Republic of Poland's Constitution of 3 May 1791

Yesterday, the Constitution Day was celebrated again in Poland with festivities attended by e.g. President Duda and his wife.

Poland can be proud of being one the European countries with one of the oldest modern constitutions!

Who wrote this early constitution? E.g. members of the Polish Enlightenment. "Polish Enlightenment, however, developed in a very different background [from France or Great Britain or Germany]. The Polish political system was almost the opposite of the absolute monarchy: Polish kings were elected and their position was very weak, with most of the powers in the hands of the parliament (Sejm). Polish reforms desired the elimination of laws that transformed their system into a near-anarchy, resulting from abuse of consensus voting in Sejm (liberum veto) that paralyzed the Commonwealth ... Thus, while men of the Enlightenment in France and Prussia wrote about the need for more checks and balances on their kings, Polish Enlightenment was geared towards fighting the abuses stemming from too many checks and balances. ..."

Another interesting aspect is that the Polish people adopted the Latin alphabet in the 12th century instead of the Slavic Cyrillic script. The Czech people did the same.

What did the Polish people contribute to the Declaration of Independence and the  U.S. Constitution: Thaddeus Kosciuszko. ""As pure a son of liberty, as I have ever known..." - Thomas Jefferson
Visit the house in Philadelphia where wounded Polish freedom fighter Thaddeus Kosciuszko lived and hear how this brilliant military engineer designed successful fortifications during the American Revolution. See the room where he received notable visitors such as Chief Little Turtle and Thomas Jefferson."

Constitution of 3 May 1791 - Wikipedia