Laffitte, Jacques
Laffitte, Jacques
(zhäk läfēt`), 1767–1844, French banker and politician. He rose from poverty to become one of the wealthiest and most influential men in France. He was director (1809) and later governor (1814–19) of the Bank of France. Elected a deputy in 1816, his strong support for a constitutional monarchy led to his removal as governor of the bank in 1819. Thrown into the opposition, he used his influence, particularly by encouraging journalists such as Adolphe Thiers, to effect the July RevolutionJuly Revolution,revolt in France in July, 1830, against the government of King Charles X. The attempt of the ultraroyalists under Charles to return to the ancien régime provoked the opposition of the middle classes, who wanted more voice in the government.
..... Click the link for more information. of 1830 and put Louis Philippe on the throne. He was made premier by the new king, but his policy failed to satisfy any of the parties, and his support of the Polish and Italian revolutionaries annoyed the king. He resigned in 1831, by then having lost most of his fortune.
Laffitte, Jacques
Born Oct. 24, 1767, in Bayonne; died May 26, 1844, in Paris. French politician and banker. Governor of the Bank of France from 1814 to 1819.
During the Restoration, Laffitte belonged to the moderate wing of the bourgeois opposition. From 1814 to the end of his life (with a few brief interruptions) he was a member of the Chamber of Deputies. During the July Revolution of 1830 he was a leader of the “municipal commission,” which helped bring Louis Philippe, duke of Orléans, to the throne. From November 1830 to March 1831, Laffitte was the head of the government and minister of finance, after which he retired and left active political life.