Constitution of May 3, 1791

For the painting by Jan Matejko, see Constitution of 3May, 1791 (painting).

Jan Matejko, Constitution of 3 May, 1791, 1891Foreground: King Stanisław August (left) enters St John’s Colle-giate Church where deputies will swear to uphold the Constitu-tion. Background: the Royal Castle where the Constitution hasjust been adopted

The Constitution of 3 May 1791 (Polish: Konstytucja3 maja) was adopted by the Great Sejm (parliament)of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, a dual monar-chy comprising Poland and Lithuania. Drafted over32 months beginning on 6 October 1788, and formallyadopted as the Government Act (Ustawa rządowa), thedocument was designed to redress the Commonwealth’spolitical defects. The system of Golden Freedoms, alsoknown as the “Nobles’ Democracy”, had conferred dis-proportionate rights on the nobility (szlachta) and overtime had corrupted politics. The adoption of the Con-stitution was preceded by a period of agitation for—and gradual introduction of—reforms beginning with theConvocation Sejm of 1764 and the election of StanisławAugust Poniatowski as the Commonwealth’s last king.The constitution sought to supplant the prevailing anar-chy fostered by some of the country’s magnates with amore democratic constitutional monarchy. It introducedelements of political equality between townspeople andnobility, and placed the peasants under the protectionof the government, thus mitigating the worst abuses ofserfdom. It banned parliamentary institutions such as theliberum veto, which had put the Sejm at the mercy of anydeputy who could revoke all the legislation that had beenpassed by that Sejm. The Commonwealth’s neighboursreacted with hostility to the adoption of the constitution.Frederick William II's Kingdom of Prussia broke its al-liance with the Commonwealth, which was attacked andthen defeated in the War in Defence of the Constitutionby an alliance between Catherine the Great's Imperial

Russia and the Targowica Confederation of anti-reformPolish magnates and landless nobility. The King, a prin-cipal co-author, eventually capitulated to the Confeder-ates.The 1791 document remained in force for less than19 months; it was annulled by the Grodno Sejm on23 November 1793. By 1795, the Second and ThirdPartitions of Poland ended the existence of the sovereignPolish state. Over the next 123 years, the Constitu-tion of 3 May, 1791, was seen as proof of successfulinternal reform and as a symbol promising the even-tual restoration of Poland’s sovereignty. In the words oftwo of its co-authors, Ignacy Potocki and Hugo Kołłą-taj, it was “the last will and testament of the expiringCountry.”[lower-alpha 1] British historian Norman Daviesdescribed the document as “the first constitution of itstype in Europe"; others have called it the world’s second-oldest codified national constitution after the 1789 U.S.Constitution.[2][3][4][5][lower-alpha 2]

1 Background

Main articles: History of the Polish–LithuanianCommonwealth (1648–1764) and History of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1764–95)

Polish constitutionalism can be traced to the 13th century,when government by consensus and representation wasalready well established in the young Polish state. Theemergence of parliamentary bodies, the sejm and sejmiki,followed. By the 17th century, Poland’s legal and politi-cal tradition was characterized by: parliamentary institu-tions and a system of checks and balances on state power,which was itself limited by decentralization; the idea ofa contractual state, embodied in texts like the HenricianArticles and the Pacta conventa; the concept of individ-ual liberties; and the notion that the monarch owed dutiesto his subjects. This system, which primarily benefitedthe Polish nobility (szlachta), came to be known as the"nobles’ democracy".[7]

1.1 End of the Golden Age

The 1791 Constitution was a response to the increas-ingly perilous situation in the Polish–Lithuanian Com-monwealth,[8] which had been a major European poweronly a century earlier and was still the largest state on

1

2 1 BACKGROUND

the continent.[9] In the 1590s, at the peak of the nobles’democracy, King Sigismund III Vasa's court preacher—the Jesuit Piotr Skarga—had condemned the weaknessesof the Commonwealth.[10] In the same period, writers andphilosophers such as Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski[11] andWawrzyniec Grzymała Goślicki,[12] and the egzekucjapraw (Execution-of-the-Laws) reform movement led byJan Zamoyski had advocated political reforms.[13] As hewas struggling with the Sejm, in 1661 Sigismund’s sonKing John Casimir—whose reign saw highly destructivewars and obstructionism by the nobility—correctly pre-dicted that the Commonwealth was in danger of a parti-tion by Russia, Brandenburg and Austria.[14]

Rejtan, by Matejko; in September 1773, Tadeusz Rejtan (lowerright) tried to prevent ratification of the First Partition ofthe Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by barring other Sejmdeputies from the chamber.

As the Sejm failed to implement sufficient reforms, thestate machinery became increasingly dysfunctional. Amajor cause of the Commonwealth’s downfall was theliberum veto (“free veto”), which since 1652 had allowedany Sejm deputy to nullify all the legislation enacted bythat Sejm.[7][15] As a result, deputies bribed by magnatesor foreign powers—primarily from the Russian Empire,the Kingdom of Prussia and France—or deputies who be-lieved they were living in an unprecedented “Golden Age”paralysed the Commonwealth’s government for over acentury.[7][15][16] The threat of the liberum veto could onlybe overridden by the establishment of a "confederatedsejm", which was immune to the liberum veto.[17] Declar-ing that a sejm either constituted a "confederation" orbelonged to one was a contrivance prominently used byforeign interests in the 18th century to force a legislativeoutcome.[18]

By the early 18th century, the magnates of Poland andLithuania controlled the state, ensuring that no reformsthat might weaken their privileged status (the "GoldenFreedoms") would be enacted.[19] The ineffective monar-chs who were elected to the Commonwealth throne inthe early 18th century,[20] Augustus II the Strong andAugustus III of Poland of the House of Wettin, did notimprove matters. The Wettins, used to the absolute rulepracticed in their native Saxony, tried to govern throughintimidation and the use of force, which led to a seriesof conflicts between their supporters and opponents—

including another pretender to the Polish throne, KingStanisław Leszczyński.[20] Those conflicts often took theform of confederations—legal rebellions against the kingpermitted under the Golden Freedoms—including theWarsaw Confederation (1704), Sandomierz Confedera-tion, Tarnogród Confederation, Dzików Confederationand the War of the Polish Succession.[20] Only 8 outof 18 Sejm sessions during the reign of Augustus II(1694–1733) passed legislation.[21] For 30 years duringthe reign of Augustus III, only one session was able to passlegislation.[22] The government was near collapse, givingrise to the term “Polish anarchy”, and the country wasmanaged by provincial assemblies and magnates.[22]

Other reform attempts in the Wettin era were led by indi-viduals such as Stanisław Dunin-Karwicki, Stanisław A.Szczuka, Kazimierz Karwowski and Michał Józef Mas-salski; these mostly proved to be futile.[16][20]

1.2 Early reforms

King Stanisław II August, principal author of the Constitution. Ayear later he acquiesced in its overthrow.

The Enlightenment greatly influenced certain Common-wealth circles during the 1764–95 reign of its last king,Stanisław II August Poniatowski. Poniatowski was an“enlightened” Polish magnate who had been a deputyto several Sejms between 1750 and 1764 and had adeeper understanding of Polish politics than previousmonarchs.[23] The Convocation Sejm of 1764, whichelected Poniatowski to the throne, was controlled bythe Czartoryski family's reformist Familia party and wasbacked up by Russian military forces, which the Czarto-

1.2 Early reforms 3

ryskis invited.[24] In exchange for passing decrees fa-vorable to them, the Russians and Prussians let theconfederated Convocation Sejm enact a number of re-forms, including the weakening of liberum veto and en-suring it no longer applied to treasury and economicmatters.[23][24][25] A more comprehensive reform pack-age was presented by Andrzej Zamoyski, but oppositionfrom Prussia, Russia and the Polish nobility thwarted thisambitious program, which proposed to decide on all mo-tions by majority voting.[24] In part because his electionwas imposed by Empress Catherine the Great, Ponia-towski’s political position was weak from the beginning.He proceeded with cautious reforms such as the establish-ment of fiscal and military ministries and the introduc-tion of a national customs tariff, which was soon aban-doned because of opposition from Frederick the Great ofPrussia.[24] These measures had already been authorizedby the Convocation Sejm; more legislative and executiveimprovements inspired by Familia or the King were im-plemented during and after the 1764 Sejm.[24]

From his election, King Stanisław August Poniatowski worked todevelop an executive government council. In 1775 the PartitionSejm established a Permanent Council, after Russia's Catherinethe Great concluded it would serve her purposes.[26]

The Commonwealth’s magnates viewed reform with sus-picion and neighboring powers, content with the deterio-ration of the Commonwealth, abhorred the thought of aresurgent and democratic power on their borders.[27] Withthe Commonwealth Army reduced to around 16,000,it was easy for its neighbors to intervene directly—the Imperial Russian Army numbered 300,000 and thePrussian Army and Imperial Austrian Army had 200,000each.[28]

Russia’s Empress Catherine and Prussia’s King Freder-ick II provoked a conflict between members of the Sejmand the King over civil rights for religious minorities,such as Protestants and Greek Orthodox whose positions,which were guaranteed equal with the Catholic major-ity by the Warsaw Confederation of 1573, had wors-ened considerably.[25][29][30][31] Catherine and Frederickdeclared their support for the szlachta and their “liber-ties”, and by October 1767 Russian troops had assembled

outside Warsaw in support of the conservative RadomConfederation.[30][31][32] The King and his adherents hadlittle choice but to acquiesce to Russian demands. Dur-ing the Repnin Sejm (named after the unofficially presid-ing Russian ambassador Nicholas Repnin) the King ac-cepted the five “eternal and invariable principles” whichCatherine had vowed to “protect for all time to come inthe name of Poland’s liberties": the election of kings, theright of liberum veto, the right to renounce allegiance toand raise rebellion against the king (rokosz), the szlachta ' s exclusive right to hold office and land, and landown-ers’ power over their peasants.[25][27][30][31] Thus all theprivileges (“Golden Freedoms”) of the nobility that hadmade the Commonwealth ungovernable were guaranteedas unalterable in the Cardinal Laws.[30][31][32] The Cardi-nal Laws and the rights of “religious dissenters” passedby the Repnin Sejm were personally guaranteed by Em-press Catherine. By these acts of legislation, for the firsttime, Russia formally intervened in the Commonwealth’sconstitutional affairs.[33]

During the 1768 Sejm, Repnin showed his disregard forlocal resistance by arranging the abduction and impris-onment of Kajetan Sołtyk, Józef A. Załuski, WacławRzewuski and Seweryn Rzewuski, all vocal opponentsof foreign domination and the recently proclaimedpolicies.[34] The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth hadlegally and practically become a protectorate of the Rus-sian Empire.[35] Nonetheless, several minor beneficial re-forms were adopted, political rights of the religious mi-norities were restored and the need for more reforms wasbecoming increasingly recognized.[31][34]

In 1791 the “Great” (Four-Year) Sejm (1788–92) and Senateadopted the Constitution at Warsaw’s Royal Castle.

King Stanisław August’s acquiescence to the Russian in-tervention encountered some opposition. On February29, 1768, several magnates—including Józef Pułaski andhis young son Kazimierz Pułaski (Casimir Pulaski)—vowing to oppose Russian influence, declared StanisławAugust a lackey of Russia and Catherine, and formed aconfederation at the town of Bar.[34][36][37] The Bar Con-federation focused on limiting the influence of foreignersin Commonwealth affairs, and being pro-Catholic wasgenerally opposed to religious tolerance.[36] It began a

4 2 ADOPTION

civil war to overthrow the King, but its irregular forceswere overwhelmed by Russian intervention in 1772.[27]

The defeat of the Bar Confederation set the scene for thepartition treaty of August 5, 1772, which was signed atSaint Petersburg by Russia, Prussia and Austria.[36] Thetreaty divested the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealthof about a third of its territory and population—over200,000 km2 (77,220 sq mi) and 4 million people.[38]

The three powers justified their annexation, citing an-archy in the Commonwealth and its refusal to cooper-ate with its neighbors’ efforts to restore order.[39] KingStanisław August yielded and on April 19, 1773, he calledthe Sejm into session. Only 102 of about 200 deputiesattended what became known as the Partition Sejm. Therest were aware of the King’s decision and refused. De-spite protests from the deputy Tadeusz Rejtan and others,the treaty—later known as the First Partition of Poland—was ratified.[38]

Royal Castle Senate Chamber, where the Constitution wasadopted

The first of the three successive 18th-century partitionsof Commonwealth territory that would eventually removePoland’s sovereignty shocked the Commonwealth’s in-habitants and made it clear to progressive minds thatthe Commonwealth must either reform or perish.[38] Inthe thirty years before the Constitution, there was a ris-ing interest among progressive thinkers in constitutionalreform.[40] Before the First Partition, a Polish noble,Michał Wielhorski was sent to France by the Bar Confed-eration to ask the philosophes Gabriel Bonnot de Mablyand Jean-Jacques Rousseau for their suggestions on anew constitution for a reformed Poland.[41][42][43][44][45]

Mably submitted his recommendations Du gouverne-ment et des lois en Pologne (The Government and Lawsof Poland) in 1770–71, whereas Rousseau finished hisConsiderations on the Government of Poland in 1772when the First Partition was already underway.[46] Worksadvocating the need for reform and presenting specific so-lutions were published in the Commonwealth by Polish–Lithuanian thinkers: On an Effective Way of Councilsor on the Conduct of Ordinary Sejms (1761–63), byStanisław Konarski, founder of the Collegium Nobilium;

Political Thoughts on Civil Liberties (1775) and PatrioticLetters (1778–78), by Józef Wybicki, author of the lyricsof the Polish National Anthem; (Anonymous Letters toStanisław Małachowski (1788–89) and The Political Lawof the Polish Nation (1790), by Hugo Kołłątaj, head ofthe Kołłątaj’s Forge party; and Remarks on the Life ofJan Zamoyski (1787), by Stanisław Staszic.[44][47] IgnacyKrasicki's satires of the Great Sejm era were also seenas crucial to giving the constitution moral and politicalsupport.[48]

A new wave of reforms supported by progressive mag-nates such as the Czartoryski family and King StanisławAugust were introduced at the Partition Sejm.[32][49][50]

The most important included the 1773 establishmentof the Commission of National Education (KomisjaEdukacji Narodowej)—the first ministry of educationin the world.[38][50][51][52] New schools were opened,uniform textbooks were printed, teachers received bet-ter education and poor students were provided withscholarships.[38][50] The Commonwealth’s military wasto be modernized and funding to create a larger stand-ing army was agreed.[53] Economic and commercialreforms—including some intended to cover the increasedmilitary budget previously shunned as unimportant bythe szlachta—were introduced.[49][50][53] A new execu-tive assembly, the 36-strong Permanent Council compris-ing five ministries with limited legislative powers, was es-tablished, giving the Commonwealth a governing body inconstant session between Sejms and therefore immune totheir liberum veto disruptions.[32][38][49][50]

In 1776, the Sejm commissioned former chancellor An-drzej Zamoyski to draft a new legal code.[40] By 1780, heand his collaborators had produced the Zamoyski Code(Zbiór praw sądowych). It would have strengthened royalpower, made all officials answerable to the Sejm, placedthe clergy and their finances under state supervision, anddeprived landless szlachta of many of their legal immuni-ties. The Code would also have improved the situation ofnon-nobles—townspeople and peasants.[54] Zamoyski’sprogressive legal code, containing elements of constitu-tional reform, met with opposition from native conserva-tive szlachta and foreign powers; the 1780 Sejm did notadopt it.[40][54][55]

2 Adoption

Main article: Great Sejm

Małachowski

5

Kołłątaj

Potocki

Staszic

Piattoli

An opportunity for reform occurred during the “GreatSejm”—also called the “Four-Year Sejm”—of 1788–92,which began on October 6, 1788, with 181 deputies. Inaccordance with the Constitution’s preamble, from 1790it met “in dual number” when 171 newly elected deputiesjoined the earlier-established Sejm.[32][47][56] On its sec-ond day, the body became a confederated sejm to avoidthe liberum veto.[47][57][58] Concurrent world events ap-peared to have been opportune for the reformers.[32] Rus-sia and Austria were at war with the Ottoman Empire, andthe Russians found themselves simultaneously fighting inthe Russo-Swedish War, 1788–1790.[32][59][60][61] A newalliance between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealthand Prussia seemed to provide security against Russianintervention, and King Stanisław August drew closer toleaders of the reform-minded Patriotic Party.[32][62][63]

The Sejm passed few major reforms in its first two years,but the subsequent two years brought more substantialchanges.[58] The Sejm adopted the 1791 Free Royal CitiesAct, which was formally incorporated into the final con-stitution. This act addressed a number of matters related

to the cities, crucially expanding burghers’ (i.e., towns-people’s) rights, including electoral rights.[64][65] Whilethe Sejm comprised representatives of the nobility andclergy, the reformers were supported by the burghers,who in late 1789 organized in Warsaw a "Black Pro-cession" demanding full political enfranchisement of thebourgeoisie.[63] On 18 April 1791 the Sejm—fearing thatthe burghers’ protests, if ignored, could turn violent, asthey had in France not long before—adopted the FreeRoyal Cities Act.[66]

The new constitution was drafted by the King, withcontributions from Ignacy Potocki, Hugo Kołłątaj andothers.[32][48] The King is credited with writing the gen-eral provisions and Kołłątaj with giving the documentits final shape.[48][58] Stanisław August wanted the Com-monwealth to become a constitutional monarchy similarto that of Great Britain, with a strong central govern-ment based on a strong monarch.[58] Potocki wanted theSejm to be the strongest branch of government. Kołłą-taj wanted a “gentle” revolution, carried out without vi-olence, to enfranchise other social classes in addition tothe nobility.[58]

The proposed reforms were opposed by the conserva-tives, including the Hetmans’ Party.[47][67] Threatenedwith violence by their opponents, the advocates of thedraft began the debate on the Government Act two daysearly, while many opposing deputies were away on Easterrecess.[68] The debate and subsequent adoption of theGovernment Act was executed as a quasi-coup d'état.No recall notices were sent to known opponents of re-form, while many pro-reform deputies secretly returnedearly.[68] The royal guard under the command of theKing’s nephew Prince Józef Poniatowski were positionedabout the Royal Castle, where the Sejm was gathered,to prevent opponents from disrupting the proceedings.[68]

On May 3, the Sejm convened with only 182 members,about half its “dual” number.[65][68] The bill was read andoverwhelmingly adopted, to the enthusiasm of the crowdsoutside.[69] A protest was submitted the next day by asmall group of deputies, but on May 5 the matter wasofficially concluded and protests were invalidated by theConstitutional Deputation of the Sejm.[70] It was the firsttime in the 18th century that a constitutional act had beenpassed in the Commonwealth without the involvement offoreign powers.[70]

Soon after, the Friends of the Constitution (ZgromadzeniePrzyjaciół Konstytucji Rządowej)—which included manyparticipants in the Great Sejm—was organised to defendthe reforms already enacted and to promote further ones.It is now regarded as the first modern-style political partyin Poland’s history.[48][71] The response to the new con-stitution was less enthusiastic in the provinces, wherethe Hetmans’ Party enjoyed considerable influence.[69]

General support among the middle nobility was cru-cial and still very substantial; most of the provincial se-jmiks deliberating in 1791 and early 1792 supported theconstitution.[72]

6 3 FEATURES

3 Features

Original manuscript of the Constitution written in Polish

The Polish constitution was one of several to reflect En-lightenment influences, in particular Rousseau’s socialcontract and Montesquieu's advocacy of a separationand balance of powers between the three branchesof government and his advocacy of a bicamerallegislature.[7][32][45][73][74] Once the government was es-tablished, it aimed to ensure, in accordance with ArticleV, that “the integrity of the states, civil liberty, and socialorder shall always remain in equilibrium”.[32][73][74] Ac-cording to Polish-American historian Jacek Jędruch, theliberality of its provisions “fell somewhere below [thoseof] the French, above the Canadian, and left the Prussianfar behind”, but did not equal the American Constitu-tion".[65] King Stanisław August Poniatowski said the newconstitution was “founded principally on those of Eng-land and the United States of America, but avoiding thefaults and errors of both, and adapted as much as pos-sible to the local and particular circumstances of thecountry.”[75] George Sanford said that the Polish consti-tution provided “a constitutional monarchy close to theEnglish model of the time.”[32]

Article I acknowledged the Roman Catholic faith as the“dominant religion”, but guaranteed tolerance and free-dom to all religions.[32][61] It was less progressive than the16th-century Warsaw Confederation, and placed Polandclearly within the Catholic sphere of influence.[76] Ar-

ticle II confirmed many old privileges of the nobility,stressing that all nobles are equal and should enjoy per-sonal security and the right to property.[77] Article IIIstipulated that the earlier Free Royal Cities Act (MiastaNasze Królewskie Wolne w Państwach Rzeczypospolitej)of April 18 (or 21), 1791, was integral to the constitu-tion. Personal security—neminem captivabimus, the Pol-ish habeas corpus act—was extended to townspeople (in-cluding Jews). Townspeople also gained the right to ac-quire landed property and became eligible for militaryofficers’ commissions and public offices, such as reservedseats in the Sejm and seats in the executive commissionsof the Treasury, the Police and the Judiciary.[7][66] Mem-bership of the nobility was also made easier for burghersto acquire.[78]

With half a million burghers in the Commonwealthnow substantially enfranchised, political power becamemore equally distributed, but little was done about theless politically conscious and active classes, such asthe Jews and peasants.[59][76][77][79] Although Article IVplaced the Commonwealth’s peasantry under the pro-tection of the national law—a first step toward enfran-chising the country’s largest and most oppressed so-cial class—the low status of the peasantry as comparedto other classes was not eliminated, as the constitutiondid not abolish serfdom.[77][79][80][lower-alpha 3] Not untilthe Second Partition and Kościuszko’s Proclamation ofPołaniec in 1794 would the Polish government begin toabolish serfdom.[82]

Article V stated that “all power in civil society [shouldbe] derived from the will of the people.”[7] The consti-tution referred to the country’s “citizens”, which for thefirst time in Polish legislation was meant to include towns-people and peasants, as well as nobles.[7][70] The doc-ument’s preamble and 11 individual articles introducedthe principle of popular sovereignty applied to the nobil-ity and townspeople, and the separation of powers intolegislative (a bicameral Sejm), executive (“the King andthe Guardians”, the Guardians of the Laws being thenewly established top governmental entity) and judicialbranches.[32][73][83] It advanced the democratization ofthe polity by limiting the excessive legal immunities andpolitical prerogatives of landless nobility.[66][77][80][84]

Legislative power, as defined in Article VI, rested with thebicameral parliament (an elected Sejm and an appointedSenate) and the king.[80][85] The Sejm met “ordinarily”every two years and “extraordinarily” whenever requiredby a national emergency.[80][85] Its lower chamber—theChamber of Deputies (Izba Poselska)—comprised 204deputies (2 from each powiat, 68 each from the provincesof Greater Poland, Lesser Poland and the Grand Duchyof Lithuania) and 21 plenipotentiaries of royal cities (7from each province).[32][80] The royal chancellery wasto inform the sejmiks of the legislation it intended topropose in advance, so that the deputies would havetime to prepare for the discussions.[85] The Sejm’s upperchamber—the Chamber of Senators (Izba Senacka)—

7

1791 printed edition

comprised between 130[80] and 132[32] (sources vary)senators (voivodes, castellans, and bishops, as well asgovernments ministers without the right to vote).[32][80]

The Senate was presided over by the king, who had onevote which could be used to break ties.[80] The king andall deputies had legislative initiative, and most matters—known as general laws, and divided into constitutional,civil, criminal, and those for the institution of perpetualtaxes—required a simple majority, first from the lowerchamber, then from the upper one.[81] For the moreunique resolutions, such as for treaties of alliance, dec-larations of war and peace, ennoblements and increasesin national debt, a majority vote of both chambers vot-ing jointly was needed.[81] The Senate (but not the king)had a suspensive veto over the laws that the Sejm passed,applicable until the next Sejm session, when it could beoverruled.[7][80]

Article VI also recognized the Prawo o sejmikach, the acton regional assemblies (sejmiks) that had been passed onMarch 24, 1791.[65][86] By reducing the enfranchisementof the noble classes, this law introduced major changesto the electoral ordinance.[64] Previously, all nobles hadbeen eligible to vote in sejmiks, which de facto meant thatmany of the poorest, landless nobles—known as “clients”

or “clientele” of local magnates—voted as the magnatesbade them.[32][64] Now the voting right was tied to a prop-erty qualification: one had to own or lease land and paytaxes, or be closely related to somebody who did, tobe eligible to vote.[65][87] 300,000 of 700,000 previouslyeligible nobles were thus disfranchised, much to theirdispleasure.[64] Voting rights were restored to landownerswho were in military service. They had lost these rightsin 1775.[64] Voting was limited to males of at least 18years of age.[80] The eligible voters elected deputies tolocal powiats, or county sejmiks, which elected deputiesto the General Sejm.[80]

Finally, Article VI explicitly abolished several institu-tional sources of government weakness and national an-archy, including the liberum veto (which was replacedby a simple majority vote), confederations and confeder-ated sejms, and the excessive influence of sejmiks stem-ming from the previously binding nature of their instruc-tions to their Sejm deputies.[32][65] The confederationswere declared “contrary to the spirit of this constitution,subversive of government and destructive of society”.[88]

Thus the new constitution strengthened the powers ofthe Sejm, moving the country towards a constitutionalmonarchy.[32][65]

Executive power, according to Article V and Article VII,was in the hands of “the king in his council”, a cabinet ofministers called the Guardians of the Laws (or Guard ofthe Laws, Straż Praw).[88] The ministries could not createor interpret the laws and all acts of the foreign ministrywere provisional and subject to the Sejm’s approval.[88]

The king presided over this council, which was com-posed of the Roman Catholic Primate of Poland—whowas also president of the Education Commission—andfive ministers appointed by the king: a minister of po-lice, a minister of the seal (internal affairs), a minister offoreign affairs, a minister belli (of war), and a minister oftreasury.[80] Council members also included—without avote—the Crown Prince, the Marshal of the Sejm, andtwo secretaries.[88] This royal council descended fromsimilar councils that had functioned since King Henry’sArticles (1573), and from the recent Permanent Council.Acts of the king required the countersignature of the re-spective minister.[89] A minister was required to cosigna law if the king demanded it, unless that minister re-fused and all other ministers unanimously endorsed hisobjection, in which case the king could withdraw the lawor press the issue by taking it before the parliament.[81]

The stipulation that the king, “doing nothing of himself,... shall be answerable for nothing to the nation,” paral-lels the British constitutional principle that "The king cando no wrong.” (In both countries, the respective minis-ter was responsible for the king’s acts.)[89][90] The min-isters were responsible to the Sejm, which could dismissthem by a vote of no confidence with a two-third majorityin both houses.[32][65][80] Ministers could be also held ac-countable by the Sejm court, and a simple majority votewas sufficient for the Sejm to demand that a minister face

8 3 FEATURES

an impeachment trial.[32][89] The king was the nation’scommander-in-chief, commanding its armies; the insti-tution of the hetman (high-ranking military official) wasnot mentioned.[89] The king also had the right to grantpardon except in cases of treason.[81] The decisions of theroyal council were carried out by commissions, includingthe previously created Commission of National Educa-tion, and the new Commissions for Police, the Militaryand the Treasury, whose members were elected by theSejm.[89]

The copy of the Manuscript of the Constitution in Lithuanianlanguage[91]

The constitution also changed the government froman elective monarchy in its unique Polish variant to ahereditary monarchy.[32][65][92] This provision was in-tended to reduce the destructive, vying influences offoreign powers at each royal election.[93][lower-alpha 4] Theroyal dynasty was elective, and if it were to die out anew one would be chosen by “the Nation”.[88] The kingheld the throne “by the grace of God and the will ofthe Nation”, and “all authority derives from the will ofthe Nation.”[32][80] The institution of pacta conventa waspreserved.[89] On Stanisław August’s death the Polishthrone would become hereditary and pass to FrederickAugustus I of Saxony of the House of Wettin, whichhad provided Poland’s two most recent elective kings be-fore Stanisław August.[65][89] This provision was contin-gent upon Frederic Augustus’ consent, but he declinedwhen the offer was presented to him by Adam Czarto-

ryski.[65][lower-alpha 5]

Discussed in Article VIII, the judiciary was separatedfrom the two other branches of the government,[80][89]

and was to be served by elective judges.[80] Courts offirst instance existed in each voivodeship and were in con-stant session,[80] with judges elected by the regional se-jmik assemblies.[81] Appellate tribunals were establishedfor the provinces, based on the reformed Crown Tribunaland Lithuanian Tribunal.[80] The Sejm elected from itsdeputies the judges for the Sejm court, a precursor tothe modern State Tribunal of Poland.[80][89] Referendarycourts were established in each province to hear the casesof the peasantry.[89] Municipal courts, described in thelaw on towns, complemented this system.[89]

Article IX covered procedures for regency, which shouldbe taken up jointly by the council of the Guardians,headed by the Queen, or in her absence by thePrimate.[81][97] Article X stressed the importance of ed-ucation of royal children and tasked the Commissionof National Education with this responsibility.[97] Thelast article of the constitution, Article XI, concernedthe national standing army.[81] Said army was definedas a “defensive force” dedicated “solely to the nation’sdefense”.[81] The army was to be increased in strength to100,000 men.[98]

To further enhance the Commonwealth’s integrationand security, the constitution abolished the erstwhileunion of Poland and Lithuania in favor of a unitarystate.[48][99] Its full establishment, supported by StanisławAugust and Kołlątaj, was opposed by many Lithua-nian deputies.[99] As a compromise, the Grand Duchyof Lithuania received numerous privileges guarantee-ing its continued existence.[99] Related acts included theDeklaracja Stanów Zgromadzonych (Declaration of theAssembled Estates) of May 5, 1791, confirming the Gov-ernment Act adopted two days earlier, and the Zaręcze-nie Wzajemne Obojga Narodów (Reciprocal Guaranteeof Two Nations, i.e., of the Crown of the Kingdom ofPoland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania) of October22, 1791, affirming the unity and indivisibility of Polandand the Grand Duchy within a single state and their equalrepresentation in state-governing bodies.[75][100] The Re-ciprocal Guarantee strengthened the Polish–Lithuanianunion while keeping many federal aspects of the stateintact.[99][101][102]

The Constitution of the 3rd May was also translated intoLithuanian, that marked the significant change in the up-per society way of thinking, marked the efforts of themodernization the the State.[103][104][105]

The Constitution remained to the last a work in progress.The provisions of the Government Act were detailed in anumber of laws passed in May and June 1791: on sejmcourts (two acts of May 13), the Guardians of the Laws(June 1), the national police commission (a ministry, June17) and municipal administration (June 24). The consti-tution included provisions for amendments, which were

9

to be dealt with by an extraordinary Sejm held every25 years.[65][85] Its co-author Hugo Kołłątaj announcedthat work was underway on “an economic constitution ...guaranteeing all rights of property [and] securing protec-tion and honor to all manner of labor ...”.[106] A thirdplanned basic law was mentioned by Kołłątaj; a “moralconstitution”, most likely a Polish analog to the UnitedStates Bill of Rights and the French Declaration of theRights of Man and of the Citizen.[106] The constitutioncalled for the preparation of a new civil and criminal code,tentatively called the Stanisław August Code.[97][107] TheKing also planned a reform improving the situation of theJews.[107]

4 Aftermath: war and the final twopartitions

Main article: Polish–Russian War of 1792

The constitution remained in effect for little over ayear before being overthrown by Russian armies alliedwith conservative Polish nobility in the Polish–RussianWar of 1792, also known as the War in Defense ofthe Constitution.[69] With the wars between Turkey andRussia and Sweden and Russia having ended, EmpressCatherine was furious over the adoption of the docu-ment, which she believed threatened Russian influencein Poland.[60][61][108] Russia had viewed Poland as a defacto protectorate.[109] “The worst possible news havearrived from Warsaw: the Polish king has become al-most sovereign” was the reaction of one of Russia’s chiefforeign policy authors, Alexander Bezborodko, when helearned of the new constitution.[110] The contacts of Pol-ish reformers with the Revolutionary French National As-sembly were seen by Poland’s neighbors as evidence ofa revolutionary conspiracy and a threat to the absolutemonarchies.[111][112] The Prussian statesman Ewald vonHertzberg expressed the fears of European conservatives:“The Poles have given the coup de grâce to the Prussianmonarchy by voting a constitution”, elaborating that astrong Commonwealth would likely demand the return ofthe lands Prussia acquired in the First Partition.[110][113]

Magnates who had opposed the constitution draftfrom the start, Franciszek Ksawery Branicki, StanisławSzczęsny Potocki, Seweryn Rzewuski, and Szymon andJózef Kossakowski, asked Tsarina Catherine to interveneand restore their privileges—the Cardinal Laws abolishedunder the new statute.[69] To that end these magnatesformed the Targowica Confederation.[69] The Confedera-tion’s proclamation, prepared in St. Petersburg in January1792, criticized the constitution for contributing to “con-tagion of democratic ideas” following “the fatal examplesset in Paris”.[114][115] It asserted that “The parliament ...has broken all fundamental laws, swept away all libertiesof the gentry and on the third of May 1791 turned into

a revolution and a conspiracy.”[116] The Confederates de-clared an intention to overcome this revolution. We “cando nothing but turn trustingly to Tsarina Catherine, a dis-tinguished and fair empress, our neighboring friend andally”, who “respects the nation’s need for well-being andalways offers it a helping hand”, they wrote.[116]

Russian armies entered Poland and Lithuania, starting thePolish–Russian War of 1792.[69] The Sejm voted to in-crease the army of the Commonwealth to 100,000 men,but owing to insufficient time and funds this number wasnever achieved and soon abandoned even as a goal.[69][117]

The Polish King and the reformers could field only a37,000-man army, many of them untested recruits.[118]

This army, under the command of Józef Poniatowskiand Tadeusz Kościuszko, defeated or fought to a drawthe Russians on several occasions, but in the end, a de-feat loomed inevitable.[69] Despite Polish requests, Prus-sia refused to honor its alliance obligations.[119] StanisławAugust’s attempts at negotiations with Russia provedfutile.[120] As the front lines kept shifting to the westand in July 1792 Warsaw was threatened with siege bythe Russians, the King came to believe that victory wasimpossible against the numerically superior enemy, andthat surrender was the only alternative to total defeat.[120]

Having received assurances from the Russian ambassadorYakov Bulgakov that no territorial changes will occur, theGuardians of the Laws cabinet voted 8:4 to surrender.[120]

On July 24, 1792, King Stanisław August Poniatowskijoined the Targowica Confederation, as the Empress haddemanded.[69] The Polish Army disintegrated.Many reform leaders, believing their cause was for nowlost, went into self-imposed exile. Some hoped thatStanisław August would be able to negotiate an accept-able compromise with the Russians, as he had donein the past.[120] But the King had not saved the Com-monwealth and neither had the Targowica Confeder-ates, who governed the country for a short while. Totheir surprise, the Grodno Sejm, bribed or intimidatedby the Russian troops, enacted the Second Partition ofPoland.[69][69][115][121] On November 23, 1793, it con-cluded its deliberations under duress, annulling the con-stitution and acceding to the Second Partition.[122][123]

Russia took 250,000 square kilometres (97,000 sq mi),while Prussia took 58,000 square kilometres (22,000 sqmi).[121] The Commonwealth now comprised no morethan 215,000 square kilometres (83,000 sq mi).[124] Whatwas left of the Commonwealth was merely a small bufferstate with a puppet king, and Russian garrisons keepingan eye on the reduced Polish army.[124][125]

For a year and a half, Polish patriots waited while plan-ning an insurrection.[121] On March 24, 1794 in Kraków,Tadeusz Kościuszko declared what has come to be knownas the Kościuszko Uprising.[121] On May 7, he issued theProclamation of Połaniec (Uniwersał Połaniecki), grant-ing freedom to the peasants and ownership of land to allwho fought in the insurrection. Revolutionary tribunalsadministered summary justice to those deemed traitors

10 5 LEGACY

to the Commonwealth.[121] After initial victories at theBattle of Racławice (April 4), the capture of Warsaw(April 18) and the Wilno (April 22)—the Uprising wascrushed when the forces of Russia, Austria and Prussiajoined in a military intervention.[126] Historians considerthe Uprising’s defeat to have been a foregone conclusionin face of the superiority in numbers and resources ofthe three invading powers. The defeat of Kościuszko’sforces led in 1795 to the third and final partition of theCommonwealth.[126]

5 Legacy

5.1 Historical significance

Unfinished Temple of Divine Providence, in Warsaw’s BotanicalGardens, at Ujazdów Avenue; the cornerstone was laid by KingStanisław II August and his brother, Primate Michał Jerzy Poni-atowski, on May 3, 1792, to commemorate the Constitution ofMay 3, 1791.

The constitution has been both idealized and criticizedfor either not going far enough or for being too radical.[74]

As it remained in force for only 18 months and 3 weeks,its influence was in any case limited.[126] For generations,the memory of the constitution—recognized by politi-cal scientists as a progressive document for its time—helped keep alive Polish aspirations for an independentand just society, and continued to inform the efforts ofits authors’ descendants.[7][32] Bronisław Dembiński, aPolish constitutional scholar, stated a century later that,“The miracle of the Constitution did not save the statebut did save the nation.”[7] In Poland it is mythologized,and viewed as a national symbol and the culmination ofenlightenment in Polish history and culture.[32][45] In thewords of two of its co-authors, Ignacy Potocki and HugoKołłątaj, it was “the last will and testament of the ex-piring Country.”[lower-alpha 1][1] The May 3 anniversary ofits adoption has been observed as Poland’s most impor-tant civil holiday since Poland regained independence in1918.[127]

The constitution was a milestone in the history of law

and the rise of democracy.[5][128] Irish statesman EdmundBurke described it as “the noblest benefit received byany nation at any time ... Stanislas II has earned a placeamong the greatest kings and statesmen in history.”[73][93]

It was the first to follow the 1788 ratification of the UnitedStates Constitution.[128][129] Poland and the United States,though geographically distant, displayed similarities intheir approaches to the design of political systems.[128]

The May 3 Constitution has been called the second con-stitution in world history.[4][58] American expert on con-stitutional law Albert Blaustein called it the “world’ssecond national constitution”,[2] and American journal-ist Bill Moyers wrote that it was “Europe’s first codi-fied national constitution (and the second oldest in theworld)".[3] British historian Norman Davies calls it “thefirst constitution of its type in Europe”.[5][lower-alpha 2] To-gether with the Great Sejm, it has been subject to a largebody of works by Polish scholars, starting with the still-often cited 19th-century works of Walerian Kalinka andWładysław Smoleński, and continued in the 20th centuryby Bogusław Leśnodorski.[45]

The document’s official name was Ustawa Rządowa(“Government Act”), where “government” referred tothe political system.[58] In the Commonwealth, the term“constitution” (Polish: konstytucja) had denoted all thelegislation, of whatever character, that had been passedby a Sejm.[130]

5.2 Holiday

Medal commemorating the Constitution of May 3, 1791, issuedthat year

Main article: May 3rd Constitution Day

May 3 was declared a Polish holiday (Constitution Day—Święto Konstytucji 3 Maja) on May 5, 1791.[131] The hol-iday was banned during the partitions of Poland but re-

11

instated in April 1919 under the Second Polish Repub-lic—the first holiday officially introduced in the newlyindependent country.[127][131][132] It was again outlawedduring World War II by both the Nazi and Soviet occu-piers. It was celebrated in Polish cities in May 1945, al-though in a mostly spontaneous manner.[127] The 1946anti-communist demonstrations did not endear it to thePolish communists, and it competed for attention withthe communist-endorsed May 1 Labor Day celebrationsin the Polish People’s Republic; this led to its “rebrand-ing” as Democratic Party Day and removal from the listof national holidays by 1951.[127][131] Until 1989, May3 was a frequent occasion for anti-government and anti-communist protests.[127] May 3 was restored as an offi-cial Polish holiday in April 1990 after the fall of com-munism.[131] In 2007, May 3 was declared a Lithuaniannational holiday.[133] Polish-American pride has been cel-ebrated on the same date, for instance in Chicago, wheresince 1982 Poles have marked it with festivities and theannual Polish Constitution Day Parade.[134]

6 Notes

[1] Machnikowski uses the word Fatherland.[1] The Englishtranslation of the Constitution of May 3, 1791, byChristopher Kasparek, reproduced in Wikisource, ren-ders "ojczyzna" as “country” (the usual English-languageequivalent), e.g. at the end of section II, “The LandedNobility”. The English cognate of the Polish "ojczyzna"is "fatherland" – both words are calques of the Latin "pa-tria,” itself derived from "pater" (“father”).

[2] The claims of “first” and “second constitution” have beendisputed, particularly as different scholars define the wordconstitution differently. Both the U.S. and Polish consti-tutions were preceded by earlier ones, including some alsotermed constitutions, for example, the Corsican Constitu-tion of 1755.[6] See history of the constitution.

[3] The contemporaneous United States Constitution sanc-tioned the continuation of slavery. Thus neither of thetwo constitutions enfranchised all its adult male popula-tion: the U.S. Constitution excluded the slaves; the PolishConstitution – the peasants.[81]

[4] Stanisław August had been elected as king in 1764 thanksto the significant support of his ex-mistress, RussianTsarina Catherine the Great.[94] The Russians spent about2.5 million rubles to support his election, Poniatowski’ssupporters and opponents engaged in some military pos-turing and even minor clashes, and in the end, the Rus-sian army was deployed only a few miles from the electionsejm, which met at Wola near Warsaw.[95][96]

[5] In 1807, Napoleon persuaded Frederic Augustus tobecome the king of the Duchy of Warsaw estab-lished by the French Emperor on lands of the formerCommonwealth.[48]

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[6] Dorothy Carrington (July 1973). “The Corsi-can constitution of Pasquale Paoli (1755–1769)".The English Historical Review 88 (348): 481.doi:10.1093/ehr/lxxxviii.cccxlviii.481. JSTOR 564654.

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[65] Jacek Jędruch (1998). Constitutions, elections, and legisla-tures of Poland, 1493–1977: a guide to their history. EJJBooks. p. 178. ISBN 978-0-7818-0637-4. RetrievedAugust 13, 2011.

[66] Jacek Jędruch (1998). Constitutions, elections, and legisla-tures of Poland, 1493–1977: a guide to their history. EJJBooks. p. 175. ISBN 978-0-7818-0637-4. RetrievedAugust 13, 2011.

[67] Marceli Handelsman (1907). Konstytucja trzeciego Majar. 1791 [Constitution of May 3] (in Polish). Druk. Naro-dowa. pp. 50–52. Retrieved August 18, 2011.

[68] Jacek Jędruch (1998). Constitutions, elections, and legisla-tures of Poland, 1493–1977: a guide to their history. EJJBooks. p. 177. ISBN 978-0-7818-0637-4. RetrievedAugust 13, 2011.

14 7 REFERENCES

[69] Jacek Jędruch (1998). Constitutions, elections, and legisla-tures of Poland, 1493–1977: a guide to their history. EJJBooks. pp. 184–185. ISBN 978-0-7818-0637-4. Re-trieved August 13, 2011.

[70] Józef Andrzej Gierowski (1986). Historia Polski, 1764–1864 [History of Poland, 1764–1864] (in Polish). Państ-wowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe. pp. 83–86. ISBN 978-83-01-03732-1. Retrieved June 18, 2012.

[71] Poland; Jerzy Kowecki (1991). Konstytucja 3 Maja1791 [Constitution of May 3] (in Polish). PaństwoweWydawnictwo Naukowe. p. 51.

[72] Stanisław Grodziski (1999). Polska w czasach przełomu:(1764–1815) [Poland at the Turning point (1764–1815)](in Polish). Fogra. p. 129. ISBN 978-83-85719-45-8.Retrieved June 18, 2012.

[73] Joseph Kasparek-Obst (June 1, 1980). The constitutionsof Poland and of the United States: kinships and geneal-ogy. American Institute of Polish Culture. p. 42. ISBN978-1-881284-09-3.

[74] Juliusz Bardach; Bogusław Leśnodorski; Michał Pietrzak(1993). Historia ustroju i prawa polskiego [History of thePolish State and Law] (in Polish). PWN. p. 318. ISBN978-83-01-11026-0.

[75] Joseph Kasparek-Obst (June 1, 1980). The constitutionsof Poland and of the United States: kinships and geneal-ogy. American Institute of Polish Culture. p. 40. ISBN978-1-881284-09-3.

[76] Hillar, Marian (1992). “The Polish Constitution of May3, 1791: Myth and Reality”. The Polish Review 37 (2):185–207. JSTOR 25778627.

[77] Jerzy Lukowski (August 3, 2010). Disorderly liberty: thepolitical culture of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealthin the eighteenth century. Continuum International Pub-lishing Group. p. 227. ISBN 978-1-4411-4812-4. Re-trieved September 23, 2011.

[78] Józef Andrzej Gierowski (1986). Historia Polski, 1764–1864 [History of Poland, 1764–1864] (in Polish). Państ-wowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe. p. 83. ISBN 978-83-01-03732-1. Retrieved June 18, 2012.

[79] J. K. Fedorowicz; Maria Bogucka; Henryk Samsonowicz(1982). A Republic of nobles: studies in Polish history to1864. Cambridge University Press. p. 252. ISBN 978-0-521-24093-2. Retrieved July 5, 2011.

[80] Jacek Jędruch (1998). Constitutions, elections, and legisla-tures of Poland, 1493–1977: a guide to their history. EJJBooks. pp. 181–182. ISBN 978-0-7818-0637-4. Re-trieved August 13, 2011.

[81] Wagner, W. J. (1991). “May 3, 1791, and the Polish con-stitutional tradition”. The Polish Review 36 (4): 383–395.JSTOR 25778591.

[82] Stanisław Grodziski (1999). Polska w czasach przełomu:(1764–1815) [Poland at the Turning point (1764–1815)](in Polish). Fogra. p. 157. ISBN 978-83-85719-45-8.Retrieved June 18, 2012.

[83] Stanisław Grodziski (1999). Polska w czasach przełomu:(1764–1815) [Poland at the Turning point (1764–1815)](in Polish). Fogra. p. 114. ISBN 978-83-85719-45-8.Retrieved June 18, 2012.

[84] Joseph Kasparek-Obst (June 1, 1980). The constitutionsof Poland and of the United States: kinships and geneal-ogy. American Institute of Polish Culture. p. 51. ISBN978-1-881284-09-3.

[85] Jerzy Lukowski (August 3, 2010). Disorderly liberty: thepolitical culture of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealthin the eighteenth century. Continuum International Pub-lishing Group. p. 228. ISBN 978-1-4411-4812-4. Re-trieved September 23, 2011.

[86] Joseph Kasparek-Obst (June 1, 1980). The constitutionsof Poland and of the United States: kinships and geneal-ogy. American Institute of Polish Culture. p. 31. ISBN978-1-881284-09-3.

[87] Jacek Jędruch (1998). Constitutions, elections, and legisla-tures of Poland, 1493–1977: a guide to their history. EJJBooks. p. 174. ISBN 978-0-7818-0637-4. RetrievedAugust 13, 2011.

[88] Jerzy Lukowski (August 3, 2010). Disorderly liberty: thepolitical culture of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealthin the eighteenth century. Continuum International Pub-lishing Group. p. 229. ISBN 978-1-4411-4812-4. Re-trieved September 23, 2011.

[89] Jerzy Lukowski (August 3, 2010). Disorderly liberty: thepolitical culture of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealthin the eighteenth century. Continuum International Pub-lishing Group. p. 230. ISBN 978-1-4411-4812-4. Re-trieved September 23, 2011.

[90] Joseph Kasparek-Obst (June 1, 1980). The constitutionsof Poland and of the United States: kinships and geneal-ogy. American Institute of Polish Culture. pp. 45–49.ISBN 978-1-881284-09-3.

[91] Old Lithuanian texts

[92] Joseph Kasparek-Obst (June 1, 1980). The constitutionsof Poland and of the United States: kinships and geneal-ogy. American Institute of Polish Culture. pp. 45–46.ISBN 978-1-881284-09-3.

[93] Jacek Jędruch (1998). Constitutions, elections, and legisla-tures of Poland, 1493–1977: a guide to their history. EJJBooks. p. 180. ISBN 978-0-7818-0637-4. RetrievedAugust 13, 2011.

[94] Jerzy Michalski (2011). “Stanisław August Poniatowski”.Polski Słownik Biograficzny (in Polish) 41. Drukarnia Uni-wersytetu Jagiellońskiego. p. 616.

[95] Norman Davies (March 30, 2005). God’s Playground:The origins to 1795. Columbia University Press. p. 390.ISBN 978-0-231-12817-9. Retrieved August 13, 2011.

[96] Bartłomiej Szyndler (January 2009). RacŁawice 1794.Bellona. p. 64. ISBN 978-83-11-11606-1. RetrievedJune 18, 2012.

15

[97] Jerzy Lukowski (August 3, 2010). Disorderly liberty: thepolitical culture of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealthin the eighteenth century. Continuum International Pub-lishing Group. p. 231. ISBN 978-1-4411-4812-4. Re-trieved September 23, 2011.

[98] Jeremy Black (2004). Kings, nobles and commoners:states and societies in early modern Europe, a revisionisthistory. I.B.Tauris. p. 59. ISBN 978-1-86064-986-8.

[99] Juliusz Bardach; Bogusław Leśnodorski; Michał Pietrzak(1993). Historia ustroju i prawa polskiego [History of thePolish State and Law] (in Polish). PWN. p. 309. ISBN978-83-01-11026-0.

[100] Poland; Jerzy Kowecki (1991). Konstytucja 3 Maja1791 [Constitution of May 3] (in Polish). PaństwoweWydawnictwo Naukowe. pp. 105–107. Retrieved July6, 2011.

[101] Maria Konopka-Wichrowska (August 13, 2003). “My,Litwa” [We, Lithuania] (in Polish). Podkowiański Maga-zyn Kulturalny. Retrieved September 12, 2011. Ostatnimbyło Zaręczenie Wzajemne Obojga Narodów przy Kon-stytucji 3 Maja, stanowiące część nowych paktów kon-wentów – zdaniem historyka prawa Bogusława Leśnodor-skiego: “zacieśniające unię, ale utrzymujące nadal federa-cyjny charakter Rzeczypospolitej Obojga Narodów” [Thelast was the Reciprocal Guarantee of Two Nations at Con-stitution of 3 May, forming a part of the new pacta con-venta – according to the law historian Bogusław Leśnodor-ski “tightening the union, but retaining the federal charac-ter of the Commonwealth of Both Nations”.

[102] Bardach, Juliusz (1992). “The Constitution of May Thirdand the mutual assurance of the Two Nations”. The PolishReview 36 (4): 407–420. JSTOR 25778593.

[103] Tumelis, Juozas (1978). “Gegužės Trečiosios konstitu-cijos ir Ketverių metų seimo nutarimų lietuviškas verti-mas”. Lietuvos istorijos metraštis (in Lithuanian) (Vilnius:Lietuvos istorijos institutas): 95–105. ISSN 0202-3342.Retrieved April 6, 2014.

[104] Old Lithuanian texts

[105] Tomas Baranauskas: Ką Lietuvai reiškė Gegužės 3-osiosKonstitucija? “Vienalaikis Konstitucijos vertimas į lietu-vių kalbą yra reikšmingas mūsų istorijos faktas – Gegužės3-osios Konstitucija buvo pirmasis valstybės įstatymas,netrukus po jos priėmimo išverstas į lietuvių kalbą. Nuočia prasideda lietuvių kalbos kelias į valstybės kanceliar-iją. Lietuviškai atsišaukimus jau leido Kosciuškos suk-ilimo vyriausybė, tad lietuvių kalbos vartojimo poreikistarp Konstitucijos šalininkų buvo akivaizdus.” “At thesame time, the Constitution was translated into Lithua-nian language. The Constitution was the first state law,issued in Lithuanian language. Since then, the journeyof Lithuanian language into the State Chancellery began:documents of Kosciuszko uprising [in Vilnius and else-where] were issued in Lithuanian and the need of usingLithuanian language among the proponents of the Consti-tution was obvious”.

[106] Joseph Kasparek-Obst (June 1, 1980). The constitutionsof Poland and of the United States: kinships and geneal-ogy. American Institute of Polish Culture. pp. 231–232.ISBN 978-1-881284-09-3.

[107] Jerzy Michalski (2011). “Stanisław August Poniatowski”.Polski Słownik Biograficzny (in Polish) 41. Drukarnia Uni-wersytetu Jagiellońskiego. p. 627.

[108] Paul W. Schroeder (1996). The transformation of Euro-pean politics, 1763–1848. Oxford University Press. p. 84.ISBN 978-0-19-820654-5. Retrieved July 5, 2011.

[109] Jerzy Lukowski; Hubert Zawadzki (2001). A concise his-tory of Poland. Cambridge University Press. p. 84. ISBN978-0-521-55917-1. Retrieved July 5, 2011.

[110] Krzysztof Bauer (1991). Uchwalenie i obrona Konstytucji3 Maja [Passing and Fall of the May 3 Constitution] (inPolish). Wydawnictwa Szkolne i Pedagogiczne. p. 167.ISBN 978-83-02-04615-5.

[111] Francis W. Carter (1994). Trade and urban developmentin Poland: an economic geography of Cracow, from its ori-gins to 1795. Cambridge University Press. p. 192. ISBN978-0-521-41239-1.

[112] Norman Davies (March 30, 2005). God’s Playground:The origins to 1795. Columbia University Press. p. 403.ISBN 978-0-231-12817-9. Retrieved August 18, 2011.

[113] Carl L. Bucki (May 3, 1996). “Constitution Day: May 3,1791”. Polish Academic Information Center. RetrievedSeptember 21, 2008.

[114] Robert Howard Lord (1915). The second partition ofPoland: a study in diplomatic history. Harvard UniversityPress. p. 275. Retrieved September 22, 2011.

[115] Michal Kopeček (2006). Discourses of collective identityin Central and Southeast Europe (1770–1945): texts andcommentaries. Central European University Press. pp.282–284. ISBN 978-963-7326-52-3. Retrieved Septem-ber 22, 2011.

[116] Michal Kopeček (2006). Discourses of collective identityin Central and Southeast Europe (1770–1945): texts andcommentaries. Central European University Press. pp.284–285. ISBN 978-963-7326-52-3. Retrieved Septem-ber 22, 2011.

[117] Józef Andrzej Gierowski (1986). Historia Polski, 1764–1864 [History of Poland, 1764–1864] (in Polish). Państ-wowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe. pp. 78–82. ISBN 978-83-01-03732-1. Retrieved June 18, 2012.

[118] Juliusz Bardach; Bogusław Leśnodorski; Michał Pietrzak(1993). Historia ustroju i prawa polskiego [History of thePolish State and Law] (in Polish). PWN. p. 317. ISBN978-83-01-11026-0.

[119] Jerzy Łojek (1986). Geneza i obalenie Konstytucji 3 maja[Genesis and Fall of the Constitution of 3 May] (in Polish).Wydawn. Lubelskie. pp. 325–326. ISBN 978-83-222-0313-2.

16 8 FURTHER READING

[120] Jerzy Michalski (2011). “Stanisław August Poniatowski”.Polski Słownik Biograficzny (in Polish) 41. Drukarnia Uni-wersytetu Jagiellońskiego. p. 628.

[121] Jacek Jędruch (1998). Constitutions, elections, and legisla-tures of Poland, 1493–1977: a guide to their history. EJJBooks. pp. 186–187. ISBN 978-0-7818-0637-4.

[122] Norman Davies (March 30, 2005). God’s Playground:The origins to 1795. Columbia University Press. p. 254.ISBN 978-0-231-12817-9. Retrieved August 13, 2011.

[123] David Pickus (2001). Dying With an Enlightening Fall:Poland in the Eyes of German Intellectuals, 1764–1800.Lexington Books. p. 118. ISBN 978-0-7391-0153-7.

[124] Richard C. Frucht (2005). Eastern Europe: an introduc-tion to the people, lands, and culture. ABC-CLIO. p. 16.ISBN 978-1-57607-800-6. Retrieved January 10, 2012.

[125] Lynne Olson; Stanley Cloud (September 16, 2003). Aquestion of honor: the Kościuszko Squadron : the forgottenheroes of World War II. Knopf. p. 20. ISBN 978-0-375-41197-7. Retrieved January 10, 2012.

[126] Jacek Jędruch (1998). Constitutions, elections, and legisla-tures of Poland, 1493–1977: a guide to their history. EJJBooks. pp. 188–189. ISBN 978-0-7818-0637-4. Re-trieved August 13, 2011.

[127] Rafał Kowalczyk; Łukasz Kamiński (May 3, 2008).“Zakazane święta PRLu” [Forbidden holidays of PRL] (inPolish). Polskie Radio Online. Retrieved July 4, 2011.

[128] John Markoff (1996). Waves of democracy: social move-ments and political change. Pine Forge Press. p. 121.ISBN 978-0-8039-9019-7. Retrieved May 30, 2011. Thefirst European country to follow the U.S. example wasPoland in 1791.

[129] Isaac Kramnick (1987). “Introduction”. In James Madi-son; Alexander Hamilton; John Jay. The Federalist papers.Penguin. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-14-044495-7. RetrievedMay 30, 2011.

[130] Jerzy Kowalski (2009). Konstytucja Federacji Rosyjskieja Rosyjska i Europejska tradycja konstytucyjna [Constitu-tion of the Russian Federation and Russian and EuropeanConstitutional Tradition] (in Polish). PWP Iuris. p. 136.ISBN 978-83-89363-69-5. Retrieved June 18, 2012.

[131] “Konstytucja 3 Maja – rys historyczny” [Constitution ofMay 3 – Historical Overview] (PDF) (in Polish). City ofWarsaw. Retrieved July 4, 2011.

[132] Iwona Pogorzelska (2002). “Prezentacja na podstawieartykułu Romany Guldon “Pamiątki Konstytucji 3 Majaprzechowywane w zasobie Archiwum Państwowego wKielcach."" [Presentation on the basis of Romana Gul-don’s article “Relics of Constitution of May 3 kept in thecollections of National Archives in Kielce] (in Polish). Al-manach Historyczny, T. 4, Kielce. Retrieved July 4, 2011.

[133] “Rok 2007: Przegląd wydarzeń" [Year 2007: Overview ofEvents] (in Polish). Tygnodnik Wileńszczyzny. February2008. Retrieved July 4, 2011.

[134] “Thousands Attend Polish Constitution Day Parade”.CBS. May 7, 2011. Retrieved July 4, 2011.

8 Further reading• Blackburn, Edwin C. (1991). “Stanislaus Leszczyn-

ski and the Polish Constitution of May 3, 1791”.The Polish Review 36 (4): 397–405. JSTOR25778592.

• Butterwick, Richard (2005). “Political Discoursesof the Polish Revolution, 1788–92”. The En-glish Historical Review 120 (487): 695–731.doi:10.1093/ehr/cei126. JSTOR 3489412.

• Duzinkiewicz, Janusz. Fateful Transformations:The Four Years’ Parliament and the Constitution ofMay 3, 1791. New York: Columbia UniversityPress. ISBN 0-88033-265-4.

• Fiszman, Samuel (1997). Constitution and Reformin Eighteenth-Century Poland: The Constitution of 3May 1791. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.ISBN 0-253-33317-2.

• Fried, Daniel (2009). “Poland, America, and theArc of History”. The Polish Review 54 (2): 141–146. JSTOR 25779807.

• Gierowski, Józef Andrzej (1996). The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the XVIIIth Century:From Anarchy to Well-Organised State. Translatedfrom Polish by Henry Leeming. Krakow: PolishAcademy of Sciences. ISBN 83-86956-15-1.

• Hoskins, Janina W. (1976). "'A Lesson Which AllOur Countrymen Should Study': Jefferson ViewsPoland”. The Quarterly Journal of the Library ofCongress 33 (1): 29–46. JSTOR 29781662.

• Kadziela, Łukasz; Strybel, Robert (1994). “The1794 Kościuszko Insurrection”. The Polish Review39 (4): 387–392. JSTOR 27920649.

• Lukowski, Jerzy (1999). The Partitions of Poland:1772, 1793, 1795. London: Longman. ISBN 0-582-29274-3.

• Lukowski, Jerzy (2004). “Political Ideas amongthe Polish Nobility in the Eighteenth Century (To1788)". The Slavonic and East European Review 82(1): 1–26. JSTOR 4213847.

• Murphy, Curtis G. (2012). “Burghers versusBureaucrats: Enlightened Centralism, the RoyalTowns, and the Case of the Propinacja Law inPoland-Lithuania, 1776–1793”. Slavic Review 71(2): 385–409. doi:10.5612/slavicreview.71.2.0385.JSTOR 10.5612/slavicreview.71.2.0385.

• Polska (1985). Ustawodawstwo Sejmu Wielkiego z1791 r [Legislation of the Great Sejm of 1791] (inPolish). Polska Akad. Nauk, Bibl. Kórnicka. Re-trieved June 18, 2012. – compilation of facsimilereprints of 1791 legislation pertinent to the Consti-tution of May 3, 1791.

17

• Emanuel Rostworowski (1985). Maj 1791-maj1792—rok monarchii konstytucyjnej [May 1791 –May 1792: the Year of Constitutional Monarchy](in Polish). Zamek Królewski w Warszawie. ISBN978-83-00-00961-9. Retrieved June 18, 2012.

• Stone, Daniel (1981). “Daniel Hailes and the PolishConstitution of May 3, 1791”. The Polish Review 26(2): 51–63. JSTOR 25777821.

• Stone, Daniel (1993). “The First (and Only) Year ofthe May 3 Constitution”. Canadian Slavonic Papers35 (1/2): 69–86. JSTOR 40869459.

9 External links• Photos of original document

• New constitution of the government of Poland, es-tablished by the revolution, the third of May, 1791.London : printed for J. Debrett, 1791. - original oldbook, on the free access online library Polona

• Polishconstitution.org: Site about the May 3 Consti-tution that includes a partial English translation byChristopher Kasparek.

18 10 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

10 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

10.1 Text• Constitution of May 3, 1791 Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_May_3%2C_1791?oldid=676679940 Contributors:

The Epopt, Mav, Gabbe, Zanimum, Ahoerstemeier, Palfrey, Tpbradbury, Maximus Rex, Grendelkhan, Topbanana, Raul654, Italo Svevo,Pigsonthewing, Fredrik, Postdlf, Halibutt, Hadal, UtherSRG, Cautious, Lysy, Lupin, Fastfission, Waltpohl, Iota, Kpalion, Bobblewik,Wmahan, Tipiac, Neilc, Stevietheman, Beland, Piotrus, Emax, Balcer, Rlquall, Mozzerati, Neutrality, Iggi, Trilobite, Reinthal, Twenex,Shuffdog, CanisRufus, Zscout370, Sfahey, Shanes, Sietse Snel, P.B.~enwiki, Giraffedata, Anthony Appleyard, Geo Swan, Logologist,WhiteC, Spangineer, Evil Monkey, Ghirlandajo, Nightstallion, Kitch, Megan1967, Woohookitty, Lokyz, Ardfern, Xaliqen, Lawe, Table-top, Mandarax, Rjwilmsi, Coemgenus, Koavf, Czalex, Brighterorange, Witkacy, Volunteer Marek, VolatileChemical, Duckypedia, Wave-length, RussBot, Renata3, Syrthiss, Deucalionite, BOT-Superzerocool, Crisco 1492, Tuckerresearch, Deville, Zzuuzz, Silverhorse, Maisoui!, Curpsbot-unicodify, Appleseed, NickelShoe, SmackBot, Elonka, Eskimbot, Srnec, Antidote, Ian Rose, Hmains, ERcheck, Christhe speller, Colonies Chris, D-Rock, Dr. Dan, KaiserbBot, Stevenmitchell, Dharmabum420, Steve Pucci, Orczar, The PIPE, Bejnar,Ceoil, Ohconfucius, John, Mathiasrex, JHunterJ, Mr Stephen, HJMG, Shoeofdeath, Richard75, Bobamnertiopsis, Longlivefolkmusic, Dlo-hcierekim, Vanisaac, Eastlaw, Drminius~enwiki, Mellery, CmdrObot, Mukow, Bonás, Umedard, GHe, Cydebot, M.K, Asenine, Gim-metrow, Biruitorul, DavidHolden, Headbomb, Sobreira, RobDe68, Top.Squark, Iulius, Gustavo Szwedowski de Korwin, AntiVandalBot,Luckz, Severo, Catgut, Hamiltonstone, NoychoH, EyeSerene, CommonsDelinker, J.delanoy, DrKiernan, All Is One, Thaurisil, Dispenser,Johnbod, DorganBot, Idioma-bot, Speciate, Malik Shabazz, The Duke of Waltham, GimmeBot, Dawidbernard, SteveStrummer, PDFbot,Orestek, Legoktm, Romuald Wróblewski, SieBot, TCO, Nihil novi, VVVBot, Lightmouse, Bartlomiejkot~enwiki, JJ Williams, Sfan00IMG, ClueBot, Hutcher, PipepBot, Niceguyedc, Auntof6, Pernambuko, Alexbot, Sun Creator, Arjayay, Doprendek, Dank, Kolakowski,Indopug, Martim33, Good Olfactory, Addbot, Narayansg, Harrymph, Mnmazur, LaaknorBot, Baffle gab1978, LinkFA-Bot, Tassedethe,Lightbot, Kiril Simeonovski, Luckas-bot, Ptbotgourou, Ajh1492, AnomieBOT, Citation bot, Eumolpo, Madalibi, Xqbot, TechBot, British-Watcher, Frosted14, Shadowjams, FrescoBot, GiW, D'ohBot, Grandiose, Чаховіч Уладзіслаў, RjwilmsiBot, Dvrodenko, EmausBot, Johnof Reading, WikitanvirBot, GA bot, Jenks24, Ego White Tray, ClueBot NG, Frietjes, Helpful Pixie Bot, Redverton, Frze, Avocato-Bot, Glacialfox, MathewTownsend, BattyBot, Ling.Nut3, EagerToddler39, Dexbot, Mymis, Pracar, Žemėpatis, Eric Corbett, Finnusertop,Oliszydlowski, Ithinkicahn, Monkbot, PointsofNoReturn, Blueye, Pamishelisz and Anonymous: 97

10.2 Images• File:Chamber_of_Polish_Senate_in_Warsaw_Royal_Castle.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/

Chamber_of_Polish_Senate_in_Warsaw_Royal_Castle.png License: CC BY 3.0 Contributors: Image taken by User:Mathiasrex MaciejSzczepańczyk Original artist: own work

• File:Commons-logo.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg License: ? Contributors: ? Originalartist: ?

• File:Constitution_of_May_3_in_Lithuanian_language.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Constitution_of_May_3_in_Lithuanian_language.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Scan from A.Bumblauskas, Senosios Lietuvosistorija 1009 - 1795 Original artist: unknown early 19th century scribe

• File:Hugon_Kołłątaj.PNG Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/Hugon_Ko%C5%82%C5%82%C4%85taj.PNG License: Public domain Contributors: web (similar: [1]) Original artist: Józef Peszka

• File:Ignacy_Potocki_2.JPG Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/Ignacy_Potocki_2.JPG License: Public do-main Contributors: Original author unknown. Image source: scanned or photographed from album Wilanów Collection. Published by theWilanów Palace Museum, Warsaw 2005 Original artist: Anna Rajecka

• File:Konstytucja_3_Maja.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/Konstytucja_3_Maja.jpg License: Pub-lic domain Contributors: National Museum of Poland Catalogue (for better resolution: calendar with pictures of Matejko) Original artist:Jan Matejko

• File:Manuscript_of_the_Constitution_of_the_3rd_May_1791.PNG Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/Manuscript_of_the_Constitution_of_the_3rd_May_1791.PNG License: Public domainContributors: http://dziedzictwo.polska.pl/katalog/skarb,Rekopis_Konstytucji_3_Maja_z_1791_roku,gid,111046,cid,1074.htm Original artist: Ignacy Potocki (1750–1809), Hugo Kołłątaj(1750–1812), Stanisław August Poniatowski (1732–1798)

• File:May_constitution_pre20th_cent_book_cover.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/May_constitution_pre20th_cent_book_cover.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: [1] Original artist: Unknown

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