Monday, May 3, 2021

Government Act of May 3, 1791 - Polish Constitution, Second in The World, First in Europe.


 The May Act was an attempt to save the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth after the first partition (1772). In the geopolitical context, it was an attempt to limit interference and external influences, but above all to reject the imposed protectorate of Russia, which from 1768 was the guarantor of the status quo of the Polish state system (the so-called perpetual friendship treaty).

The constitution ended many pathologies of the so-called noble democracy but did not save the country from collapse.