Latest / The Story of Poland: A Nation That Refused to Disappear — Fexingo History
Poland's 1791 Constitution: Europe's First and a Nation's Last Hope
In 1791, as Poland-Lithuania faced annihilation by its absolutist neighbors, the Great Sejm passed the Constitution of 3 May — Europe's first written constitution and the world's second after the U.S. Constitution. This episode explores how King Stanisław August Poniatowski, reformers like Hugo Kołłątaj and Stanisław Małachowski, and the patriotic middle nobility crafted a document that abolished the liberum veto, created a hereditary monarchy, and guaranteed civil rights for burghers and some protection for peasants. We trace the dramatic four-year debate, the secret sessions, the…
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