Polish Constitution voted in parliament

Historical Context Note

Pawel Styrna (University of Illinois at Chicago)

Ed. by Ewa M. Thompson, Rice University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.8.3: Polish Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Roman Koropeckyj (University of California, Los Angeles), Ewa M. Thompson (Rice University)

Domains

Regulation of government and electoral processes

Dates

Date of occurrence 1791-05-03

Places

Poland (Location)

Resources

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The Constitution voted in 1791 is considered to be the first modern constitution in Europe and the second in the world, after the United States Constitution (1787). Some, however, consider the Corsican Constitution of 1755 to be the first such document.

Passed by the Four-Year Diet (Sejm) of 1788-1792, the Constitution of the Third of May is significant for a number of reasons. It was an attempt to strengthen and reform the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and to stem its political decline. The document abolished the controversial liberum veto, or the noble privilege to veto any bill passed by the Sejm (one vote against was enough to defeat a bill). Liberum veto allowed foreign powers to bribe deputies to the Sejm to prevent any reforms from being passed in the Commonwealth. The

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270 words

Citation: Styrna, Pawel. "Polish Constitution voted in parliament". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 26 June 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=7115, accessed 25 April 2024.]

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