secretary of state for the marine and the royal household. Maurepas succeeded to his father's charge at fourteen, and began his functions in the royal household at seventeen, while on August 16, 1723 he undertook the actual administration of the navy, a position he held until April 23, 1749. Although essentially light and frivolous in character, Maurepas was seriously interested in scientific matters, and he used the best brains of France to apply science to questions of navigation and of naval construction .
He was disgraced in 1749, and exiled from Paris for an epigram against Madame de Pompadour. On the accession of Louis XVILouis XVI of France ( August 23, 1754 January 21, 1793) succeeded his grandfather ( Louis XV of France) as King of France on May 10, 1774; he was crowned on June 11, 1775. His father, the Louis dauphin son of Marie Leszczynska, had died in 1765. Louis was in 1774Events January 21 Mustafa III, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire dies and is succeeded by his brother Abd-ul-Hamid I. May 10 Louis XVI becomes King of France. June 2 Intolerable Acts: The Quartering Act, requiring American colonists to let British soldiers int, twenty-five years later, he became a minister of state and Louis XVI's chief adviserThe Prime Minister of France Premier ministre de la France is the functional head of the Cabinet of France. In the Fifth Republic the chief political figure in France is the President with the Prime Minister having secondary importance. However when there, a position he held until 1781. He gave TurgotAnne Robert Jacques Turgot, Baron de Laune often referred to as Turgot ( May 10, 1727 ? March 18, 1781), was a French statesman and economist. Born in Paris, he was the youngest son of Michel Etienne Turgot, "provost of the merchants" of Paris, and Madele the direction of financeThe Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industry Ministre de l'Economie, des Finances et de l'Industrie , or Minister of Finances for short, is arguably the third most important official in the French government, after the President and Prime Minister., placed Lamoignon-MalesherbesGuillaume-Chretien de Lamoignon de Malesherbes often referred to as Malesherbes or Lamoignon-Malesherbes ( December 6, 1721 April 23, 1794) was a French statesman, minister, and afterwards counsel for the defence of Louis XVI. Born at Paris from a famous over the royal household and made VergennesCharles Gravier, Comte de Vergennes ( 20 December, 1717 13 February, 1787) was a French statesman and diplomat. Born in Dijon, France, he was introduced to the profession of diplomacy by his uncle, M. de Chavigny, under whom he saw his first service at Li minister for foreign affairs. At the outset of his new career he showed his weakness by recalling to their functions, in deference to popular clamour, the members of the old parlement ousted by Maupeou, thus reconstituting the most dangerous enemy of the royal power. This step, and his intervention on behalf of the American states, helped to pave the way for the French Revolution.
Jealous of his personal ascendancy over Louis XVI, he intrigued against Turgot, whose disgrace in 1776 was followed after six months of disorder by the appointment of Necker. In 1781 Maurepas deserted Necker as he had done Turgot, and he died at Versailles on November 21, 1781.
Maurepas is credited with contributions to the collection of facetiae known as the Etrennes de la Saint Jean (2nd ed., 1742). Four volumes of Memoires de Maurepas, purporting to be collected by his secretary and edited by J.L.G. Soulavie in 1792, must be regarded as apocryphal. Some of his letters were published in 1896 by the Soc. de l'hist. de Paris. His eloge in the Academy of Sciences was pronounced by Condorcet.
This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. 1911 Britannica