Government Act – the 3rd May Constitution
This Constitution was the first in Europe and second in the world (after the Constitution of the United States, 1787) Fundamental Act introducing a system of constitutional monarchy to the Commonwealth. Article 3, entitled The Cities and Burghers, was an integral part of the Constitution and it incorporated the regulations appertaining to the royal cities which had just come into law on 18 April 1791. The Act abolished the principle of particular rights and privileges of individual cities, unifying the form of government in all royal cities and granting burghers many rights which had previously been reserved only for the nobility. Initially, Krakow was against the common initiative of royal cities and presented the view that each city, having its individual rights and privileges, should express its opinions separately. Eventually, however, it joined in this common initiative. In August 1792, when the Confederation of Targowica took power, declaring the proceedings of the Four-Year Sejm illegal, the 3rd May Constitution ceased to be valid in law.
3 May 1791, Warsaw
Manuscript sewn in a book, binding: morocco
Central Archives of historical Records in Warsaw, Archiwum Publiczne Potockich, 100, t.2, s. 60-68