The best example of a Constitution at no time ever seen.
Why is this Important?
Pylyp Orlyk’s 1710 document is considered to be the true predecessor of democratic politics.
The Ukraine
• 44,222,947 – Population
• Ukrainian, Russian – Spoken Language
• $8,656 – GDP Per Capita
• Kiev- Capital City
Pylyp Orlyk conceived a visionary political idea that would mold Ukrainian thinking for centuries onward.
Orlyk was conversant in political theory and fluent in several languages, he threw himself into a political project envisioning a form of democratic rule over the territory.
Orlyk Constitution was one of the world’s first such treatises, introducing the separation of powers and empowering the citizenry long before the French or American constitutions were enacted.
April 5, 1710 Orlyk took over and introduced his life’s greatest work: “The Pacts and Constitutions of Rights and Freedoms of the Zaporozhian Host.” The document established an array of civil liberties and rights guaranteed by the state — conceived for the first time as an unequivocally Ukrainian political entity — which was to be comprised of elected leaders.
The overarching principal was to establish a largely democratic system to replace an absolutist ancien régime — in other words, the embodiment of Enlightenment Era thinking. Representatives of the population, and the Hetman (Political title from Central and Eastern Europe, historically assigned to second-highest military commander.)
Orlyk had proposed the Hetman’s power be limited and overseen by a General Council, whose authority was to eventually derive from elected administrative-territorial units. Any legal infractions or criminal activities were to be heard by a court, thereby effectively creating, some would argue, an independent judicial branch.
The document established an array of civil liberties and rights guaranteed by the state — conceived for the first time as an explicitly Ukrainian political entity — which was to be comprised of elected leaders.
Orlyk’s constitution evokes pride in Ukrainians.
If further information is needed please visit:
https://www.ozy.com/flashback/the-greatest-constitution-the-world-never-saw/82891COPY LINK
