Bank of Lithuania
Collector coin

Dedicated to the 230th anniversary of the Constitution of 3 May and Mutual Pledge of the Commonwealth of the Two Nations

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The Constitution of 3 May 1791 and Mutual Pledge of the Commonwealth of the Two Nations

Established in 1788, the Great Sejm – the parliamentary body of the Polish‑Lithuanian Commonwealth – adopted the Constitution of 3 May in 1791. It was the first written Constitution in Europe and the second in the world, surpassed only by the Constitution of the United States. The Constitution of 3 May attempted to give townspeople rights almost equal to those enjoyed by the nobility. It was also the first document to offer government’s protection to peasants in their relations with landowners. Therefore, the term “nation” used in the Constitution did not only refer to noblemen but also townspeople and even peasants. The parts discussing the nation’s political system were based on Charles Louis de Montesquieu’s (1689–1755) theory of the separation of powers, whereby laws had to be passed by the parliament. Liberum veto, the right of any nobleman of the Sejm to protest against the enactment of legislation and thus halt the Sejm’s operation, was revoked. Although the Sejm had to be chaired by the king, his right to pass legislation was now limited. The king’s influence grew in the field of executive power, election of kings was renounced and the Commonwealth was declared a hereditary monarchy. The Constitution stated that the monarch had to be aided in governing the state by a supreme executive body called the Guard of Laws, consisting of the king and the chairmen (ministers) of the newly established Polish‑Lithuanian central authorities: the Treasury, War and Police Commissions. The Constitution was the final accord in forming the idea of the nation as the integrity and sovereignty of the state. It was not the monarch and the army but each and every one of the country’s citizens who had a duty to defend the nation’s freedom. Therefore, the Polish‑Lithuanian Commonwealth adopted the basic law conforming to the spirit of more modern times and the principles of civil society which enforced the regime of constitutional monarchy.

 

Title page of the Lithuanian manuscript of the Constitution of 3 May 1791
Title page of the Lithuanian manuscript of the Constitution of 3 May 1791

Collector coin

Oath of confirmation of the Constitution of 3 May 1791
Oath of confirmation of the Constitution of 3 May 1791
Painting by Jean Pierre Norblin (1791). The National Library of Poland, POLONA

It is still disputed whether the Constitution of 3 May should be considered Lithuania’s constitution. Despite all the unitary tendencies, the Constitution’s Articles III and IV clearly refer to “the Commonwealth”, therefore – to Poland and Lithuania. Besides common rulers, it also mentions Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas as well as the prerogatives he granted to the Lithuanian nobility.

However, there is an even more important aspect to be stressed here. Right after the adoption of the Constitution, various discussions started: Lithuania’s side thought of the Constitution of 3 May as a necessary compliance in order to strengthen the state (30 out of 50 members of the Sejm from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania voted for the Constitution). As soon as on 16 May, a law was passed stipulating that every third Sejm had to be held in Grodno and that Lithuania’s representatives also had to hold separate sessions. From 24 June, such historical terms as “the Crown” and “the Grand Duchy of Lithuania” were started to be used once again, the term “Polish‑Lithuanian Commonwealth” was now used to name commissions, whereas codification works continued to be carried out separately.

And so, on 20 October 1791, the Lithuanian delegation achieved an agreement at the Great Sejm on the amendment to the Constitution, which was named the Reciprocal Guarantee of Two Nations. The document at the Great Sejm was presented by Kazimierz Nestor Sapieha (1757–1798), whereas the author of the amendment was most likely Tadas Korsakas, judge at Vilnius Land Court. Based on this Guarantee, the key mutual executive authorities that were established in accordance with the Constitution of 3 May – the Army and Treasury Commissions – had to have an equal number of members from Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, while their chairmen had to be Polish and Lithuanian in succession. Although the Guarantee mentioned “the common homeland – the Republic of Poland”, the phrase “both nations” and the name of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were broadly used as well. Hence, the principle of duality was once again embedded in the Constitution of 3 May. The authors of the Constitution’s amendment and their contemporaries acknowledged that this was a continuation of the ideas encompassed by the Union of Lublin, only adjusted to fit the needs of modern society. Having an equal number of Polish and Lithuanian members in the Commissions surpassed even the principles of the Union of Lublin because, according to Hugo Kołłątaj, Polish politician and philosopher (1750–1812), “Lithuania, neither in the number of citizens nor in its assets, amounts to even a third of the Crown”. In accordance with the legal system of the Polish‑Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Reciprocal Guarantee of Two Nations became part of the pacta conventa: a contractual pledge given by elected kings to the state’s nobility, valid since 1573. This meant that future rulers and their successors would also have to make a vow to follow the Guarantee. Thus, in the hierarchy of legal norms, the Reciprocal Guarantee of Two Nations surpassed even the Constitution of 3 May. It could not be amended by extraordinary Sejms that were authorised to amend the Constitution every 25 years.

Polish manuscript of the Constitution of 3 May 1791
Title page of the Lithuanian manuscript of the Constitution of 3 May 1791
Polish manuscript of the Constitution of 3 May 1791. The Central Archives of Historical Records in Warsaw, AGAD |  | Title page of the Lithuanian manuscript of the Constitution of 3 May 1791. The Library of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences and the

This is the reason why the Constitution of 3 May was considered to be the act of Lithuania’s revival. Reforms accelerated Lithuanian society’s political and social development and provided new opportunities to Lithuanian-language culture. It is not a coincidence that the Constitution was then translated into Lithuanian. This was the first political and legal document of this kind, since up until then there were only religious and fiction texts available in the Lithuanian language. The Constitution of 3 May solemnly reads: “With the highest dignity in our hearts, we are enacting this Constitution for the establishment of freedom as well as protection of our homeland and its borders”. 27 out of 33 powiat Sejmiks from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania swore an oath to the Constitution in February 1792, whereas the six remaining Sejmiks consented to it. In this regard, the Constitution had more supporters in Lithuania than it did in Poland, where an oath was sworn by only 10 out of 45 Sejmiks (with 27 Sejmiks consenting to it).

Although the Constitution of 3 May did not even come close to radicality of the laws passed during the French Revolution, it should be considered the tipping point between the Lithuanian and Polish old nobility regime and modern times. The Constitution suffered a terrible fate: the internal reaction – the Targowica Confederation – allied with Russia and forced Stanisław August Poniatowski and the Sejm to renounce the Constitution. The Commonwealth as a whole was also defeated: in 1795, it was ultimately divided between Russia, Austria and Prussia. However, all the 19th-century Lithuanian and Polish uprisings against Russia were ideologically driven by the ideas of the Constitution of 3 May.

The Polish historian Henryk Samsonowicz has named the Constitution of 3 May one of the three most significant documents of the epoch, alongside the Constitution of the United States and France’s Declaration of the Rights of the Man and of the Citizen. Today we are proud that it was Lithuania’s constitution as well.

Prof. Dr. Alfredas Bumblauskas

Coin dedicated to the 230th anniversary of the Constitution of 3 May and Mutual Pledge of the Commonwealth of the Two Nations

Denomination:
€20
Composition:
silver Ag 925
Diameter:
38.61 mm
Weight:
28.28 g
Quality:
proof
Designed by
Giedrius Paulauskis
On the edge of the coin
1791
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Release date
28 April 2021
Mintage
2,500 pcs
Coin price
EUR 69.00 (inclusive of VAT)
Minted at
the Lithuanian Mint

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