In Poland, we celebrate today The Constitution of 3 May 1791, which combined a monarchic republic with a clear division of executive, legislative, and judicial powers. It is generally considered Europe’s first and the world’s second modern written national constitution, after the United States.

16 comments

  1. Fun fact – conservatives (Hetman party), and Church were opposed to the constitution. It was liberals (Familia) who passed it.

    Look it up, and compare modern conservatives and church atitudes 🙂 Church even holds a special mass each year to celebrate 3rd May, and PIS calls its liberal opposition ‟Targowica” despite Targowica treason was a conservative Hetman opposition to liberals and their constitution.

    Politics is funny like that.

  3. ITT: Polish people shitting on their own history cause 226 year old constitution was not perfect and it didn’t save already dead country from further partitioning between historical mortal enemies – Germany, Austria and Russia.

    Seriously guys, get a grip. Have some fucking respect towards your ancestors who gave a shit and tried to save us. Anti-Polish sentiment among Poles on this sub is infuriating, almost as if they were paid to say that crap.

  4. Anybody know how much of an influence Kościuszko and his time fighting as a member of the US Army during the Revolutionary War had on this? He was in the US from 1776 to 1784, which was before the US Constitutional Convention in 1787, but he knew all the key players. There were other less famous Polish guys who came over to help too, so maybe there was some influence there too?

    Just curious if this is a real link between the two constitutions.

  5. Fun fact, another of the modern constitutions in Europe is the corsican one, written in 1755. But it keeps some old particularities, and is not just a text of law. It styas interesting for those curious.

  7. Unfortunately the 1791 constitution was just too late. Well-intentioned, but the partitioning powers weren’t going to stand by and let it happen. Poland and Lithuania should’ve enacted sweeping reforms like, a century earlier, but the political system made it too easy for small number of aristocrats to block legislation.

  8. Then why is PiS constantly against separation of powers and wanting to punish judges?

  10. “Despite all its shortcomings, this Constitution looms up against the background of Russian, Prussian and Austrian barbarism as the only work of liberty which Eastern Europe has ever created independently, and it emerged exclusively from the privileged class, from the nobility. The history of the world has never seen another example of such nobility of the nobility.”

    -Karl Marx

  14. It wasn’t the first modern constitution in Europe. The first modern and democratic constitution in Europe and in the whole world was the Corsican Constitution written in 1755

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