The Proclamation of Połaniec (also known as the Połaniec Manifesto; pl, Uniwersał Połaniecki), issued on 7 May 1794 by

Tadeusz Kościuszko Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kościuszko ( be, Andréj Tadévuš Banavientúra Kasciúška, en, Andrew Thaddeus Bonaventure Kosciuszko; 4 or 12 February 174615 October 1817) was a Polish military engineer, statesman, and military leader who ...

near the town of

Połaniec Połaniec is a town in Staszów County, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, Poland, with 8,406 inhabitants (2012). The town is in Lesser Poland, and its history dates back to the early days of Polish statehood. It lies in the western part of the Sa ...

, was one of the most notable events of

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

's Kościuszko Uprising, and the most famous legal act of the Uprising. It partially abolished

serfdom Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery, which deve ...

in Poland, granting substantial civil liberties to all the

peasant A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasant ...

s. The motives behind the Połaniec Proclamation were twofold: first, Kosciuszko, a liberal and reformer, believed that serfdom was an unfair system and should be ended; second, the uprising was in desperate need of recruits, and freeing the peasants would prompt many to enlist. The proclamation provided the peasants with the

personal freedom Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties ma ...

, right for assistance from the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

against the abuses of the Polish nobility ( szlachta) and gave them specific

property rights The right to property, or the right to own property (cf. ownership) is often classified as a human right for natural persons regarding their possessions. A general recognition of a right to private property is found more rarely and is typically h ...

to the land they cultivated. Although this new law never fully came into being and was

boycotted A boycott is an act of nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organization, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for moral, social, political, or environmental reasons. The purpose of a boycott is to inflict som ...

by much of the szlachta, it also attracted many peasants to the ranks of the revolutionists, resulting in the formation of the famous '' kosynierzy'' peasant

infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and mar ...

,http://www.ku.edu/~eceurope/hist557/lect3-4.htm the most famous of whom,

Bartosz Głowacki Bartosz is a Polish given name and a surname derived from Bartłomiej, the Polish cognate of Bartholomew (name), Bartholomew. People with the given name * Bartosz Beda, Polish contemporary artist * Bartosz Bereszyński (born 1992), Polish footba ...

, became one of the heroes of the Uprising. It was the first time in

Polish history The history of Poland spans over a thousand years, from medieval tribes, Christianization and monarchy A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state for life or until abdication. The political l ...

when the peasants were officially regarded as part of the ''

nation A nation is a community of people formed on the basis of a combination of shared features such as language, history, ethnicity, culture and/or society. A nation is thus the collective Identity (social science), identity of a group of people unde ...

'', the word being previously equal to ''szlachta''. This was the second legal act issued by the reformed

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

state (the first being the Constitution of May 3, considered the second oldest constitution in the world, and was the expansion of the 4th act of that constitution. It was also the last legal act of the Commonwealth, and just like the constitution that made it possible, it had a short lifespan and negligible impact on most of Commonwealth citizens. In many places where revolutionary forces could not enforce it, the local szlachta simply ignored the proclamation. However the news of the proclamation spread among the peasantry and was kept alive by the revolutionary and patriotic minded Poles. Over the next several decades, after the partitions of Poland ended the existence of Poland as a separate state, it became one of the symbols of Polish history. The proclamation specifically granted to peasants: * limited

* reduction of

during the current crisis and promise of further reduction after the end of hostilities * freeing from serfdom of all peasants conscripted to the military * the right not to be removed from their land * limited right to appeal to the state's courts * introduction of the ''dozorca'' office, the first government official representing the peasant will to the government. Dozorca represented about 1000 families, and he was supposed to enforce the proclamation

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''Announce to the people that, according to law, they are under the protection of the nation's government; that the person subject to any lord, is liberated.'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Proclamation of Polaniec Kościuszko Uprising Legal history of Poland National human rights instruments Serfdom 1794 in law 1794 in Poland Proclamations 1794 documents Polish Enlightenment

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