Reforms of Catherine 2 (briefly)
Catherine 2, like most monarchs who reigned for any significant time, sought to carry out reforms. Moreover, she inherited Russia in a difficult situation: the army and navy were weakened, there was a large external debt, corruption, the collapse of the judicial system, etc., etc. Next, we will briefly describe the essence of the transformations carried out during the reign of Empress Catherine 2.
Provincial reform:
“Institution for the administration of the provinces of the All-Russian Empire” was adopted on November 7, 1775. Instead of the previous administrative division into provinces, provinces and districts, territories began to be divided into provinces and districts. The number of provinces increased from twenty-three to fifty. They, in turn, were divided into 10-12 counties. The troops of two or three provinces were commanded by a governor-general, otherwise called a governor. Each province was headed by a governor, appointed by the Senate and reporting directly to the empress. The vice-governor was in charge of finances, and the Treasury Chamber was subordinate to him. The highest official of the district was the police captain. The centers of the counties were cities, but since there were not enough of them, 216 large rural settlements received city status.
Judicial reform:
Each class had its own court. The nobles were tried by the zemstvo court, the townspeople by magistrates, and the peasants by reprisals. Conscientious courts were also established, consisting of representatives of all three classes, which performed the function of a conciliatory authority. All these courts were elective. A higher authority were the judicial chambers, whose members were appointed. And the highest judicial body Russian Empire there was a Senate.
Secularization reform:
It was held in 1764. All monastic lands, as well as the peasants living on them, were transferred to the jurisdiction of a specially established College of Economy. The state took upon itself the maintenance of monasticism, but from that moment it acquired the right to determine the number of monasteries and monks required by the empire.
Senate Reform:
On December 15, 1763, the manifesto of Catherine 2 was published “On the establishment of departments in the Senate, Justice, Patrimonial and Revision Boards, on the division of affairs regarding them.” The role of the Senate was narrowed, and the powers of its head, the Prosecutor General, on the contrary, were expanded. The Senate became the highest court. It was divided into six departments: the first (headed by the Prosecutor General himself) was in charge of state and political affairs in St. Petersburg, the second was in charge of judicial affairs in St. Petersburg, the third was in charge of transport, medicine, science, education, art, the fourth was in charge of military and land affairs. and naval affairs, the fifth - state and political in Moscow and the sixth - the Moscow judicial department. The heads of all departments, except the first, were chief prosecutors subordinate to the prosecutor general.
Urban reform:
The reform of Russian cities was regulated by the “Charter on the rights and benefits of cities of the Russian Empire,” which was issued by Catherine II in 1785. New elected institutions were introduced. The number of voters has increased. City residents were divided into six categories according to various property, class characteristics, as well as merits to society and the state, namely: real city inhabitants - those who owned real estate within the city; merchants of the three guilds; guild artisans; foreign and out-of-town guests; eminent citizens - architects, painters, composers, scientists, as well as wealthy merchants and bankers; townspeople - those who were engaged in handicrafts and crafts in the city. Each rank had its own rights, responsibilities and privileges.
Police reform:
In 1782, Empress Catherine 2 introduced the “Charter of Deanery or Police”. According to it, the deanery board became the body of the city police department. It consisted of bailiffs, mayor and chief of police, as well as townspeople determined by elections. The trial for public violations: drunkenness, insults, gambling, etc., as well as for unauthorized construction and bribes, was carried out by the police themselves, and in other cases a preliminary investigation was carried out, after which the case was transferred to court. The punishments applied by the police were arrest, censure, imprisonment in a workhouse, a fine, and in addition, the prohibition of certain types of activities.
Education reform
The creation of public schools in cities marked the beginning of the state system secondary schools in Russia. They were of two types: main schools in provincial cities and small schools in district ones. These educational institutions were supported by the treasury, and people of all classes could study there. School reform was carried out in 1782, and earlier in 1764 a school was opened at the Academy of Arts, as well as the Society of Two Hundred Noble Maidens, then (in 1772) a commercial school.
Currency reform
During the reign of Catherine 2, the State Bank and Loan Bank were formed. And also, for the first time in Russia, paper money (banknotes) was introduced into circulation.
The main reforms of Peter I.
1. 1708-1710 - regional reform (local government reform). Back in 1702, the positions of provincial elders were abolished and replaced by governors. In 1708, the country was divided into provinces and districts. The regional administration changed its details many times. In 1719, it took the following final forms: the state was divided into 12 provinces, the provinces into provinces (about 50), and the provinces into counties. The governor is at the head of the province, the voivode or vice-governor is at the head of the province, and in the districts financial and police administration is entrusted to the zemstvo commissars. Attempts to separate the court from the administration were unsuccessful, and since 1722 the administration has again been involved in the court's business.
2. The Boyar Duma under Peter was dissolved - this marks the transition from an estate-representative monarchy to an absolute one. In 1711, the Senate was established, which is at the head of the entire administration (Senators - Count Musin-Pushkin, Tikhon Streshnev, Prince Pyotr Golitsyn, Prince Mikhail Dolgorukov, Grigory Plemyannikov, Prince Grigory Volkonsky, Mikhail Somarin, Vasily Apukhtin). The Senate became the highest government and judicial body, controlling the administration and collegiums. In 1721, the position of prosecutor general was established - this is the most powerful person in the administration.
3. 1718-1720 - the formation of 12 boards instead of orders headed by prosecutors: foreign affairs, military, admiralty (naval), states board (department of expenses), chamber board (department of revenues), justice board, revision board, commerce board (trade), manufactories -collegium (industry), Chief Magistrate (city government), berg college (mining), patrimonial college (industry). Along with the collegiums, there were part of the offices and orders (for example, the Siberian order). The collegiums were subordinate to the Senate. Despite the new forms and names, the basis of the administrative system remained old - all management remained exclusively in the hands of the nobility.
4. The measures taken by Peter regarding the estates did not change their position in the state; the organization of the estates and the organization of duties changed somewhat. 1714, 1723 - introduction of primary compulsory education for nobles. 1722 - “Table of Ranks” - a ladder of official ranks, including 14 ranks. Priority of personal merit. Peter's legislation turned old estates into fiefdoms, i.e. hereditary property. By decree of 1714, Peter forbade the nobles to split up lands when bequeathing their sons (the law on single inheritance was abolished in 1731 at the insistence of the nobles).
The urban class received new organization. In 1699, cities were given self-government. In 1720, a chief magistrate was established in charge of the city estate. It is divided into guilds, the highest ones are exempt from recruitment duties. 1718-1722 - a population census was conducted and a per capita taxation system was introduced. Despite the absence of direct laws, peasants everywhere, according to custom, were equated with serfs (except for black sowing, monastery, palace, and assigned slaves). 1721 - Peter's decree allowing factory owners to buy peasants.
5. The military reforms of Peter I were aimed at strengthening the rudiments of the regular army. In 1715, the Senate decided, as a norm, to take one recruit from 75 households of the owning peasants and townspeople. Compulsory service for nobles. By 1725 Russian regular army consisted of 210 thousand people, 100 thousand Cossack troops. In the Navy - 48 battleships, 787 galleys and small ships and 28 thousand people.
6. He made great efforts to develop industry, develop ore and other deposits, train specialists, and develop trade. Under Peter, more than 200 factories were founded and entire industries were founded.
7. Encouragement of science and education. 1725 - St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences was opened. 1712 - the capital was transferred from Moscow to St. Petersburg. Book printing increased significantly, which Peter personally supervised. In 1703, the first Russian newspaper, Vedomosti, began to be published regularly. Organization of museums and libraries. 1714 - opening of the Kunstkamera. Research of Siberia.
8. 1721 - “Charter on the inheritance of the throne” - the determination of the inheritance was left to the will of the sovereign.
9. 1722 - establishment of the police in Moscow.
10. For more than 20 years (1700-1721), the church was governed without a patriarch. February 14, 1721 - establishment of the Synod. This spiritual college replaced the patriarchal authority and consisted of 11 people. With the establishment of the Synod, the church became dependent not on the sovereign, as before, but on the state. Church management was introduced into the general administrative order. The reform retained authoritative power in the Russian Church, but deprived it of the political influence that the patriarchs had. Church jurisdiction is also limited. A lot of cases from church courts moved to secular courts. Part of the real estate of the church was withdrawn from the economic management of the clergy. Its management was transferred to the Monastic Order. In the era of Peter there was greater religious tolerance. In 1721, marriages with Catholics and Protestants were allowed. Regarding the Russian schism, Peter was at first tolerant, but when he saw that religious conservatism led to civil conservatism (opposition to his reforms), restrictions on the rights of schismatics and their repression followed.
The main reforms of Catherine II.
Catherine II (1729-1796) - Russian empress, one of the most educated women of her time. Liberal-minded practical activities was guided by the Russians national traditions. In the first year of her reign, she restored the Senate (1762), which she divided into 6 departments. It was a central administrative-judicial institution, but without legislative functions. She took upon herself the development of new legislation, working for two years on the principles of the future code. By 1767, the Order written by her appeared. When discussing it with the statesmen around her, she repeatedly edited it and in the final version it bore little resemblance to the initial work. The order became a statement of principles that should guide statesman. To draw up the code, a manifesto on December 14, 1766 convened representatives of the estates and public places in Moscow. Their meeting of 567 people was called the “Commission for drafting a new code.” They brought with them more than 10 thousand parliamentary orders. Despite the complete failure of the Commission’s work (1767-1768) and Catherine’s refusal of general legislative reform, the significance of the Commission lies in the fact that it provided rich material from the field and influenced all of Catherine’s activities (separate parts of the Commission worked until 1784) . Catherine began to implement her reform plan piece by piece.
1. 1775 - "Institutions for provincial administrations." The country was divided into 51 provinces with approximately equal population of 300-400 thousand people. The provinces were divided into districts of 20-30 thousand inhabitants. Catherine sought to increase the strength of the administration, delineate departments and attract zemstvo elements to participate in management. In every provincial town the following were established: 1) Governor's rule headed by the governor; it was of an administrative nature and represented government power in the province; 2) criminal and civil chambers - the highest court bodies in the province; 3) Treasury Chamber - financial management body; 4) The Upper Zemsky Court is the judicial place for noble litigation; 5) Provincial magistrate - a judicial seat for persons of the urban class; 6) Upper punishment - a judicial place for single-lords and state peasants; 7) Conscientious court; 8) Order of public charity - for the establishment of schools, almshouses, orphanages. There was a similar structure in the counties. The principle of separation of departments and authorities is maintained: administrative-judicial-financial institutions. Based on the class principle, local societies received broad participation in the affairs of local government: the nobility, the townspeople, and even people from the lower strata filled new institutions with their representatives. The center of gravity of all management was moved to the regions; only general management and supervision remained in the center. During the heyday of local government, central government was completely disorganized and ministries were formed under Alexander I. The establishment of 1775 gave the nobility self-government and internal organization. The nobility of each county became a whole cohesive society and, through their representatives, managed all the affairs of the county. Thus, all of Russia, from the highest to the lowest levels, began to be ruled by the nobility.
2. Later, Catherine set out the same facts that she had established, as well as the previous rights and advantages of the nobles, in a special Charter to the nobility of 1785. This is not a new law on the nobility, but a systematic statement of the rights and advantages of the nobles. The charter established that a nobleman cannot, except by court, lose his title, and transfers it to his wife and children; judged only by peers; free from taxes and corporal punishment; free from public service, but to be elected to positions of nobility must have an “officer rank”; owns as inalienable property everything that is on his estate. Thus, the nobility by the end of the 18th century. received exclusive personal rights, broad rights of class self-government and strong influence on local government.
3. During the reign of Catherine, a peasant was actually equated to a serf. However, in the eyes of the law, he was both a slave and a citizen: peasants continued to be considered a tax-paying class, had the right to search in courts and be witnesses in court, could enter into civil obligations and even register as merchants with the consent of the landowner, the treasury allowed them to farm out with a guarantee landowner. However, in fact, Catherine's century was a time greatest development serfdom.
4. Numerous measures to organize education, art, medicine, trade and industry: 1) Establishment of educational houses in Moscow (1763) and St. Petersburg (1767), closed institutes for noblewomen and townswomen (since 1764). ), cadet corps. 2) Small public schools were opened in each county town, Main public schools were opened in each provincial town, and it was planned to open several new universities. 3) In 1763, the Medical Commission was established. Each city and county had to establish hospitals, shelters (charitable institutions), take care of the education of doctors and surgeons, establish pharmacies and factories of surgical instruments. 4) 1785 - A charter granted to cities - confirmed the right of city self-government. 5) A State Loan Bank was established with large capital and low (6%) interest. 6) Catherine destroyed the bodies of state control over industry and trade and allowed them to develop freely. Factories of steel products, tanneries, and manufactories were built. Silkworm breeding. 7) Equipment for sea expeditions to the Pacific and Arctic oceans, to the shores of Asia and America.
5. Foreign policy. Peter solved only the Swedish question. Catherine faced the Polish and Turkish questions. As a result of two Russian-Turkish wars (1768-1774, 1787-1791), Russia received the shores of the Black Sea and Azov, annexed Crimea, and received Ochakov. As a result of active policies in the West and three sections of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Russia received Belarus under the first section, another 4,500 square miles under the second section, Lithuania and Courland under the third. The Russian lands, which had been under the rule of Lithuania and Poland for many centuries, returned to Russia. Only Galicia was not returned. Under Catherine II, prominent military leaders emerged: A.V. Suvorov (1729-1800), F.F. Ushakov (1744-1817), P.A. Rumyantsev (1725-1796), G.A. Potemkin (1739-1791).
The Wanderers. In the 2nd quarter of the XIX V. the gradual establishment of realism in all types of Russian art begins. In painting, paintings appear on everyday themes that do not fit into the strict framework prescribed by the Imperial Academy of Arts. In 1870, on the initiative of I.N. Kramskoy, G.G. Myasoedov, V.G. Perov, a partnership of mobile art exhibitions(TPHV), since 1871 they have organized 48 traveling exhibitions throughout the country. They introduced Russian art to society and made it accessible to the Russian provinces. The subjects of the paintings are modern Russian life, native nature, the history of the Russian people. TPHV has become a symbol of democratic art, receptive to the new. Its composition includes different time included I. Repin, V. Surikov, V. Makovsky, A. Savrasov, I. Shishkin, A. and V. Vasnetsov, A. Kuindzhi, V. Polenov, N. Yaroshenko, I. Levitan, V. Serov. P.M. Tretyakov played an important role in the development of the artistic activity of the Peredvizhniki, purchasing their canvases for his gallery. TPHV disbanded in 1923.
Tax-paying classes- in Russia XVIII-XIX centuries. a group of the population (peasants and townspeople) who paid a poll tax, were subjected to corporal punishment, and performed recruiting and other in-kind duties.
Household taxation- direct taxes from each yard.
Capitation tax- in the XVIII-XIX centuries. the main direct tax, levied on all men (“souls”) of the tax-paying classes.
Posad people- in Russia there is a commercial and industrial urban population.
Enlightened absolutism- the policy of absolutism in a number of European countries in the second half. XVIII century, was expressed in the destruction “from above” and in the transformation of the most outdated forms of feudal institutions (abolition of some class privileges, subordination of the church to the state, reforms - peasant, judicial, management, schooling, easing censorship, etc.). Representatives - Joseph II in Austria, Frederick II in Prussia, Catherine II in Russia. Taking advantage of the popularity of the ideas of the French Enlightenment, they portrayed their activities as “a union of philosophers and sovereigns.” Enlightened absolutism was aimed at strengthening the dominance of the nobility, although some reforms contributed to the development of the capitalist system.
Reduction- (from Latin - return) the confiscation of lands from the feudal aristocracy, which are leased, and the peasants are freed from serfdom, was carried out by Charles XI, King of Sweden in the second half of the 17th century.
Respectable- venerable, respectable.
Russia and the Caucasus in the 19th century. In the 19th century Russia is pursuing an active policy in the Caucasus. In 1801, the Manifesto of Paul I on the annexation of Georgia to Russia was published. In 1802-1806. Russia included: the Kuba and Talysh khanates, Mengrelia. The Russians conquered the Ganja Khanate, incorporated the Karabakh, Sheki and Shirvan khanates into Russia, and took Baku and Derbent. In 1810-1813 Abkhazia, Imereti and Guria became part of Russia. Türkiye recognized the fact that these territories became part of Russia. As a result of the war with Persia and Turkey under the Treaty of Adrianople in 1829, Russia secured the Black Sea coast from the mouth of the Kuban to Poti. The conquest of the North Caucasus lasted a long time: from 1817 to 1864 - this is the so-called Caucasian War. It begins with the advance of the Russians into Chechnya and Dagestan and is characterized by persistent bloody battles. The main characters from the Russian side are the commanders of Russian troops in the Caucasus, General Ermolov A.P., Field Marshal General Paskevich I.F., from the mountaineers - Gazi Magomed, Shamil.
Russian terrorism– its emergence in Russia is associated with social changes that occurred as a result of the great reforms of the 1860s. His strategy is associated with a tactical variety of forms and methods. The ideas of regicide and the extermination of the “imperial” party are popular. Combined with Machiavellianism and mystification. The political-ideological rationale dates back to the 1860s; How social phenomenon developed in the 1870s, when the theory and practice of terrorism became politics. One of the features of Russian terrorism was " woman's face" - a third of the first composition of the executive committee of "Narodnaya Volya", famous terrorists V. Zasulich, S. Perovskaya, D. Brilliant and others. 1878-1882 can be called the "terrorist five-year period". The most famous Act of terrorism– attempt on the life of Loris-Melikov M.T. in 1880, the assassination of Alexander II in 1881, the murder of P.A. Stolypin in 1911. Later it was actively used by the Socialist Revolutionary Party.
"Holy Alliance"- a reactionary alliance of Austria, Prussia and Russia, concluded in Paris on September 26, 1815, after the fall of Napoleon I. In 1815, France and a number of European states joined it. The initiative to conclude an alliance belongs to Alexander. The monarchs pledged to remain in eternal peace; “give each other aid, reinforcement and help”; govern subjects “like fathers of families”; in political relations be guided by the commandments of love, truth and peace. However, very soon Alexander's allies took advantage of this alliance for practical purposes. The duty of sovereigns to help each other was interpreted to mean that sovereigns must intervene in the internal affairs of other states and maintain legal order in them (this line was especially pursued by Austrian diplomacy led by Metternich). In fact, this resulted in the suppression of revolutionary and national liberation movements. The Holy Alliance authorized armed intervention and suppression of revolutions by Austrian troops in Naples (1820-1821), Piedmont (1821) and by French troops in Spain (1820-1823). The contradictions between the European powers and the development of revolutionary movements undermined the Holy Alliance, and in the early 1930s it actually collapsed.
Senate- in Russia in 1711 - 1917. - The Governing Senate, the highest state body subordinate to the emperor, was established by Peter I as the highest body for legislation and public administration. Its composition was determined personally by the emperor from civil and military ranks of the first three classes according to the Table of Ranks and was headed by the prosecutor general. The Senate ex officio included ministers, their comrades (deputy ministers), and the chief prosecutor of the Synod. Consisted of 6 departments.
Synod- one of the highest government agencies in Russia 1721-1917 Introduced by Peter I instead of the abolished position of patriarch, he was in charge of the affairs of the Orthodox Church. It was headed by the Chief Prosecutor, appointed by the Tsar. After 1917 - an advisory body under the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'.
Slavophilism- direction of Russian social thought, ser. XIX century Main features:
1. They advocated a different path of development for Russia from the European one, based on its originality.
Related information.
| Parameter name | Meaning |
| Article topic: | Reforms of Catherine II. |
| Rubric (thematic category) | Policy |
The reign of Catherine 2 is sometimes called the time ʼʼenlightened absolutismʼʼ. This concept is usually understood as the desire to rule in accordance with the ideals of the European Enlightenment. The policy of enlightened absolutism was expressed in the destruction from above and the transformation of the most outdated feudal institutions (some class privileges, subordination of the church to the state, carrying out some reforms - courts, schooling, softening censorship, etc.) These measures were aimed at strengthening the positions of the nobility, as well as contributed to the development of the emerging bourgeoisie. An important feature of the policy of enlightened absolutism was the desire of monarchs to ease the severity social contradictions by improving political add-ons(system of public administration, education of legal proceedings, etc.). There is no consensus among historians about whether she was really a “philosopher on the throne” and was truly committed to Enlightenment ideals, or whether she skillfully played the role and wore the mask of an enlightened ruler, wanting to look decent in the eyes of enlightened Europe.
Probably, at the beginning of her reign, she was committed to educational ideals. At the same time, pursuing a policy of enlightened absolutism, Catherine successfully used it to strengthen her authority. Having taken away power from her husband and son Paul, without having sufficient rights to the throne, she sought to show herself as the savior of Russia, a knight of “freedom and legality”. The Empress actively corresponded with European enlighteners Voltaire and Diderot, ordered the arrest of the cruel serf woman Daria Saltykova, who tortured dozens of serfs, encouraged science and art, wrote herself, inoculated herself with smallpox, etc.
The largest event in the policy of enlightened absolutism was convened in 1767ᴦ. commission on the drafting of a new code (Lawed Commission). As a guiding document for the Commission, the Empress prepared an “Order”, written on the basis of educational ideas. It established autocracy as a form of government due to the vast territory of Russia. Government bodies must be a guarantee against tyranny. This advisory document rejected torture and limited the use death penalty. The main question was the question of the attitude towards serfdom. Catherine had a negative attitude towards him. The first version spoke of the desire to soften the state of serfdom, which was expressed in a ban on the establishment of additional duties and the transfer of serfs to a special board that would collect duties in favor of the landowners. However, only a few deputies from the Legislative Commission approved this proposal. Realizing that the landowners did not want to change anything, Catherine 2, taking advantage of the outbreak of war with Turkey in 1768, dissolved the Commission. The collapse of the policy of enlightened absolutism was influenced by the Peasant War under the leadership of E. Pugachev (1773 - 1775), as well as the bloody events of the Great French Revolution (1789 - 1794).
The transformation of the outdated public administration system was more successful.
a) She rejected the count's idea N.Panina on the creation of the Imperial Council, which was supposed to actually rule the country, and did not give up autocratic power.
b) But she spent reform of the Governing Senate, dividing it into 6 departments. At the same time, the Senate lost its former political role, turning into a bureaucratic superstructure over all institutions of the empire.
c) changed the system of local government in Ukraine. The hetman was replaced by the governor general.
Posted on ref.rf
Ukraine has finally lost its autonomy.
d) in 1763 - 1764. Catherine carried out what was canceled after the overthrow of Peter 3 secularization of church lands. This replenished the treasury and made it possible to stop the unrest of the monastery peasants.
To manage the former monastic peasants, the College of Economy was created, and the peasants began to be called economic. The number of monasteries in Russia decreased from 881 to 385. The Dudin Amvrosiev St. Nicholas Monastery, located near modern Dzerzhinsk, was also deprived of state subsidies, which largely predetermined its future decline. The clergy lost much of their property independence, finding themselves supported by the state. Thus, the process of transforming the clergy into a special detachment of bureaucrats, begun by Peter 1, was completed.
e) in 1775 year was held provincial reform. The provinces were eliminated. In order to improve management efficiency, the number of provinces increased from 23 to 50, and their population decreased to 300-400 thousand. Each was headed by a governor appointed by the empress. In county towns, power also belonged to the appointed mayor. In the counties, executive power belonged to the lower zemstvo court, headed by a captain - police officer, elected by the local nobility.
However, the nobility played a predominant role in local government, which was natural at that time.
Of particular note among all the innovations of Catherine 2 is “ Letter of grant to the nobility (1885). The diploma confirmed the rights granted to the nobility earlier: freedom from corporal punishment, capitation tax, compulsory service, the right of unlimited ownership of estates and land with its subsoil, the right to trade and industrial activities. The decision of noble dignity could be made only by decision of the Senate with the highest approval. The estates of convicted nobles were not subject to confiscation. The nobility was henceforth called the noble class. In addition, the powers of noble class institutions were expanded. The nobility received class self-government: noble assemblies headed by provincial and district leaders. The nobility could make representations to the authorities about their needs. It is no coincidence that the reign of Catherine 2 is often called the “golden age of the Russian nobility.” Having received rights, the nobles were relieved of public responsibilities. In this regard, V.O. Klyuchevsky wittily remarked: “Rights without responsibilities are a legal absurdity, and as a consequence without a reason – a logical absurdity; an estate with only rights and no duties is a political impossibility, and impossibility cannot exist. Alas, the impossible has become possible. This order lasted until the abolition of serfdom in 1861.
True, in the Charter there was no mention of the nobles' right to own souls. Probably, Catherine wanted to show by this that this right would not be forever reserved for the nobility.
Russian peasants responded to the unilateral, historically incongruous granting of freedom to the nobility by active participation in the Pugachev uprising of 1773–1775. What were the social thoughts and aspirations of the peasant masses? They were especially clearly reflected in the manifesto of E. Pugachev dated July 18, 1774ᴦ. It was a “letter of honor to the entire peasant world”, or a “charter”, on the basis of which a new, peasant kingdom was to be created. Pugachev called on “everyone who was previously in the peasantry and subjection of the landowners to be loyal slaves to our own crown”, and then granted “an ancient cross and prayer, heads and beards, liberty and freedom and forever Cossacks, without demanding recruitment, capitation and other monetary taxes , possession of lands, forest and hay lands and fishing grounds, and salt lakes without purchase and without quitrent, and we free all those previously committed from the villains of the nobles and city extortionists-judges to the peasants and the entire people of the taxes and burdens imposed. The peasants, therefore, sought liberation from serfdom, wanted to receive all the lands and holdings, be freed from all duties and taxes, and organize community self-government in the Cossack way.
But this was not destined to come true.
The “Charter of Grant to the Cities” (1785) was aimed at creating a third estate. It confirmed the rights and freedoms previously given to the rich merchants: exemption from poll tax and conscription. Famous citizens and merchants of the first two guilds were exempt from corporal punishment and some other duties. The urban population was divided into six categories that made up urban society. It elected the city mayor, members of the magistrate and vowels (deputies) of the “general city duma”. The “General City Duma” elected a six-headed Duma - an executive governing body consisting of representatives of all categories of citizens.
The reforms remained unfinished due to serfdom, which prevented the formation of a strong third estate and sharply raised the nobles above the rest of the population. Moreover, peasants did not have any civil rights and were excluded from the class structure of society. But Catherine could not destroy serfdom. On the contrary, under her, about 900 thousand state peasants were transferred to serfdom.
Reforms of Catherine II - concept and types. Classification and features of the category "Reforms of Catherine II." 2017, 2018.
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Topic 2 Peter's transformations of the first quarter of the 18th century. Topic 1 1. Estate politics: a) changes in the position of the nobility; b) peasants and their categories, changes in the taxation system; c) the townspeople and changes in their status. 2.... .
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Non-profit educational institution of higher professional education "Lipetsk Ecological and Humanitarian Institute"
Department of Humanitarian and Social Disciplines.
Abstract on the topic: “Catherine’s reformsIIand their results."
Completed by: student gr. PZ-10
Naumova E.V.
Checked by: Doctor of Historical Sciences,
Professor Semenov A.K.
Lipetsk 2010
1. Introduction……………………………………………………………..3
2. Beginning of the reign of Catherine II……………………………………6
3. Education, medicine and religion……………………………..9
4. Reforms……………………………………………………………13
5. Military policy of Catherine II…………………………………..21
6. Conclusion………………………………………………………29
7. Literature……………………………………………………….31
1. Introduction.
Catherine II was born on 04/21 (02/05)/1729 in the German seaside town of Stettin. Born Sophia Frederica Augusta of Anhalt-Zerbst, she came from a poor German princely family; Catherine was educated at home. Studied German and French, dance, music, basics of history, geography, theology. She grew up a playful, inquisitive, playful and even troublesome girl, she loved to play pranks and flaunt her courage in front of the boys, with whom she easily played on the streets of Stetin. Her parents did not burden her with her upbringing and did not stand on ceremony when expressing their displeasure. Her mother called her Fike (German) as a child. Figchen- comes from the name Frederica, that is, “little Frederica”).
In 1744, the Russian Empress Elizaveta Petrovna and her mother were invited to Russia for subsequent marriage with the heir to the throne, Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich, the future Emperor Peter III and her second cousin. Immediately after arriving in Russia, she began to study the Russian language, history, Orthodoxy, and Russian traditions, as she sought to become more fully acquainted with Russia, which she perceived as a new homeland. Among her teachers are the famous preacher Simon Todorsky (teacher of Orthodoxy), the author of the first Russian grammar Vasily Adadurov (teacher of the Russian language) and choreographer Lange (dance teacher). She soon fell ill with pneumonia, and her condition was so serious that her mother suggested bringing a Lutheran pastor. Sofia, however, refused and sent for Simon of Todor. This circumstance added to her popularity at the Russian court. On June 28 (July 9), 1744, Sofia Frederica Augusta converted from Lutheranism to Orthodoxy and received the name Ekaterina Alekseevna (the same name and patronymic as Elizabeth’s mother, Catherine I), and the next day she was engaged to the future emperor.
But with all her abilities, the Grand Duchess had a hard time adapting: there were attacks from the Empress (Elizabeth Petrovna) and neglect from her husband (Peter Fedorovich). Her pride suffered.
In 1754, Catherine gave birth to a son (Pavel Petrovich), the future heir to the Russian throne. But the child was taken from his mother to the empress’s apartment.
In December 1761, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna died. Peter III ascended the throne.
Having ascended the throne, Peter III carried out a number of actions that caused a negative attitude towards him from the officer corps. Thus, he concluded an unfavorable agreement for Russia with Prussia, while Russia won a number of victories over it during the Seven Years' War and returned the lands captured by the Russians to it. At the same time, he intended, in alliance with Prussia, to oppose Denmark (Russia’s ally), in order to return Schleswig, which it had taken from Holstein, and he himself intended to go on a campaign at the head of the guard. Peter announced the sequestration of the property of the Russian Church, the abolition of monastic land ownership, and shared with those around him plans for the reform of church rituals. Supporters of the coup also accused Peter III of ignorance, dementia, dislike for Russia, and complete inability to rule. Against his background, Catherine looked favorably - an intelligent, well-read, pious and benevolent wife, subjected to persecution by her husband.
After the relationship with her husband completely deteriorated, and dissatisfaction with the emperor on the part of the guard intensified, Catherine decided to participate in the coup. Her comrades-in-arms, the main of whom were the Orlov brothers, Potemkin and Khitrovo, began campaigning in the guards units and won them over to their side. The immediate cause of the start of the coup was rumors about the arrest of Catherine and the discovery and arrest of one of the participants in the conspiracy - Lieutenant Passek.
On 06/28/1762, on behalf of Catherine, a manifesto was drawn up, speaking about the reasons for the coup, about the emerging threat to the integrity of the fatherland. 06/29/1762 Peter III signed a manifesto of his abdication. Not only the guard regiments, but also the Senate and Synod readily swore allegiance to the new empress. However, among the opponents of Peter III there were influential people who considered it more fair to place the young Paul on the throne, and Catherine to allow her son to rule until he came of age. At the same time, it was proposed to create an Imperial Council that would limit the power of the Empress. This was not part of Catherine's plans. In order to force everyone to recognize the legitimacy of her power, she decided to be crowned in Moscow as soon as possible. The ceremony took place on 09/22/1762 in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin. On this occasion, the people were offered a rich treat. From the first days of her reign, Catherine wanted to be popular among the broadest masses of the people; she demonstratively attended pilgrimages and went to worship at holy places.
2. Beginning of the reign.
In her memoirs, Catherine characterized the state of Russia at the beginning of her reign as follows:
Finances were depleted. The army did not receive pay for 3 months. Trade was in decline, because many of its branches were given over to monopoly. There was no correct system in the state economy. The War Department was plunged into debt; the sea barely held on, being in extreme neglect. The clergy was dissatisfied with the taking of lands from him. Justice was sold at auction, and laws were followed only in cases where they favored the powerful.
The Empress formulated the tasks facing the Russian monarch as follows:
The nation that is to be governed must be enlightened.
It is necessary to introduce good order in the state, support society and force it to comply with the laws.
It is necessary to establish a good and accurate police force in the state.
It is necessary to promote the flourishing of the state and make it abundant.
It is necessary to make the state formidable in itself and inspiring respect among its neighbors.
Upon her accession to the throne, she carried out a number of reforms - judicial, administrative, provincial, etc. The territory of the Russian state increased significantly due to the annexation of fertile southern lands - Crimea, the Black Sea region, as well as the eastern part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, etc. The population increased from 23.2 million. (in 1763) to 37.4 million (in 1796), Russia became the most populous European country (it accounted for 20% of the European population). Catherine II formed 29 new provinces and built about 144 cities. As Klyuchevsky wrote:
The Russian economy continued to remain agricultural. The share of the urban population in 1796 was 6.3%. At the same time, a number of cities were founded (Tiraspol, Grigoriopol, etc.), iron smelting more than doubled (for which Russia took 1st place in the world), and the number of sailing and linen manufactories increased. In total, by the end of the 18th century. there were 1,200 large enterprises in the country (in 1767 there were 663). The export of Russian goods to other European countries has increased significantly, including through the established Black Sea ports.
Catherine II established a loan bank and introduced paper money into circulation.
From the moment of her accession to the throne until her coronation, Catherine participated in 15 meetings of the Senate, and not without success. Soon after the coup, statesman N.I. Panin proposed creating an Imperial Council: 6 or 8 senior dignitaries rule together with the monarch. Catherine rejected this project.
According to another Panin project, the Senate was transformed - December 15. 1763 It was divided into 6 departments, headed by chief prosecutors, and the prosecutor general became its head. Each department had certain powers. The general powers of the Senate were reduced; in particular, it lost legislative initiative and became a body for monitoring the activities of the state apparatus and the highest court. The center of legislative activity moved directly to Catherine and her office with secretaries of state.
She has accumulated some management experience and plans to implement innovations have emerged. Catherine was one of those statesmen who intended not only to reign, but also to rule.
The story of secularization started by Peter III is interesting. Catherine decided to regulate relations between the Church and secular authorities. Since the time of Peter I, the Church has been subordinate to the state. The financial situation in the country was difficult, and the Church was a major owner in the state. Catherine II was Orthodox, performed all Orthodox rituals, but she was a pragmatic ruler. To replenish the state treasury, in 1764 she carried out secularization (the state converted church property into secular property) of church lands. 500 monasteries were abolished, and 1 million peasant souls were transferred to the treasury. Due to this, the state treasury was significantly replenished. This made it possible to ease the financial crisis in the country and pay off the army, which had not received a salary for a long time. The influence of the Church on the life of society has decreased significantly.
Secularization had important consequences. It deprived the clergy of economic power. Now monasteries, dioceses, and ordinary monks were completely dependent on the state. In addition, the living conditions of peasants who previously belonged to spiritual landowners were eased. This is due to the replacement of corvée with quitrent, which gave the peasants more independence and developed their economic initiative. The peasants perceived secularization as a blessing and stopped disobedience.
3. Education and medicine and religion.
After the coronation, she marked the beginning of her reign with a great and good deed: she founded the so-called Educational House. Children abandoned by their parents found shelter in this house. Until this time, abandoned children either died from hunger and cold, or grew up in poverty and ignorance. Only a few got to good people, which brought them to mind. In the Educational Home, children were not only fed, watered, clothed, but also taught. They left “home” as independent people, capable of benefiting themselves and their fatherland. Soon a similar house was opened in St. Petersburg. To help widows, the Widow's Treasury was created.
Catherine II believed that the Russian people were not spiritually developed. In her opinion, upbringing and education could develop a Russian person. Through upbringing and education, the Empress decided to create a new “breed of people” who, through the family, would spread the principles of the new upbringing to the entire society.
Catherine II entrusted the development of education reform to the President of the Academy of Arts I.I. Betsky. According to his plan, a network of schools should be created in Russia, where children aged from 6 to 18 - 20 years would be raised in isolation from the bad influence of society. Catherine II invited one of the best teachers in Europe, Serb F.I., to Russia. Yankovic de Mirievo. Catherine II believed that the introduction of enlightenment would be followed by a beneficial result: moral and social vices would disappear, slavery, ignorance, and superstition would end.
Soon closed schools, educational houses, institutes for girls, nobles, and townspeople were created, in which experienced teachers were involved in the education and upbringing of boys and girls. In the province, a network of people's non-estate two-year schools in counties and four-year schools in provincial cities was created. In 1768, a network of city schools was created, based on a class-lesson system (uniform start and end dates for classes), teaching methods and educational literature were developed, and unified curricula were created. Schools began to open actively. Under Catherine, the systematic development of women's education began; in 1764, the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens and the Educational Society for Noble Maidens were opened. The Academy of Sciences has become one of the leading scientific bases in Europe. An observatory, a physics laboratory, an anatomical theater, a botanical garden, instrumental workshops, a printing house, a library, and an archive were founded. On October 11, 1783, the Russian Academy was founded.
As a result of the educational reform in Russia during the reign of Catherine II, a secondary education system was created, and by the end of the century there were 550 educational institutions with a total number of 60-70 thousand people.
Catherine II's policy in the field of education later bore fruit - a unique phenomenon of world culture arose - Russian noble culture of the 19th century, which to this day has enduring significance.
Healthcare also attracted the attention of Catherine II. She constantly made sure that there were more doctors and pharmacies, and that every sick person could get help as soon as possible. Compulsory smallpox vaccination was introduced, and Catherine was the first to receive such a vaccination. Under Catherine II, the fight against epidemics in Russia began to acquire the character of state measures that were directly included in the responsibilities of the Imperial Council and the Senate. By decree of Catherine, outposts were created, located not only on the borders, but also on the roads leading to the center of Russia. The “Border and Port Quarantine Charter” was created.
During the 1st Turkish War, a plague epidemic began in the country. In Moscow alone, 50 thousand people died in a year. Illiterate people did not follow basic quarantine rules. Then experienced leaders were sent to Moscow. Strict measures were taken. The infection has weakened. Relief was made for the affected people: they set up a shelter for orphans, gave work to the poor, and began to buy into the treasury the products of artisans who had no buyers.
New areas of medicine for Russia developed: hospitals for the treatment of syphilis, psychiatric hospitals and shelters were opened. A number of fundamental works on medical issues have been published.
In general, a policy of religious tolerance was pursued in Russia under Catherine II. Representatives of all traditional religions did not experience pressure or oppression. Thus, in 1773, a law on tolerance of all religions was issued, prohibiting the Orthodox clergy from interfering in the affairs of other faiths; secular authorities reserve the right to decide on the establishment of churches of any faith http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%95%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B0_II - cite_note -humanities.edu.ru-20.
Under Catherine II, the persecution of Old Believers ceased. The Empress initiated the return of Old Believers, an economically active population, from abroad. They were specially allocated a place in Irgiz (modern Saratov and Samara regions). They were allowed to have priests.
The free migration of Germans to Russia led to a significant increase in the number of Protestants (mostly Lutherans) in Russia. They were also allowed to build churches, schools, and freely perform religious services. At the end of the 18th century, there were more than 20 thousand Lutherans in St. Petersburg alone.
The Jewish religion retained the right to publicly practice its faith. Religious matters and disputes were left to the Jewish courts. Jews, depending on the capital they had, were assigned to the appropriate class and could be elected to local government bodies, become judges and other civil servants.
By decree of Catherine II, in 1787, in the printing house of the Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg, for the first time in Russia, the complete Arabic text of the Islamic holy book of the Koran was printed for free distribution to the “Kyrgyz”. The publication differed significantly from European ones, primarily in that it was Muslim in nature: the text for publication was prepared by Mullah Usman Ibrahim. In St. Petersburg, from 1789 to 1798, 5 editions of the Koran were published. In 1788, a manifesto was issued in which the empress commanded “to establish in Ufa a spiritual assembly of the Mohammedan law, which has under its authority all the spiritual ranks of that law, ... excluding the Tauride region.” Thus, Catherine began to integrate the Muslim community into the system of government of the empire. Muslims received the right to build and restore mosques.
Buddhism also received government support in regions where it was traditionally practiced. In 1764, Catherine established the post of Hambo Lama - the head of Buddhists Eastern Siberia and Transbaikalia. In 1766, the Buryat lamas recognized Catherine as the incarnation of the Bodhisattva White Tara for her benevolence towards Buddhism and her humane rule.
4. Reforms.
Catherine began to pursue the so-called policy of enlightened absolutism. The policy of enlightened absolutism was characteristic of countries with a monarchical form of government and with a relatively slow development of capitalist relations. Enlightened absolutism, on the one hand, pursued policies in the interests of the nobility (preserving their political rights and economic privileges), on the other hand, contributed in every possible way to the further development of capitalist relations. In her politics, Catherine began to rely on the nobility. The nobility was the support of the throne and carried out the most important functions: the nobles were organizers of production, commanders, major administrators, and courtiers.
Catherine II began to strive to achieve the internal structure of the state. She believed that injustices in the state could be eradicated with the help of good laws. And she decided to adopt new legislation instead of the Council Code of Alexei Mikhailovich of 1649, which would take into account the interests of all classes. Catherine II published a Manifesto on the convening of a commission and decrees on the procedure for elections to deputies. The main goal is to clarify the people's needs to carry out comprehensive reforms. 14 Dec. 1766 Nobles are allowed to elect one deputy from the county, citizens - one deputy from the city. More than 600 deputies took part in the commission, 33% of them were elected from the nobility, 36% from the townspeople, which also included nobles, 20% from the rural population (state peasants). The interests of the Orthodox clergy were represented by a deputy from the Synod. The deputies were given a salary, they were exempt from the death penalty, torture and corporal punishment, their personality was protected by an increased penalty, that is, they were provided with very large benefits and advantages. For the first time, the status of a deputy was defined in a special way.
It was then that the beginnings of noble self-government were laid: county leaders of the nobility and county noble assemblies were introduced. This law outlined the contours of future urban reform. He introduced elected city mayors and a new concept of “city,” which included all homeowners and was no longer a tax, but a legal unit. Leaders and heads were elected as chairmen in the elections of deputies, but they remained even after the closure of the Commission, and in 1785 they headed the noble and city societies created by the Charters.
The Statutory Commission itself had a complex structure: three small ones were separated from the general (Grand) commission. The Directorate Commission proposed to the general meeting to form private codification commissions and coordinated their work, checking the results with the provisions of the Empress’s Order.
The expedition commission edited the prepared materials. The preparatory commission worked with parliamentary orders. The role of the chairman of the Statutory Commission was performed by a marshal appointed by the empress at the suggestion of the Commission and the Prosecutor General. The Commission's Rules of Management, i.e. regulations, were drawn up.
The legislative initiative belonged to the general meeting of deputies, from there the project passed to the directorate commission, which sent it to one of the private codification commissions. The latter, having prepared the project, sent it to the management committee. After passing the expeditionary commission, the edited project was returned to general meeting. This type of paperwork was borrowed from European parliamentary practice.
Catherine II wrote the Order, which formulated the principles of politics and the legal system. Catherine tried to incorporate the ideas of Western European thinkers about a fair society into the new legislation. Catherine revised the works of outstanding thinkers Sh.L. Montesquieu, C. Beccaria, J.F. Bielfeld, D. Diderot and others and compiled the famous “Order of Empress Catherine” for the Commission. The "Mandate" consisted of 20 chapters, divided into 526 articles. In general, it was a complete work that spoke about the need for a strong autocratic government in Russia and the class structure of Russian society, about legality, about the relationship between law and morality, about the harm of torture and corporal punishment. These were the rules on the basis of which the new Code should be drawn up and which the deputies should be guided by. The “mandate” was to be distributed to all deputies. But since the introduction of laws is under the jurisdiction of the Tsar, the commission had to draw up proposals.
For this purpose, the Statutory Commission was convened in 1767. 572 deputies represented the nobility, merchants, and Cossacks. The commission was divided into 19 committees, which were supposed to deal with various branches of legislation.
In 1768, a “Drawing on bringing the draft of a new Code to the end of the Commission” was sent to the Code Commission, in which the theoretical principles of the future Code were formulated. All norms were divided into “general law” and “special law”.
General law included norms on the powers of the supreme power, the powers of government bodies, the principles of administrative-territorial division, rights and regulations Orthodox Church, the procedure of legal proceedings and the judicial system, the basics of criminal law, police administration and deanery, regulation of the state economy, health care and education.
Special law included norms that regulated such objects as persons, things, obligations (i.e. class rights), the area of marriage and family relations, guardianship, relations regarding the disposal of property, and other obligations.
During the work on the Code, special commissions were created: on issues of “common law”, on estates, justice, deanery, spiritual and civil, on estates, on the rights of individuals, on obligations. These private commissions worked for several years (from 1768 to 1771) and prepared materials that were the basis for the most important legal documents of the late 18th century. -- Charter to the nobility (1785), Charter to the cities (1785), Institutions for the management of provinces (1775), Charter of the deanery (1782), etc.
The commission proposed reforming the central government system, shifting the center of gravity to the localities, in the provinces, and disaggregating local government bodies. It was also proposed to abolish the Patrimonial, Revision, Manufactory and Economy boards, transferring their affairs to provincial bodies. This was taken into account when reforming the collegiate system in 1784-1786.
At the end of 1771, the work of private commissions ceased. However, the Commission for the drafting of the new Code continued to exist. Catherine II even intended to turn it into a permanent body under the Senate. The commission that was laid down left legislators with a legacy of not only ideas and new elected positions, but also new order elections, surviving in many places, including Moscow, until the summer of 1917.
Provincial reforms.
In 1775, a clearer territorial division of the empire was carried out. The territory began to be divided into administrative units with a certain number of taxable (who paid taxes) population.
The largest territorial and administrative unit was the province. Each province was supposed to have a population of 300-400 thousand souls of the male tax-paying population. The governor was at the head of the province. He was appointed personally by the empress and was directly subordinate to her. The governor in the province had full power. He controlled the activities of all institutions and all officials. In order to ensure order in the provinces, all military units and commands were subordinated to the governor. By the mid-90s. There were 50 provinces in the country.
The provinces were divided into districts of 20 - 30 thousand people. All control in the counties was given to the nobles. The nobles elected the captain-ispravnik (head of the district) and assessors of the Lower Zemstvo Court for 3 years. The police captain and the Lower Zemstvo Court were the main authorities in the district.
The city was an independent administrative unit. The mayor ruled the city. He was appointed by the government from retired nobles. Strict police control was introduced in cities. The city was divided into parts of 200 - 700 houses, headed by a private bailiff, and into blocks of 50 - 100 houses, headed by a quarter warden.
Catherine II separated the judicial authorities from the executive. All classes, except serfs, had to take part in local government. Each class received its own court.
After the provincial reform, all collegiums ceased to function, except for the most important ones - Foreign, Military, Admiralty. Their functions began to be carried out by provincial bodies.
In 1785, the “Charter of Grant to Cities” was published. It determined the rights and responsibilities of the urban population and the management system in cities. The entire urban population was entered into the City Book of Philistines and was divided into 6 categories:
nobility and clergy;
merchants, divided depending on their capital into three guilds (merchants of the 1st guild - the richest - had the preferential right to conduct internal and external trade; below were the merchants of the 2nd guild, they had the right to large-scale internal trade; merchants of the 3rd guild were engaged in small county and city trade);
guild artisans;
foreigners who permanently lived in cities;
eminent citizens and capitalists;
townspeople (those who lived by crafts).
Residents of the city elected a self-government body every 3 years - the General City Duma, the mayor and judges.
21 Apr In 1785, two charters were issued: “Charter on the rights, liberties and advantages of the noble nobility” and “Charter granted to cities.”
Both charters regulated legislation on the rights and duties of estates.
Letter of grant to the nobility:
The name of the 1st estate changed: not “nobility”, but “noble nobility”.
it was forbidden to confiscate the estates of nobles for criminal offenses; the estates were to be transferred to the legal heirs.
nobles have the exclusive right of ownership of land, but the Charter does not say a word about the monopoly right to have serfs.
Ukrainian elders were given equal rights with Russian nobles.
a nobleman who did not have an officer rank was deprived of the right to vote.
Only nobles whose income from estates exceeded 100 rubles could hold elected positions.
Already existing rights were confirmed.
the nobility were exempt from the poll tax
from the quartering of military units and commands
from corporal punishment
from compulsory service
the right to unlimited disposal of the estate was confirmed
the right to own houses in cities
the right to establish enterprises on estates and engage in trade
ownership of the subsoil of the earth
the right to have their own class institutions
Certificate of rights and benefits to cities of the Russian Empire:
the right of the elite merchant class not to pay the poll tax was confirmed.
replacement of conscription with a cash contribution.
Division of the urban population into 6 categories:
“real city inhabitants” - homeowners (“Real city inhabitants are those who have a house or other building or place or land in this city”)
merchants of all three guilds (the lowest amount of capital for merchants of the 3rd guild is 1000 rubles)
artisans registered in workshops.
foreign and out-of-town merchants.
eminent citizens - merchants with a capital of over 50 thousand rubles, rich bankers (at least 100 thousand rubles), as well as the city intelligentsia: architects, painters, composers, scientists.
townspeople, who “support themselves by fishing, handicrafts and work” (who do not have real estate in the city).
Representatives of the 3rd and 6th categories were called “philistines” (the word came from the Polish language through Ukraine and Belarus, originally meaning “city dweller” or “citizen”, from the word “place” - city and “shtetl” - town).
Merchants of the 1st and 2nd guilds and eminent citizens were exempt from corporal punishment. Representatives of the 3rd generation of eminent citizens were allowed to file a petition for conferment of nobility.
The adopted documents completed the formalization of the estate system in Russia: the entire population of Russia was divided into estates. From now on, they began to represent closed groups that had different rights and privileges. Class affiliation began to be inherited, and the transition from one class to another was extremely difficult.
The formation of the class system at that time played a positive role in society, since belonging to a class provided the opportunity for development within the class.
Serf peasantry:
The decree of 1763 entrusted the maintenance of military commands sent to suppress peasant uprisings to the peasants themselves.
According to the decree of 1765, for open disobedience, the landowner could send the peasant not only to exile, but also to hard labor, and the period of hard labor was set by him; The landowners also had the right to return those exiled from hard labor at any time.
A decree of 1767 prohibited peasants from complaining about their master; those who disobeyed were threatened with exile to Nerchinsk (but they could go to court),
The peasants could not take an oath, take farm-outs or contracts.
Trade by peasants reached wide proportions: they were sold in markets, in advertisements on the pages of newspapers; they were lost at cards, exchanged, given as gifts, and forced into marriage.
The decree of May 3, 1783 prohibited the peasants of Left-Bank Ukraine and Sloboda Ukraine from passing from one owner to another.
The widespread idea of Catherine distributing state peasants to landowners, as has now been proven, is a myth (peasants from lands acquired during the partitions of Poland, as well as palace peasants, were used for distribution). The zone of serfdom under Catherine extended to Ukraine. At the same time, the situation of the monastic peasants was alleviated, who were transferred to the jurisdiction of the College of Economy along with their lands. All their duties were replaced by monetary rent, which gave the peasants more independence and developed their economic initiative. As a result, the unrest of the monastery peasants ceased.
Military policy of Catherine II.
In the 60s - 70s. A powerful wave of protests by peasants, Cossacks, and working people swept across the country. The empress was especially concerned about the performances of the Cossacks. Since the time of Ivan the Terrible, settlements of free people - Cossacks - began to form on the outskirts of the empire. Over time, the Cossacks began to consolidate into a special layer of Russian society, living according to their own laws. The Cossacks caused a lot of trouble to the authorities, since robbery played a significant role in their lives. Trying to achieve stability on the borders of the state, Catherine II launched an offensive against the Cossacks. Cossack self-government was limited, the government began to introduce army regulations in Cossack units. In particular, the Yaik (Ural) Cossacks were deprived of the right to duty-free fishing and salt production. Then the Yaik Cossacks refused to obey the authorities.
In 1773 -1775. The most powerful peasant war began in Russia under the leadership of E.I. Pugacheva. E.I. Pugachev was born in the village of Zimoveyskaya on the Don. He was a participant in the Seven Years and Russian-Turkish Wars, and had the first officer rank of cornet. E.I. Pugachev acted as a petitioner about the needs of the Cossacks. For this he was arrested, then fled from the Kazan prison to the Yaik Cossacks. He introduced himself to the Yaik Cossacks as the surviving Emperor Peter III. With a squad of 80 people. he moved to the Yaitsky town - the center of the Yaitsky Cossacks. Soon his detachment turned into an army of 30 - 40 thousand, equipped with artillery. The social and national composition of the Pugachevites was diverse: Cossacks, serfs, workers of Ural factories and factories, Russians, Tatars, Kalmyks, Bashkirs, etc. E.I. Pugachev created a Military Collegium, which included his comrades I. Chika-Zarubin, Khlopusha, I. Beloborodov, S. Yulaev. The Pugachev troops besieged Orenburg for 6 months. Government troops were moved against the rebels, at the head of which Catherine II appointed the former head of the Statutory Commission, General A.I. Bibikova. March 22, 1774 at the fortress Tatishcheva E.I. Pugachev was defeated. The siege of Orenburg was lifted.
After this E.I. Pugachev moved to the territory of Bashkiria and the mining Urals. From there the Pugachevites moved to the Volga and in July 1774 took Kazan. July 31, 1774 E.I. Pugachev announced a manifesto, which historians would later call the “Charter of Complaint to the Peasantry.” E.I. Pugachev “bestowed” the peasants with “liberty and freedom,” lands and lands, freed them from recruitment and poll taxes, and called on the peasants to “catch, execute and hang” nobles and landowners. Government troops under the command of Colonel I.I. approached Kazan. Mikhelson. They liberated Kazan from the rebels. With a detachment of 500 people. E.I. Pugachev crossed to the right bank of the Volga. The Pugachevites captured a number of cities: Saratov, Penza, Alatyr, Saransk. In the regions covered by the uprising, the Pugachevites exterminated nobles, landowners, officers, and service people. Catherine II took energetic measures. At the head of government troops instead of the deceased A.I. Bibikova was directed by P.I. Panin. A.V. was called from the theater of the Russian-Turkish war. Suvorov. Attempt by E.I. Pugachev's take of Tsaritsyn ended in failure. With a small detachment, he crossed to the left bank of the Volga, where he hoped to take refuge with the Yaik Cossacks. But the wealthy Cossacks, fearing the wrath of the empress, captured E.I. Pugachev and on September 12, 1774 he was extradited to I.I. Mikhelson. In a wooden cage E.I. Pugachev was sent to Moscow. January 10, 1775 E.I. Pugachev and his associates were executed in Moscow on Bolotnaya Square. By this time, all centers of the uprising had been suppressed. House of E.I. Pugachev in the village of Zimoveyskaya was burned, the place of the house was sprinkled with salt so that the memory of him would never be revived. The Yaik River has since been renamed the Ural, the Yaik Cossacks have been renamed the Ural Cossacks.
In 1775, Catherine II liquidated the Zaporizhzhya Sich. The Zaporozhye Cossacks asked the empress to leave them as Cossacks. Catherine II resettled the Cossacks to develop the newly annexed Kuban, giving them certain privileges. This is how the history of the Kuban Cossacks began.
Russian-Turkish War 1768 - 1774 In 1768, Turkey, supported by France, began military operations against Russia in Ukraine and the Caucasus. The first Russian-Turkish war began during the reign of Catherine II. In 1770, on the tributaries of the Prut River - Large and Kagul - commander P.A. Rumyantsev defeated the Turkish army. Brilliant victories were won at sea. Russia did not have its own fleet on the Black Sea. A small Russian squadron under the leadership of Admiral G.A. Spiridova left the Baltic, circled Europe and entered the Mediterranean Sea. Here A.G. took over the leadership of the fighting. Orlov. The Russian command resorted to military cunning. In 1770, the entire Turkish fleet was lured into the cramped Chesme Bay, locked up and set on fire at night. The Turkish fleet burned in Chesme Bay overnight. In 1771, Russian troops occupied all the main centers of Crimea. (Crimea had been under the protection of Turkey since 1475. For Russia, Crimea was a “nest of robbers” and posed a great danger.) In 1772, the Crimean Khan Shagin-Girey proclaimed the independence of Crimea from Turkey. This was the first stage of the annexation of Crimea to Russia.
During the reign of Catherine II, the military talent of the great Russian commander A.V. flourished. Suvorov (1730 - 1800). His military service began at age 18. The service completely absorbed him. The young officer was interested in literally everything: the soldier’s military training, his life, his health. At that time, there was no system for training soldiers (recruits) in the Russian army. Because of this, the soldiers, yesterday's peasants, died in the very first battles. A.V. Suvorov was the first to develop a system of rules of conduct in battle specifically for soldiers. To convey the “salt” (the main content) of military science to an illiterate soldier, the rules of conduct in battle A.V. Suvorov designed them in the form of proverbs and sayings. A coherent system of training soldiers was set out in the famous book “The Science of Victory.” Suvorov believed that victory in a battle is brought not by numerical superiority, but by the soldier’s fighting spirit. Strengthens the spirit of a soldier - love for the homeland, pride in national identity, faith in God. A.V. himself Suvorov was a true Christian, and he attached paramount importance to the religious education of soldiers. Before the battle, prayer services were held. Before the decisive battles A.V. Suvorov forced the soldiers to put on clean underwear, and everyone participated in the prayer service. After the battle, prayers were also held for the dead right on the field, and A.V. Suvorov sang himself along with the singers.
And illiterate peasants turned into miracle heroes under the illustrious commander. Troops A.V. Suvorov began to defeat any enemy. So, in 1773, Suvorov’s troops took the Turkish fortresses of Turtukai, and in 1774 - Kozludzha. In 1774, a peace treaty was signed in the Bulgarian village of Kyuchuk-Kainardzhi:
Türkiye recognized the independence of Crimea;
Russia received the right of unhindered navigation in the Black Sea and the right of passage through the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits;
Russia received the right to have its own fleet in the Black Sea;
Georgia was freed from the heaviest tribute by young men and women sent to Turkey;
the rights of Orthodox peoples in the Ottoman Empire (Moldavians, Greeks, Romanians, Georgians, etc.) expanded.
In 1783, Russian troops entered Crimea without any warning. The Turkish Sultan could not do anything. The Crimean Khanate was liquidated, Crimea became part of Russia. Vast territories of the northern Black Sea region were ceded to Russia. They received the name Novorossiya. The most talented favorite of Catherine II, G.A., was appointed governor of New Russia. Potemkin. He took up the development of this region and the construction of the Black Sea Fleet.
Georgievsky Treaty. In the 90s XVIII century Russia's position in Transcaucasia and the Caucasus began to strengthen. Türkiye and Persia also intensified their expansion into Georgia. Georgia at that time was experiencing a period of feudal fragmentation and was not a unified state. Kakheti and Kartalinia under the rule of Erekle II united into Eastern Georgia. The Georgian principalities in the west - Imereti, Mengrelia, Guria - each had their own kings or sovereign princes. Türkiye and Persia carried out devastating raids on Georgian lands. Kakheti and Kartaliniya paid a shameful tribute with beautiful girls to the Persians, and Imereti, Mengrelia, Guria paid the same tribute to the Turks. The principalities were in constant hostility among themselves. The small Georgian people, in order to preserve their identity, needed a strong patron.
On July 27, 1783, in the fortress of Georgievsk (North Caucasus), an agreement was concluded between the Georgian king of Eastern Georgia (Kakheti and Kartalinia) Irakli II and Russia on patronage. The Treaty of Georgievsk was signed, according to which Eastern Georgia, exhausted under the blows of the Turks, came under the protection of Russia while maintaining autonomy. Russia guaranteed territorial integrity and inviolability of borders to Eastern Georgia. Fearing military clashes with Turkey, Russia refused to conclude the same agreement with the western Georgian principalities.
In 1787, Catherine decided to visit Novorossiya, accompanied by a brilliant retinue. For 4 years, the tireless G.A. Potemkin turned Novorossiya into a flourishing land. He founded the cities of Kherson, Nikolaev, Ekaterinoslav (now Dnepropetrovsk), Nikopol, and Odessa. G.A. Potemkin started agriculture, crafts, and created industry. He invited immigrants from other countries and attracted them with low taxes. The first ships of the Black Sea Fleet were built in Kherson. Construction of Sevastopol, the main base of the Black Sea Fleet, began in the convenient Akhtiar Bay. Later, for his work for the benefit of the Russian state, he received the title of His Serene Highness Prince and an honorary addition to his surname - Potemkin - Tavrichesky. (Tavrida is the ancient name of Crimea).
In Turkey, Catherine’s travel was regarded as Russia’s desire to further expand Russia’s borders in the south at the expense of Turkish territories.
In 1787, the Turkish Sultan declared war on Russia.
Russian - Turkish War 1787 - 1791 The second Russian-Turkish war began during the reign of Catherine II. Military talent A.V. Suvorov had blossomed by this time. In July 1789 he defeated the Turks at Focsani, and in August 1789 on the Rymnik River. Victory was close, but it was impossible without the capture of Ishmael. Izmail - a Turkish fortress, recently built by the French, with walls 25 meters high, was considered impregnable and was the pride of the Turkish Sultan.
In 1790 A.V. Suvorov received an order to take Izmail. Near Izmail, his military fate was at stake: A.V. Suvorov was already 60 years old. Commandant of Izmail A.V. Suvorov wrote: “24 hours to think is freedom, my first shot is already bondage; assault is death.” In the early morning of December 11, 1790, Russian troops launched an assault on the fortress. One of the main blows was delivered by General M.I. Kutuzov. Forces of troops M.I. Kutuzov's forces were exhausted, and he was already preparing to retreat. And then right on the battlefield A.V. Suvorov sent him an order that a telegram about the victory had been sent to St. Petersburg, and M.I. Kutuzov was appointed commandant of Izmail. M.I. Kutuzov understood: he must either take Izmail or die under its walls. In 6 hours. Ishmael was taken. Russia rejoiced. On the capture of Izmail G.R. Derzhavin wrote the poem "The Thunder of Victory, Ring Out!" Composer O.A. Kozlovsky wrote the music. The resulting song by G.A. Potemkin turned it into the unofficial Russian national anthem.
The way to Istanbul was opened for Russian troops. Brilliant victories were also won at sea. Commander of the young Black Sea Fleet F.F. Ushakov in 1791 defeated the Turkish fleet at Cape Kaliakria.
The Turks hastened to sit down at the negotiating table. In 1791, a peace treaty was concluded in Iasi. According to the Treaty of Jassy:
The Ottoman Empire recognized Crimea as a possession of Russia;
Russia included the territories between the Bug and Dniester rivers, as well as Taman and Kuban;
Türkiye recognized Russian patronage of Georgia, established by the Treaty of Georgievsk in 1783.
Sections of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1772, 1793, 1795). At this time, the situation in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth worsened. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth arose in 1569 from the unification of Poland and Lithuania. The King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was elected by the Polish nobility and was largely dependent on it. The right to make laws belonged to the Sejm - an assembly of people's representatives. To pass the law, the consent of all those present “liberum veto” was required, which was extremely difficult. Even one vote “against” prohibited the decision. The Polish king was powerless before the nobility; there was always no agreement at the Sejm. Groups of the Polish nobility were constantly at odds with each other. Often, acting in selfish interests and not thinking about the fate of their state, Polish magnates resorted to the help of other states in their civil strife. This led to the fact that by the second half of the 18th century. Poland turned into an unviable state: no laws were issued in Poland, rural and urban life were stagnant. The idea of the division of Poland, as an unpredictable state that caused a lot of trouble to its neighbors, appeared in international politics at the beginning of the 18th century. in Prussia and Austria. During the time of Catherine II, the collapse of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth could be expected any day now. The Prussian king again put forward a plan for the dismemberment of Poland and invited Russia to join him. Catherine II considered it expedient to preserve a united Poland, but then decided to take advantage of Poland’s weakness and return those ancient Russian lands that were captured by Poland during the period of feudal fragmentation.
In 1772, 1793, 1795 Austria, Prussia, and Russia made three divisions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
In 1772, the first partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth took place. The eastern part of Belarus along the Western Dvina and Upper Dnieper was transferred to Russia. Polish nobles tried to save Poland. In 1791, a Constitution was adopted that abolished the election of the king and the right of “liberum veto”. The Polish army was strengthened, and the third estate was allowed into the Sejm.
In 1793, the second partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth took place. Central Belarus with Minsk and Right Bank Ukraine were transferred to Russia. On March 12, 1974, Polish patriots led by Tadeusz Kosciuszko rose in rebellion to try to save the doomed Polish state. Catherine II sent troops to Poland under the command of A.V. Suvorov. November 4 troops A.V. Suvorov entered Warsaw. The uprising was suppressed. T. Kosciuszko was arrested and sent to Russia. This predetermined the third partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. A young officer and composer M. Oginski fought in the ranks of T. Kosciuszko’s troops. Everything that happened to Poland deeply wounded his heart. In 1794 he wrote the polonaise "Farewell to the Motherland." This work, also known as Oginski's Polonaise, has become a masterpiece of world musical culture.
In 1795, the third partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth took place. Lithuania, Western Belarus, Volyn, and Courland went to Russia. The Poles lost their statehood. Until 1918, Polish lands were part of Prussia, Austria, and Russia.
Thus, as a result of the three divisions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Russia returned all the ancient Russian lands, and also received new territories - Lithuania and Courland. Ethnically Polish areas were not annexed to Russia.
During the time of Catherine II, Russian explorers began to explore the northwestern part of North America.
6. Conclusion.
The long reign of Catherine II 1762-1796 was filled with significant and highly controversial events and processes. The “Golden Age of the Russian Nobility” was at the same time the age of Pugachevism, the “Nakaz” and the Statutory Commission coexisted with persecution. This was a time when the imperial government was trying to implement one of the most thoughtful, consistent and successful reform programs in Russian history. The ideological basis of the reforms was the philosophy of the European Enlightenment, with which the empress was well acquainted. In this sense, her reign is often called the era of enlightened absolutism. Historians argue about what enlightened absolutism was - the utopian teaching of the enlighteners (Voltaire, Diderot, etc.) about the ideal union of kings and philosophers or a political phenomenon that found its real embodiment in Prussia (Frederick II the Great), Austria (Joseph II), Russia (Catherine II), etc. These disputes are not unfounded. They reflect the key contradiction in the theory and practice of enlightened absolutism: between the need to radically change the existing order of things (class system, despotism, lawlessness, etc.) and the inadmissibility of shocks, the need for stability, the inability to infringe on the social force on which this order rests - the nobility . Catherine II, like perhaps no one else, understood the tragic insurmountability of this contradiction: “You,” she blamed French philosopher D. Diderot, - you write on paper that will endure everything, but I, poor empress, - on human skin, so sensitive and painful.” It is difficult to unambiguously assess the results of the reign of Catherine II. Many of her outwardly spectacular undertakings, conceived on a large scale, led to modest results or gave unexpected and often erroneous results. It can also be said that Catherine simply implemented the changes dictated by the times and continued the policies outlined in her previous reigns. Or recognize her as a major historical figure who took the second, after Peter I, step along the path of Europeanization of the country, and the first along the path of reforming it in a liberal-educational spirit.
In foreign policy after the conquests of Catherine II, everything European states sought Russia's alliance and support. Head of Russian foreign policy under Catherine II, chancellor A.A. Bezborodko said at the end of his career to young diplomats: “I don’t know how it will be with you, but with us, not a single cannon in Europe dared to fire without our permission.”
Bibliography.
Pavlenko N. “Catherine the Great” // Rodina. - 1995. - No. 10-11, 1996. - No. 1.6.
Buganov V.I., Buganov A.V. Generals of the 18th century - M., "Patriot", 1992.
3. Zaichkin I.A., Pochkaev I.N. “Russian history: From Catherine the Great to Alexander II” M.: Mysl, 1994.
4. Wikipedia.org – “Wikipedia” version of the encyclopedia in Russian.
Under Catherine II, the initiatives of Peter I in the field of administrative structure and local self-government were further developed. Judicial reform also continued.
In 1775, in order to improve financial, supervisory and judicial activities, the three-member division of the empire into provinces, provinces and districts was reorganized into a two-member division: province - district. At the same time, the provinces were disaggregated, their number increased first to 40, and a little later to 50. According to the Institution on the Governorates, administrative units were created according to the number of population (300–400 thousand souls in the province, 20–30 thousand in the district). At the head of the province was a governor appointed by the tsar, at the head of the county was the zemstvo police officer, elected by the nobility of the county. Several provinces were dominated by a governor-general, under whose command were troops.
Catherine II called the governor the “master” of the province. Until February 1917, all administrative, financial and military power in the region was concentrated in his hands. Governors acted as local agents of the center's policies and as administrators of large territories. Provincial power was a flexible, tenacious and maneuverable institution of power, which combined centralization and decentralization of management in accordance with the characteristics of the region, period, the personality of the king and the personality of the governor.
The apparatus of the provincial government included financial affairs (the Treasury Chamber), social activities (the Order of Public Charity, which was in charge of educational, charitable and sanitary institutions), supervision and legality (the provincial prosecutor with a staff of prosecutors and solicitors). All officials were elected at noble meetings, with the exception of elected representatives from the 3 estates who sat in the Order of Public Charity. In the cities of centuries
In 1782, a new body of police administration was created - the Deanery Board, the competence and composition of which were determined by a special Charter. It consisted of 5 persons: chief police officer (in capitals) or mayor (in other cities), two bailiffs (for criminal and civil cases), appointed by the government, and two ratmans (advisers), elected by a meeting of citizens. In terms of police, cities were divided into parts headed by private bailiffs, into quarters headed by quarter overseers, appointed by the Deanery, and quarter lieutenants, elected by the townspeople from among themselves. The functions of the police authorities were very extensive: security, sanitation, morality, family relationships, conducting investigations in criminal cases, arrest houses, prisons - this is only an incomplete list of what the police did.
As we see, already during the organization of local administration, elected representatives of the estates were involved in its work. The main violin in the process of forming a new generation of bureaucratic bureaucracy was played by the nobility, which greatly expanded due to people from other classes by the middle of the 18th century. The Empress also paid attention to the merchants, whose share increased greatly due to the development of industry and trade. Catherine II granted these main classes of the Russian Empire the right to organize their own representative bodies locally. However, more about them a little later, after characterizing the class system.
Legal status of estates. In the 18th century, with a significant lag behind the West, in Russia 4 estates were finally formed from the class groups of Moscow society: the gentry (nobility), the clergy, the bourgeoisie (from the urban townspeople) and the peasantry.. Main feature class system - the presence and inheritance of personal rights of estate and corporate rights and obligations.
Registration of the nobility. The nobility was formed from different categories of service people (boyars, okolnichi, clerks, clerks, children of boyars, etc.), received the name of the nobility under Peter I, was renamed the nobility under Catherine II (in the acts of the Statutory Commission of 1767), and transformed over the course of a century from the service class to the ruling, privileged class. Some of the former service people (nobles and children of boyars) settled on. in the outskirts of the state, by the decrees of Peter I of 1698–1703, which formalized the nobility, she was not included in this class, but was transferred under the name of single-lords to the position of state-owned peasants.
The leveling of the position of feudal lords of all ranks was completed by the decree of Peter I of 1714 “On Single Inheritance”, according to which estates were equated to estates and assigned to the nobles on the right of ownership. In 1722, the “Table of Ranks” established methods for obtaining the nobility by length of service. She also secured the status of the ruling class for the gentry.
According to the “Table of Ranks”, everyone who was on public service(civil, military, naval) were divided into 14 ranks or ranks, from the highest field marshal and chancellor to the lowest - adjutant to lieutenants and collegiate registrar. All persons, from 14th to 8th rank, became personal, and from 8th rank, hereditary nobles. Hereditary nobility was passed on to the wife, children and distant descendants in the male line. Daughters who got married acquired the class status of their husband (if he was higher). Before 1874, of the children born before receiving hereditary nobility, only one son received the status of a father, the rest were registered as “honorary citizens” (this status was established in 1832), after 1874 - all.
Under Peter I, the service of nobles with compulsory education began at the age of 15 and was for life. Anna Ioanovna somewhat eased their situation by limiting their service to 25 years and placing its beginning at the age of 20. She also allowed one of the sons or brothers in the noble family to stay at home and take care of the household.
In 1762, Peter III, who stayed on the throne for a short time, abolished by a special decree not only the compulsory education of nobles, but also the compulsory service of the nobility. And Catherine II’s 1785 “Certificate on the Rights and Advantages of the Russian Nobility” finally turned the nobility into a “noble” class.
So, the main sources of the noble class were in the 18th century. birth and length of service. Longevity included the acquisition of nobility through a grant and indigenat for foreigners (according to the “Table of Ranks”), through receiving an order (according to the “Charter of Grant” of Catherine II). In the 19th century higher education and an academic degree will be added to them.
Belonging to the rank of nobility was secured by an entry in the “Velvet Book”, established in 1682 during the abolition of localism, and from 1785 by inclusion in the local (provincial) lists - noble books, divided into 6 parts (according to the sources of the nobility): grant, military length of service, civil service, indigenous, title (order), prescription. Since Peter I, the estate was subordinate to a special department - the Heraldry Office, and from 1748 - to the Department of Heraldry under the Senate.
Rights and advantages of the nobility. 1. Exclusive right of ownership of land. 2. The right to own serfs (with the exception of the 1st half of the 18th century, when persons of all statuses could own serfs: townspeople, priests and even peasants). 3. Personal exemption from taxes and duties, from corporal punishment. 4. The right to build factories and factories (from Catherine II only in the countryside), to develop mineral resources on their land. 5. Since 1771, the exclusive right to serve in a civil department, in the bureaucracy (after the ban on recruiting persons from tax-paying classes), and since 1798 to form an officer corps in the army. 6. The corporate right to have the title of "nobility", which could only be taken away by the court of "peers" or by decision of the king. 7. Finally, according to the “Charter of Complaint” of Catherine II, the nobles received the right to form special noble societies, elect their own representative bodies and their own class court. But this was no longer their exclusive right.
Belonging to the noble class gave the right to a coat of arms, a uniform, riding in carriages drawn by four, dressing footmen in special liveries, etc.
The bodies of class self-government were district and provincial noble meetings, held once every three years, at which leaders of the nobility and their assistants - deputies, as well as members of noble courts were elected. Everyone who met the qualifications took part in the elections: residence, age (25 years), gender (men only), property (income from villages not less than 100 rubles), service (not below the rank of chief officer) and integrity.
The noble assemblies acted as legal entities, had property rights, participated in the distribution of duties, checked the genealogical book, expelled defamed members, submitted complaints to the emperor and the Senate, etc. The leaders of the nobility exercised serious influence on provincial and district authorities.
Formation of the bourgeois class. The original name was citizens (“Regulations of the Chief Magistrate”), then, following the example of Poland and Lithuania, they began to be called burghers. The estate was created gradually, as Peter I introduced European models of the middle class (third estate). It included former guests, townspeople, lower groups of service people - gunners, zatinshchiki, etc.
By the “Regulations of the Chief Magistrate,” Peter I divided the emerging class into 2 groups: regular and irregular citizens. The regular ones, in turn, consisted of two guilds. The first guild included bankers, noble merchants, doctors, pharmacists, skippers, silversmiths, icon painters, painters, the second - all those “who trade in small goods and all kinds of food supplies, as well as handcrafted carvers, turners, carpenters, tailors, shoemakers, etc. similar." Craftsmen, as in the West, were divided into guilds. At the head of the guilds and workshops were foremen, who often performed the functions of state bodies. Irregular citizens or “vile people” (in the sense of low origin - from slaves, serfs, etc.) included everyone “found in hire and menial work.”
The final registration of the burgher class took place in 1785 according to the “Charter of Grant for Rights and Benefits to the Cities of the Russian Empire” of Catherine II. By this time, the entrepreneurial layer in the cities had noticeably “strengthened, in order to stimulate trade, customs outposts and duties, monopolies and other restrictions were eliminated, freedom to establish industrial enterprises (that is, freedom of entrepreneurship) was announced, and peasant crafts were legalized. In 1785, the population cities were finally divided according to the property principle into 6 categories: 1) “real urban inhabitants”, owners of real estate within the city; 2) merchants of the three guilds; 4) foreigners and non-residents; 6) the rest of the townspeople; the population. Belonging to the class was secured by being included in the city philistine register. Belonging to the merchant guild was determined by the size of the capital: the first - from 10 to 50 thousand rubles, the second - from 5 to 10 thousand, the third - from 1 to 5 thousand.
The exclusive right of the petty bourgeois class was to engage in crafts and trade. Duties included taxes and conscription. True, there were many exceptions. Already in 1775, Catherine II freed the inhabitants of the suburbs, who had a capital of over 500 rubles, from the poll tax, replacing it with a one percent tax on the declared capital. In 1766, merchants were exempted from conscription. Instead of each recruit, they paid first 360 and then 500 rubles. They were also exempt from corporal punishment. Merchants, especially those of the first guild, were granted certain honorary rights (riding in carriages and carriages).
The corporate law of the bourgeois class also included the creation of associations and self-government bodies. According to the “Grant”, city residents who had reached the age of 25 and had a certain income (capital, the interest fee on which was not less than 50 rubles) were united into a city society. The meeting of its members elected the mayor and the vowels (deputies) of the city duma. All six categories of the city population sent their elected representatives to the general duma; in the six-voice duma, 6 representatives of each category, elected by the general duma, worked to carry out current affairs. Elections took place every 3 years. The main field of activity was urban management and everything that “serves to the benefit and need of the city.” Of course, governors supervised local governments, including the spending of city funds. However, these sums, donated by the merchants for urban improvement, for the construction of schools, hospitals, and cultural institutions, were sometimes very significant. They, as Catherine II planned, played an important role in the matter of “benefits and beautification of the city.” It was not for nothing that Alexander I, having come to power in 1801, immediately confirmed the “Charter of Grant”, which had been canceled by Paul I, and restored all the “rights and benefits” of the townspeople and all Catherine’s city institutions.
Peasants. In the 18th century Several categories of peasantry took shape. The category of state peasants was formed from the former black-growing peasants and from the peoples who paid yasak. Later, the already mentioned odnodvortsy, descendants of Moscow service people, settled on the southern outskirts of the state, who did not know communal life, joined it. In 1764, by decree of Catherine II, the secularization of church estates was carried out, which came under the jurisdiction of the College of Economy. The peasants taken away from the church began to be called economic peasants. But since 1786, they too became state peasants.
Privately owned (landowner) peasants absorbed all the previous categories of dependent people (serfs, serfs) who belonged to factories and factories since the time of Peter I (possession). Before Catherine II, this category of peasants was also replenished by clergy who remained on staff, retired priests and deacons, sextons and sextons. Catherine II stopped converting people of spiritual origin into serfdom and blocked all other ways of replenishing it (marriage, loan agreement, hiring and service, captivity), except for two: birth and distribution of state lands from peasants into private hands. Distributions - awards were especially widely practiced by Catherine herself and her son, Paul 1, and were stopped in 1801 by one of the first decrees of Alexander I. From that time on, the only source of replenishment of the serf class remained birth.
In 1797, by decree of Paul I, another category was formed from the palace peasants - appanage peasants (on the lands of the royal appanage), whose position was similar to the position of state peasants. They were the property of the imperial family.
In the 18th century The situation of the peasants, especially those belonging to the landowners, noticeably worsened. Under Peter I, they turned into a thing that could be sold, donated, exchanged (without land and separately from the family). In 1721, it was recommended to stop the sale of children separately from their parents in order to “calm the cry” among the peasants. But the separation of families continued until 1843.
The landowner used the labor of serfs at his own discretion, quitrent and corvee were not limited by any law, and the previous recommendations of the authorities to take from them “according to force” were a thing of the past. The peasants found themselves deprived not only of personal but also property rights, for all their property was considered to belong to their owner. The law and the right of court of the landowner did not regulate. He was not allowed only to use the death penalty and hand over peasants in his place to justice (under Peter I). True, the same king in the instructions to the governors from 1719. ordered to identify landowners who ruined peasants and transfer management of such estates to relatives.
Restrictions on the rights of serfs, starting in the 1730s, were enshrined in laws. They were forbidden to purchase real estate, open factories, work under contract, be bound by bills, assume obligations without the owner's permission, or enroll in guilds. Landowners were allowed to use Physical punishment and send the peasants to restraining houses. The procedure for filing complaints against landowners has become more complicated.
Impunity contributed to the increase in crimes among landowners. Case in point gives the story of the landowner Saltykova, who killed more than 30 of her serfs, who was exposed and sentenced to death (commuted to life imprisonment) only after a complaint against her fell into the hands of Empress Catherine II.
Only after the uprising of E.I. Pugachev, in which the serfs took an active part, the government began to strengthen state control over their situation and take steps towards mitigating the serfdom. The release of peasants to freedom was legalized, including after serving conscription (together with their wife), after exile to Siberia, for ransom at the request of the landowner (since 1775 without land, and since 1801 - the Decree of Paul I on “free cultivators" - with the land).
Despite the hardships of serfdom, exchange and entrepreneurship developed among the peasantry, and “capitalist” people appeared. The law allowed peasants to trade, first with individual goods, then even with “overseas countries”, and in 1814 people of all conditions were allowed to trade at fairs. Many wealthy peasants, who became rich through trade, were bought out of serfdom and, even before the abolition of serfdom, constituted a significant part of the emerging class of entrepreneurs.
State peasants were, in comparison with serfs, in a much better position. Their personal rights were never subject to such restrictions as the personal rights of serfs. Their taxes were moderate, they could buy land (while retaining duties), and were engaged in entrepreneurial activities. Attempts to curtail their property rights (taking out farm-outs and contracts, purchasing real estate in cities and counties, obliging themselves with bills of exchange) did not have such a detrimental effect on the state of the economy of state peasants, especially those living on the outskirts (in Siberia). Here, the communal orders preserved by the state (land redistribution, mutual responsibility for the payment of taxes), which held back the development of the private economy, were much more energetically destroyed.
Self-government was of greater importance among state peasants. Since ancient times, elders elected at gatherings have played a prominent role. According to the provincial reform of 1775, state peasants, like other classes, received their own court. Under Paul I, volost self-governing organizations were created. Each volost (with a certain number of villages and no more than 3 thousand souls) could elect a volost administration, consisting of a volost head, a headman and a clerk. In the villages, elders and tens were elected. All these bodies performed financial, police and judicial functions.
Clergy. The Orthodox clergy consisted of two parts: white, parish (from ordination) and black, monastic (from tonsure). Only the first constituted the estate itself, for the second part had no heirs (monasticism took a vow of celibacy). The white clergy occupied the lowest positions in the church hierarchy: clergy (from deacon to protopresbyter) and clergy (sacristans, sextons). The highest positions (from bishop to metropolitan) belonged to the black clergy.
In the 18th century the clergy class became hereditary and closed, since the law prohibited persons of other classes from accepting the priesthood. Leaving the class, for a number of formal reasons, was extremely difficult. Among the class rights of the clergy, one can note freedom from personal taxes, from conscription, and from military billets. It had privilege in the field of legal proceedings. In general courts, the priesthood was tried only for particularly serious criminal offenses; civil cases involving lay people were resolved in the presence of special representatives of the clergy.
The clergy could not engage in activities incompatible with the clergy, including trade, crafts, servicing farm-outs and contracts, producing alcoholic beverages, etc. As we have already seen, in the 18th century. it also lost its main privilege - the right to own estates and serfs. Church ministers were transferred “to pay.”
In the Russian Empire, other Christian and non-Christian faiths coexisted freely with Orthodoxy. Lutheran kirks were built in cities and large villages, and from the middle of the 18th century. and Catholic churches. Mosques were built in places where Muslims lived, and pagodas where Buddhists lived. However, the transition from Orthodoxy to another faith remained prohibited and was severely punished (in the 1730s, there was a known case of an officer being burned in a wooden frame).