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Primary sourceDocument7 May 1794 (this printing 30 May 1794)

Proclamation of Połaniec

Tadeusz Kościuszko · 7 May 1794 (this printing 30 May 1794)

Kościuszko's 1794 decree gave Polish peasants personal freedom and reduced their labour duties, part of his bid to win them to the national uprising.

Kościuszko wrote and issued this decree himself as leader of the uprising, revealing his social and political aims.

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Printed broadside proclamation headed 'RADA NAYWYZSZA NARODOWA' with the name Tadeusz Kosciuszko in large capitals, dated Warsaw 30 Maja 1794, in Polish, printed in two columns on aged paper with a signature and seal mark at the bottom.
Tadeusz Kościuszko, Proclamation of Połaniec, 7 May 1794 (printed Warsaw, 30 May 1794).

About this source

What it is

This is a printed broadside of the Proclamation of Połaniec, issued by Tadeusz Kościuszko on 7 May 1794 near the town of Połaniec during the Kościuszko Uprising. The copy shown is a later printing from Warsaw, dated 30 May 1794.

Why it matters

The proclamation partly abolished serfdom, giving peasants personal freedom, protection from abuses by the nobility, and rights to the land they worked. It was the first Polish legal act to treat peasants as part of the nation, not just the nobility. Kościuszko hoped it would bring more recruits into the uprising, and it did help form peasant infantry units. Much of the nobility ignored it, and it had little lasting effect at the time, but it became a lasting symbol of Polish reform.

Look closer

  • Why might Kościuszko have issued this proclamation during a war rather than in peacetime?
  • What specific rights does the text promise peasants, and what limits are placed on those rights?
  • Why did many nobles ignore a law issued by the country's highest military commander?

This document is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Tadeusz Kościuszko on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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