A renewed attempt had been made to tax France's privileged and exempted groups, but it was not merely the death of Louis XV in May 1774 that ruined the chancellor: the immediate restoration of the parlements by Louis XVI had been followed by a renewal of the quarrels between the new king and the magistrature.

Maupeou and Terray had been replaced on August 24, 1774, by Miromesnil, then by Malesherbes, recalled from his exile in 1775 to be Secretary of State of the Maison du Roi, and by the economist Turgot.