Revolutionary War hero Thaddeus Kosciuszko

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(1836) These United States: Revolutionary War hero Thaddeus Kosciuszko - YouTube

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

Taddeusz Kosciuszko - An Early Abolitionist

Posted:

Trigger

Just read Smallest national park? Kosciuszko, forgotten son of liberty. I was sad to read that this tiniest of national parks is rather infrequently visited nowadays compared to other sites in Philadelphia. This article also mentions the controversy about the last will (or multiple wills) of this man of which I do not remember ever having heard of before.

Jefferson wrote of Kosciuszko, "He is as pure a son of liberty as I have ever known."

I wonder, whether Kosciuszko is also being forgotten in his homeland Poland?

When I lived and worked in Philadelphia in the mid 1990s, I visited Kosciuszko's home and I was very impressed about this Polish man. The man who among other achievements contributed to the first, modern, although short-lived constitution of 1791 in Europe patterned after the U.S. Constitution.  I do not remember whether this national park site discusses the wills of Kosciuszko.

An Early Abolitionist And Controversy Over The Wills

Sources:

1. Wills of Tadeusz Kościuszko
2. U.S. Supreme Court: Armstrong v. Lear  25 U.S. 169 (1827)
3. Encyclopedia Britannica: Tadeusz Kościuszko, Polish general and statesman

Apparently, and unfortunately there were several, conflicting wills written by Kosciuszko. I do not have the time to learn more about it or go into this.

However, to me it is truly amazing that this Polish man, who did not intend to stay in America and who returned to Poland, resolved to dedicate his U.S. estate/assets to freeing and educating negro slaves and asked nobody less than his friend Thomas Jefferson to execute his will.

Here is the salient quote from his will of 5/5/1798 (emphasis added):

“I, Thaddeus Kosciuszko, being just on my departure from America, do hereby declare and

direct that should I make no other testamentary disposition of my property in the United States, I hereby authorize my friend Thomas Jefferson to employ the whole thereof in purchasing negroes from among his own or any others and giving them liberty in my name, in giving them an education in trade or otherwise, and in having them instructed for their new condition in the duties of morality which may make them good neighbors, good fathers or mothers, husbands or wives, in their duty as citizens, teaching them to be defenders of their liberty and country, and of the good order of society, and in whatsoever may make them happy and useful. And I make the said Thomas Jefferson my executor of this.”

I tend to agree that Thomas Jefferson, at an old age at the time of Kosciuszko’s death, refused to execute the will of his friend for good reasons. However, Thomas Jefferson made the effort to refer this will to another friend of him (i.e. John Hartwell Cocke) for execution, but this friend refused as well.

Upon his return to Poland in 1784, “[f]or five years he lived in poverty on a small country estate, in debt, moreover, because of his exceptional deed of freeing his serfs from part of their villein service.”