Polish Revolution (Sejm), 1788–1792

The “Polish Revolution,” also known as the Four Years' Sejm (Diet or parliament), refers to the period between October 1788 and May 1792 during which the Sejm transformed Poland's institutions of central and local government. The Constitution of May 3, 1791 was the first modern constitution in Europe and the second in the world, coming between the American and French constitutions. The accompanying ferment in political culture affected metropolis and provinces, nobles and burghers, laity and clergy. The first “revolutionary” act of the Four Years' Sejm was to cast off Russian tutelage. The Sejm then governed the Commonwealth as the embodiment of its sovereignty until a Russian invasion installed a counterrevolutionary regime in the summer of 1792.