The Great Sejm of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth adopted the Constitution of May 3, 1791, only the second written national constitution in the world after the United States'. It curtailed the power of the nobility, strengthened the monarchy and central government, and introduced political equality between townspeople and nobles. Alarmed neighboring powers, especially Russia, saw it as a dangerous precedent and invaded within a year, ultimately erasing Poland from the map.
In the spring of 1791, reform-minded deputies in Warsaw pulled off a legislative coup against their own aristocracy. While many nobles were still away for the Easter recess, the Great Sejm rushed through a document that dismantled the notorious 'liberum veto,' the rule that had allowed any single nobleman to paralyze the entire government by shouting his objection.
The Constitution of May 3 established a constitutional monarchy with separation of powers among a bicameral legislature, an executive, and an independent judiciary. It extended civil rights to the burgher class and offered protections to peasants, a startling move in a region still dominated by serfdom. Supporters saw it as the salvation of a state that foreign powers had spent decades manipulating through bribery and internal division.
Catherine the Great of Russia viewed the reforms as a direct threat to her influence over Poland and to the old order generally. Within fourteen months, Russian troops invaded to crush the constitution, backed by conservative Polish nobles who resented losing their privileges. The Second and Third Partitions followed, and by 1795, Poland had vanished from the map of Europe for 123 years. Poles still celebrate May 3 as a national holiday, a monument to a reform that arrived just before the darkness.
Key people: Stanisław August Poniatowski, Catherine the Great