Latest / The Story of Poland: A Nation That Refused to Disappear — Fexingo History
Poland's May 3 Constitution: A Beacon Before the Fall
In 1791, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth adopted Europe's first modern written constitution—and the world's second after the United States. This episode explores the Great Sejm of 1788-1792, the reformist zeal of King Stanisław August Poniatowski and the Patriot Party, and the radical document itself: the Constitution of May 3. We break down its key provisions—abolishing the liberum veto, establishing a hereditary monarchy, granting rights to burghers, and placing peasants under state protection—and trace its brief, turbulent life. The constitution provoked immediate backlash…
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