The period of the reign of Emperor Alexander I is associated with the names of three statesmen: N.N. Novosiltseva, M.M. Speransky and A.A. Arakcheeva. It was their lot to develop new bills and reforms. The activities of each of them correlate with a certain stage in the formation of the sovereign’s personality and his ideas about the need for certain reforms. N.N. Novosiltsev was a member of the “Unofficial Committee” created by the emperor in the first years of his reign and known for its liberal aspirations. However, it did not last long. Only in 1819 did Alexander again turn to his friend from his youth with a proposal to develop a draft constitution, which was done by 1820. The document was called the “Charter of Charter Russian Empire».
Activities of M.M. Speransky refers to the years 1807 - 1811, when the emperor had already moved away from the liberal sentiments of his youth, but still wanted to carry out reforms in the country. It was Speransky who was tasked with developing the basic plan for the state transformation of the Russian Empire. The project assumed the introduction of the principle of separation of powers and the convening of an elected governing body, but while maintaining the inviolability of imperial power.
The reactionary period of government, when there was a gradual abandonment of reforms, is already associated with Arakcheev’s activities. The Count concentrated all the threads in his hands state power. It was impossible to get to the emperor with a report without the permission of the temporary worker. One of the most reactionary measures is associated with the name of Arakcheev last period reign of the emperor - military reform, the creation of military settlements. This transformation, which gave freedom to the peasants on paper, in reality enslaved them even more, tied them to the land, and forced them to serve not only in the state, but also in the army for life.
BIOGRAPHY | ACTIVITY |
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|---|---|---|
A. Arakcheev | The son of a poor and humble landowner. Graduated from the Shlyakhetsky artillery and engineering corps. Served Paul I in Gatchina and became a count. | Minister of War, head of military settlements, de facto head of the State Council at the “reactionary” stage of the reign of Alexander I |
MM. Speransky | The son of a village priest. He graduated from the Theological Academy and began his career with the rank of titular adviser to the Office of the Prosecutor General of the Senate. in 1807 he became the sovereign's personal secretary. His Napoleon Bonaparte | He proposed creating a State Duma and implementing the principle of separation of powers. He was appointed to the post of Secretary of State - Chairman of the Council Chancellery. |
N.N. Novosiltsev | In 1818, Alexander 1 instructed him to prepare a draft Russian constitution (after Speransky). The document “State Charter of the Russian Empire” (the establishment of a constitutional monarchy in Russia; the main source of power in the country was the sovereignty of the monarch) According to the draft Russian state charter (constitution): Legislative functions were transferred to parliament (State Sejm) |
The Polish Constitution of 1815 is the constitution of the Kingdom of Poland, promulgated on June 20, 1815. The constitution was in force until the uprising of 1830. In 1832, Emperor Nicholas I abolished the constitution of the Kingdom of Poland. Given to Alexander I Congress of Vienna The Kingdom of Poland received a Constitution from its new King. This constitution transformed the newly created state into a hereditary monarchy, “forever united with the Russian Empire.” The king appointed a governor, who could only be a Pole; an exception was made for the governor from among the members of the Imperial House. The king was given complete executive power. All his successors had to be crowned in Warsaw and take an oath to preserve the constitution. All royal orders and decrees had to be signed by a minister, who would be responsible for anything that might be contained in these orders and decrees that was contrary to the constitution and laws.
The constitution also established a state council, without which the governor could not undertake anything important. Five ministries (“commissions”) were established: the Ministry of Cults and Public Education, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Police, the Ministry of Military Affairs, and the Ministry of State Revenue and Property. Legislative power was to reside in the person of the king and in two chambers. The Sejm was convened every two years for thirty days, and the king was given the right to dissolve the Sejm, postpone Sejm sessions and convene an emergency Sejm. Members of the Sejm enjoyed immunity during the session. Legislative initiative was recognized only by the king, but ambassadors and deputies were allowed to present to the king, through the State Council, various kinds of desires concerning the welfare of their fellow citizens. The budget was approved by the Sejm for no more than four years. Meetings of both chambers were to be public and only at the request of a tenth of those present members of the House could become secret committees. The final sanction of laws belonged to the king. Senators (members of the imperial house, bishops, governors and castellans) were appointed by the king for life and, moreover (except for senators of the first two categories) from two candidates presented by the Senate itself. The constitution declared the administration of justice independent: the judge had to express his opinion completely free from any any influences from the “highest or ministerial authority.” Judges, both appointed by the king and elected, were declared irremovable, except in cases of removal by court verdict for official or other crimes. State crimes and crimes of the highest state dignitaries were subject to the Sejm court from all members of the Senate. The punishment of confiscation of property was canceled and could not be restored in any case.
Constitutional project
N.N. Novosiltseva
In March 1818, Alexander I arrived in Poland for the opening of the Sejm, where he delivered a speech that gave the impression of a bomb exploding. The Tsar announced that the “lawfully free institutions” that he “bestowed” on Poland were the subject of his constant “thoughts” and that he hopes to spread them throughout the country. The Tsar made it clear that the fate of the constitution in Russia depended on the success of the Polish experiment. Work on it began at the end of the same year under the leadership of N.N. Novosiltseva. By October of the following year - 1819, the document was ready and approved by Alexander I. Then, revisions continued for another year. According to the new project, the Russian Empire was supposed to acquire a federal structure and consist of 10-12 large units - governorships headed by governors-general. Each viceroyalty was to be governed by its own Sejm of two chambers, and legislative power in the country as a whole was transferred to the all-Russian, also bicameral, Sejm, which exercised legislative functions jointly with the sovereign. The project provided for the transfer of executive power to the State Council together with the ministries; the judicial power was finally separated from the other two. Work on the project was completed by the end of 1820, and it was again approved by the emperor. However, the king now decided that a constitution alone was also not enough, and it must, in turn, become part of a larger body of laws. As a result, the adoption of the constitution was delayed indefinitely. True, one governorship was created as an experiment, and in 1821, M.M., who returned to St. Petersburg from exile, The Tsar instructed Speransky to write “The Project for the Establishment of Viceroyalities.” But by this time, the emperor, apparently, himself began to think that his plans were impracticable and even harmful. He was convinced of this by information about the existence of secret revolutionary societies of future Decembrists, the unrest of military settlers and soldiers of the Semenovsky regiment, revolutionary events in Southern Europe, and the opposition of the Polish Sejm itself. It began to seem to him that the introduction of the constitution could serve as a catalyst for further upheavals, even more terrible and unpredictable. As a result, Alexander I's plans to introduce constitutional government in the Russian Empire remained unrealized. As for the Polish Sejm and the constitutional structure of Poland, they briefly outlived their founder and were liquidated after the suppression of the Polish uprising of 1830-1831.
In 1818, A.A. Arakcheev’s project on the abolition of serfdom was prepared. It provided for the gradual redemption of landowner peasants by the treasury. Peasants were freed with land on a leasehold basis (two tithes per capita). Landowners received monetary compensation for the peasants released, which would contribute to the development of their economy. Arakcheev believed that this way of liberating the peasants was beneficial for the landowners, since they would retain most of the land and retain the labor force, since with a two-decade allotment, the peasants would be forced to rent land from the landowner. However, this cautious project was never implemented. The king did not dare to accept him.
In 1820, a draft constitution was prepared, developed on behalf of the Emperor N.N. Novosiltsev. The project was called “Charter of the Russian Empire.” The creation of a bicameral parliament was proclaimed, without whose approval the king could not issue a single law. On the other hand, the right to introduce bills into parliament belonged only to the king. It was supposed to provide Russian citizens with freedom of speech and religion, the equality of all before the law, personal inviolability, and the right to private property were proclaimed. But only free people, serfs were not one of them. However, the project was again not implemented. Alexander, experiencing pressure from the nobles and fearing popular uprisings, finally abandoned all liberal ideas.
.Reforms of M.M.Speransky
"Introduction to the Code of State Laws"
The State Duma has legislative power; ministries exercise executive power; The Senate has judicial power
The new body - the State Council, was supposed to become an advisory body under the emperor (should consider all draft laws before they are submitted to the Duma)
Three main classes were established Russian society: 1) nobility 2) “middle class” (merchants, petty bourgeois, state peasants) 3) “working people” (serfs, domestic servants, workers)
Political rights were to belong to representatives of the “free” (first two) classes; the third estate received general civil rights.
Only persons who owned movable and immovable property received the right to vote
The chancellor appointed by the tsar was supposed to direct the work of the Duma
Manifesto on the creation of the State Council
The main task: establishing order in the preparation and adoption of laws. The Council assessed not only the content of the laws, but also the very need for their adoption. His tasks also included “explaining” the meaning of laws and taking measures to implement them.
The State Council was intended to become not a legislative body, but a legislative advisory body under the emperor, an instrument of his legislative power.
"Code of the Governing Senate"
Division of the Senate into the Governing Senate (in charge of local government issues) and the Judicial Senate (which is the highest court and controls all judicial institutions)
IN 1818 year, A.A. Arakcheev’s project on the abolition of serfdom was prepared. It provided for the gradual redemption of landowner peasants by the treasury. Peasants were freed with land on a leasehold basis (two tithes per capita). Landowners received monetary compensation for the peasants released, which would contribute to the development of their economy. Arakcheev believed that this way of liberating the peasants was beneficial for the landowners, since they would retain most of the land and retain the labor force, since with a two-decade allotment, the peasants would be forced to rent land from the landowner. However, this cautious project was never realized. The king did not dare to accept him.
IN 1820 year, a draft constitution was prepared, developed on behalf of the emperor N.N. Novosiltsev. The project was called “Charter of the Russian Empire.” The creation of a bicameral parliament was proclaimed, without whose approval the king could not issue a single law. On the other hand, the right to introduce bills into parliament belonged only to the king. It was supposed to provide Russian citizens with freedom of speech and religion, the equality of all before the law, personal inviolability, and the right to private property were proclaimed. But only free people were considered citizens; serfs were not one of them. However, the project was again not implemented. Alexander, experiencing pressure from the nobles and fearing popular uprisings, finally abandoned all liberal ideas.
2.1 Constitutional draft N.N. Novosiltseva
In March 1818, Alexander I arrived in Poland for the opening of the Sejm, where he delivered a speech that gave the impression of a bomb exploding.
The Tsar announced that the "lawfully free institutions" which he had "bestowed" on Poland were the subject of his constant "thoughts" and that he hoped to extend them to the whole country.
The Tsar made it clear that the fate of the constitution in Russia depended on the success of the Polish experiment. Work on it began at the end of the same year under the leadership of N.N. Novosiltsev - a statesman, a close friend of Alexander I. By October of the following year - 1819, and the document was ready and approved by Alexander I. Then, revisions continued for another year.
The constitutional project was called “State Charter of the Russian Empire”. To understand the reasons for the appearance of this document, as well as the essence of its main provisions great importance has the fact that it was closely connected with the Polish constitution of 1815. A comparison and analysis of these 2 documents indicates the coincidence of their most important provisions. This coincidence is explained, firstly, by the fact that the documents apparently had the same author N.N. Novosiltsev, who in 1818-1819. not only led the work on the creation of the “State Charter of the Russian Empire,” but also headed the Russian administration in Poland during the period of the establishment of constitutional bodies there (1818-1819). Secondly, much was clarified in Alexander’s speech at grand opening Polish Sejm on March 15, 1818, in which he declared his intention to further extend the constitutional experience of Poland to the entire empire. All this suggests that Alexander 1 and in 1818-1819. there were serious intentions for the constitutional reorganization of the Russian Empire, and the “State Charter of the Russian Empire” was considered as the legislative basis for this reorganization. True, these, as well as other liberal projects of the reign of Alexander 1, were not subsequently implemented.
2.2 Main provisions of the Charter
The Russian state with all the possessions annexed to it is divided into governorships. Each viceroyalty is divided into certain number provinces Provinces are divided into districts. Counties are divided into districts: districts consist of cities of the 3rd degree and volosts, villages and hamlets. Cities of the 1st degree are provincial, 2nd degree are district, and 3rd are all others. The crown of the Russian imperial throne is inherited. Sovereign power is indivisible: it is concentrated in the person of the monarch. The State Council, chaired by the sovereign, consists of ministers elected by the sovereign. The execution of laws is entrusted to the ministries:. Private dumas or Sejms of viceroyal regions consist of the sovereign and two chambers: the highest (formed from one department of the Senate), the zemstvo embassy chamber (composed of two-thirds of the number of ambassadors and deputies elected in the region of viceroyalty, approved by the sovereign). Courts act according to laws, regardless of any authority.
According to the new project, the Russian Empire was supposed to acquire a federal structure and consist of 10-12 large units - governorships headed by governors-general. Each viceroyalty was to be governed by its own Sejm of two chambers, and legislative power in the country as a whole was transferred to the all-Russian, also bicameral, Sejm, which exercised legislative functions jointly with the sovereign. The project provided for the transfer of executive power
The State Council together with the ministries; the judicial power was finally separated from the other two.
Work on the project was completed by the end of 1820, and it was again approved by the emperor. However, the king now decided that a constitution alone was also not enough, and it must, in turn, become part of a larger body of laws. As a result, the adoption of the constitution was delayed indefinitely. True, one governorship was created as an experiment, and in 1821, M.M., who returned to St. Petersburg from exile, The Tsar instructed Speransky to write “The Project for the Establishment of Viceroyalities.” But by this time the emperor, apparently, himself began to think that his plans were impracticable and even harmful. He was convinced of this by information about the existence of secret revolutionary societies of future Decembrists, the unrest of military settlers and soldiers of the Semenovsky regiment, revolutionary events in Southern Europe, and the opposition of the Polish Sejm itself. It began to seem to him that the introduction of the constitution could serve as a catalyst for further upheavals, even more terrible and unpredictable. As a result, Alexander I's plans to introduce constitutional government in the Russian Empire remained unrealized. As for the Polish Sejm and the constitutional structure of Poland, they briefly outlived their founder and were liquidated after the suppression of the Polish uprising of 1830-1831.
2.3 “Russian Truth” by P.I. Pestel
Pavel Pestel was a supporter of the dictatorship of temporary supreme rule during the revolution, and considered dictatorship a decisive condition for success. The dictatorship, according to his assumptions, was supposed to last 10–15 years. His constitutional project “Russian Truth” is a mandate or instruction to the provisional government for its actions, and at the same time an announcement to the people of what they will be freed from and what they can expect again.”
The full name of this project reads: “Russian Truth, or the Protected State Charter of the Great Russian People, serving as a covenant for improvement State system Russia and containing the right order both for the people and for the Provisional Supreme Government.”
Pestel’s constitutional project was not only discussed many times at meetings and congresses of the leaders of the Southern Society, but also individual members of the society were involved in the work on the text of the project itself.
Pestel called his project “Russian Truth” in memory of the ancient legislative monument Kievan Rus. “Russian Truth, written by him, constituted the program he proposed for the political state structure.”
Pestel attached great tactical importance to Russkaya Pravda. The revolution could not be carried out successfully without a ready-made constitutional draft.
In “Russian Truth” there were 10 chapters: the first chapter is “about the land space of the state”; the second - “about the tribes inhabiting Russia”; the third - “about the classes found in Russia”; the fourth - “about the people in relation to the political or social state prepared for them”; fifth - “about the people in relation to the civil or private state prepared for them”; sixth - about the structure and formation of the supreme power; seventh - about structure and education local authorities; the eighth is about the “security structure” in the state; ninth - “about the government in relation to the structure of welfare in the state”; the tenth is an order for drawing up a state code of laws. In addition, “Russkaya Pravda” had an introduction that spoke about the basic concepts of the constitution.
The question of serfdom and the question of the destruction of the autocracy are two main questions of the political ideology of the Decembrists.
Pestel's project proclaimed the decisive and radical abolition of serfdom. The abolition of serfdom is the first and main task of the Provisional Supreme Government.
“Personal freedom is the first and essential right every citizen and the most sacred duty of every government. The entire structure is based on it government building and without it there is neither peace nor prosperity.”
According to Pestel's project, the autocracy in Russia was decisively destroyed, and the entire reigning house was physically exterminated.
All classes in the state were to be decisively destroyed, “all people in the state should constitute only one class, which can be called civil.” No group of the population could differ from another by any social privileges.
The nobility was destroyed along with all other classes, and all Russians were declared equally “noble.” The equality of all before the law was declared and the “indisputable right” of every citizen to participate in public affairs was recognized.
Guilds, workshops and military settlements were destroyed.
According to the constitution, a Russian reached civil adulthood at the age of 20. All male citizens who reached this age received voting rights. There is no qualification, property or literacy qualification, in Pestel’s constitution.
Pestel was an enemy of any federal structure and a supporter of a single and indivisible republic with a strong centralized power.
Pestel's Republic was divided into provinces or regions, which in turn were divided into counties, and counties into volosts. Every year in each volost a general volost meeting of all residents, the so-called, was supposed to meet. Zemstvo People's Assembly, which elected its deputies to various “local assemblies”, i.e. local authorities, namely: 1) to their local volost assembly, 2) to their local district assembly, 3) to their local district or provincial assembly. Elections to these three government bodies were direct. The head of the local volost assembly was the elected “volost leader”, and the head of the district and provincial local assemblies were the “elected mayors”. The competence of local assemblies was quite broad: they listened to reports from the executive authorities in the volost, district, province - volost district and zemstvo boards, accepted and considered complaints against local authorities, elected new local government officials and approved the previous ones, and generally dealt with all matters of local importance.
District non-local assemblies also elected representatives to the highest legislative body - the People's Assembly. Thus, elections to the supreme body of power in Pestel’s republic were planned to be two-stage.
The People's Council was the body of the supreme legislative power in the state; it was unicameral. Executive power in the state was vested in the State Duma.
The People's Council was supposed to be composed of people's representatives elected for five years. Every year one fifth of the People's Assembly was re-elected. The chairman was elected annually again from the members of the People's Council Last year. Only the People's Council had the right to make laws, declare war and make peace. No one had the right to dissolve the People's Assembly, because it “represents the will in the state, the soul of the people.”
Every year one of the members of the Sovereign Duma left due to the expiration of his term and was replaced by another of his choice. The Chairman of the State Duma was the member who had been sitting for the last (fifth) year.
In addition to the legislative and executive powers, Pestel identified a guardian power, which was supposed to control the exact implementation of the constitution in the country and ensure that the legislative and executive branch did not go beyond the limits set by the laws.
According to Pestel’s constitution, the central body of supervisory power was the Supreme Council, which was to consist of 120 members called “boyars” and elected for life. The Supreme Council appointed the commander-in-chief of the army during the war.
Capital Russian Republic according to “Russian Pravda” it should have become Nizhny Novgorod.
Pestel's Constitution proclaimed the bourgeois principle - the sacred and inviolable right of property. She declared complete freedom of occupation for the population, freedom of printing and religion. For the content of printed works, the perpetrators were answerable only in court. Every faith could be freely practiced in the state, but some religious practices were prohibited. The class court was abolished and a public jury trial was introduced, equal for all citizens.
Pestel defended the broadest and unlimited freedom of trade. The borders of the republic were to expand to their “natural limits.”
Pestel's views on the national question were original and bore the stamp of noble narrow-mindedness. Pestel did not recognize the right of separation of other nationalities from the Russian state: all the peoples inhabiting Russia had to merge into a single Russian people and lose their national characteristics. All residents of Russia, regardless of nationality, received the same political rights. But Pestel considered it desirable to Christianize non-Russian peoples and settle Russian colonists on the lands of other nationalities.
As for the Polish question, Pestel recognized Poland's right to secede from Russia, but under the following conditions: A revolution must take place in Poland, destroying the feudal oppression of peasants and classes, a republic must be proclaimed on the same grounds as in Russia. After this, the Polish Republic received the right to independent political existence, separating from Russia, but retained the “closest union” with it in peacetime and war.
This was Pestel’s constitutional project – “Russian Truth”. This was a revolutionary project for the bourgeois reorganization of serf Russia. He destroyed serfdom and autocracy, asserted a republic instead of a backward absolutist state. It bears some stamp of noble narrow-mindedness, but on the whole it represents a kind of plan for the strong advancement of backward feudal-serf Russia.
Endowed with legislative functions. Inalienable civil rights were proclaimed: personal integrity, freedom of conscience, speech, assembly, unions, voting rights. The Manifesto of October 19, 1905 established a government body in Russia - the Council of Ministers. The “Establishment” had constitutional significance State Duma” dated February 20, 1906; Decree “On the reorganization of the institution...
But the Manifesto did not propose any form of government, establishing a Provisional Government and transferring the decision of the issue to a new elected body - the House of People's Representatives. So, of the two main constitutional projects of the Decembrists, only the Constitution preserved the monarchy, but in a significantly changed form - there was no talk of any autocracy. The very appearance of the monarch in the Constitution is of interest - ...