PUBLICATIONS

Documents

1, 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, 1e, 1f
The “Constitution Act” [official publication in the form of an extract from the town records of Warsaw],
5^th May 1781 [3^rd May 1791], Warszawa
ASCzt., t. XXV, k. 357-360v

First edition of the text of the "Constitution Act", part of a unit; kept in the collection of the Archives of the Four-Year Sejm, vol. XXV

First Polish publications

2, 2a
The "Constitution Act" establishing the foundations of the political system, the laws of the states and the principles of organization of the authorities of the Commonwealth of Poland. Printed, Warsaw by P. Dufour Court Counsellor J. K. Mci and Director of the Cadet Corps Printing house 1791.
AGAD, Biblioteka, SD I 50
3, 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d, 3e, 3f, 3g, 3h
The text of the Constitution published in Gazeta Narodowa i Obca , No. 38, 11^th May 1791;
AGAD, Biblioteka 1288 t. I, s. 154,158,162,166,170,174,178,181-182

Prints in foreign languages

4, 4a
Forme Constitutionelle decrétée par acclamation dans la séance du 3 maj, sanctionnée a l’ unanimité, dans la seancé suiante du 5 mai 1791, contemporary print, (French)
AGAD, Biblioteka, SD I 72

^rd

5, 5a
New Constitution of the Government of Poland Established by the Revolution, the 3^rd of May, London Printed for J. Debrett opposite Burlington House, Piccadilly M. D. CC. XCI,
Biblioteka Narodowa w Warszawie sygn. XVIII.2.3374, Reprint PWN Warszawa 1991

^rd

Time

The Morning Chronicle

^th

The London Gazette

^st

^rd

The Oracle

The Star

The Morning Chronicle

The Lloyd’s Evening Post

^st

The Morning Chronicle

PUBLICATIONS

First edition with information about the entry in Warsaw’s official records.

For the constitution to become a standing law, it wasn’t enough just to pass it during the session of the Sejm which entered the annals of Polish parliamentary history. It wasn’t enough to say a solemn mass in Warsaw’s St. John’s collegiate church. It wasn’t enough to create fair copies with the signatures of the Sejm marshals and deputies to the constitution and it wasn’t even enough to proclaim the “Declaration of the Assembled States” passed on 5^th May 1791 which abolished all the laws that contradicted the “Constitution Act” and which ordered all the authorities, civilian and military, to take an oath of faithfulness to the constitution. As with all the other constitutions passed by the Four-Year Sejm, it was necessary to write the text (oblata) into Warsaw’s judicial records and then to take an extract from those records with the seal of the town’s judicial office and the signature of the Warsaw town scribe. Only then did the Constitution, distributed in the form of extracts from the Warsaw town records to the town offices across the whole territory of the Commonwealth, become the law with full force. When, on 14^th February 1794, the “Perpetual Council” ordered the destruction of all documents related to the Constitution of 3^rd May, this referred primarily to those extracts. This is why they cannot be found in the regional and town archives. They can occasionally be found in the archives of the offices which were taken by the second partition because the decrees of the “Perpetual Council” were not observed there. The extract here came from the Archive of the Four-Year Sejm.

First Polish editions

In the introduction to the critical edition of the text of the Constitution of May 3^rd, Jerzy Kowecki calculated that, within the first year of its adoption, 14 editions of the text of the "Constitution Act", approx. 20-30,000 copies, appeared in print. This gives an idea of the huge level of interest in the new law. Moreover, the text was published by the press at that time.

The "Constitution Act" establishing the foundations of the political system, the laws of the states and the principles of organization of the authorities of the Commonwealth of Poland. Printed, Warsaw by P. Dufour Court Counsellor J. K. Mci and Director of the Cadet Corps Printing house 1791.
AGAD, Biblioteka, SD I 50