The first step of Catherine II towards the creation of such a management system was major reform of the Senate, undertaken in 1763 G. Having concentrated almost the entire legislative initiative, executive and judicial power in its hands and having reached the highest point of its development, the Senate from the mid-1950s. began to lose its former role in public administration. Forced to deal with the consideration of many small cases. The Senate was unable to focus its attention on solving issues of national importance, and many of its undertakings were not properly developed.

The need to reorganize this highest state institution was obvious. The plan for the reform of the Senate, prepared by the tutor of the heir to Paul and the closest adviser to the Empress in the first years of her reign, N.I. Panin and approved by Catherine II, provided for the division of the Senate into six departments with strictly defined functions of each in a certain area of ​​public administration. Four departments were located in St. Petersburg, and two in Moscow (instead of the Senate office).

The most important management issues (“state and political affairs”) were concentrated in the first department, headed by the prosecutor general himself. This department promulgated laws, was in charge of the Secret Expedition and the Office of Confiscations, finances and financial control, industry, trade, state and church property and their respective institutions. The department of the second department was in charge of court matters, land surveying, consideration of petitions addressed to the empress, etc. Third department concentrated a wide variety of affairs: managing communications and medicine, guardianship of the sciences, education and arts; management of the outskirts, which had some rights of autonomy (the Baltic states and Ukraine). Fourth department engaged in military land and naval affairs. The Moscow departments corresponded to those of St. Petersburg: the fifth - the first, and the sixth - the second. All departments, except for the first, were headed by chief prosecutors subordinate to the prosecutor general.

The Attorney General became the highest official of the state, the first and only minister in charge of the most important and varied affairs of administration, with whom, in practice, presidents of collegiums and governors most often preferred to communicate. The Prosecutor General, on behalf of and on behalf of the imperial authorities, supervised and controlled the actions and decisions of the Governing Senate and other central and local institutions; he acted not only as the guardian of laws, but also often served as the minister of finance, justice, and internal affairs. The Prosecutor General enjoyed the right to report daily to the Empress on cases resolved in the Senate, and in the event of a disagreement in the opinions of the senators on any case at a general meeting of departments, he reported to the Empress about it and sought her personal decision.

Appointing in February 1764 to this post Prince A.A. Vyazemsky, who remained the de facto head of the state apparatus almost until the end of the reign of Catherine II, the empress drew up for him the so-called "Secret Instruction" - a program of practical measures that the prosecutor general was to carry out in his work.

Activities of the multi-talented and well-educated Prince A.A. Vyazemsky, who held his post for almost 30 years, was not limited to supervision and control over the administration of justice and the organization of the work of the prosecutorial system, but was very diverse and at times expanded so much that it covered all the main branches of public administration. He enjoyed the full confidence of CatherineII, was a faithful adviser and reliable conductor of all her ideas and innovations in the field of government and government.

At first glance, the reform of the Senate was purely administrative in nature, but if, under Elizaveta Petrovna, senators had the right to make proposals for the consideration of any issue at a meeting of the Senate, now this right has completely passed to the Prosecutor General. Reform 1763 d. changed the order of consideration of cases: they had to be decided unanimously in the departments, and only in case of disagreement the issue was submitted to the general meeting of the Senate. During the reform, the Senate lost its legislative function, but still retained the functions control and supreme judicial authority. Their combination in one institution was the main drawback of the reform, but for some time the central administrative apparatus began to work more clearly and efficiently.

An important component of the reform of the Senate 1763 was the adoption of new states, which introduced salaries for all employees of central and local institutions. The states of 1763 set officials salaries twice as high as before, while salaries were assigned not by rank, but by position. Raising salaries and establishing in 1764 d. pensions to officials the government hoped to strengthen the state apparatus and eliminate the vices that gnawed at it.

Catherine II, who openly declared her views on the members Synod, as civil servants who are obliged to pursue goals in their activities, indicated by the government, attached great importance to the power of the synodal chief prosecutor and could not but provide significant assistance in the development of the actual influence of the prosecutor's office on the highest church administration.

This was also facilitated by secularization reform 1764 , according to which all the monastic lands with the peasants who lived on them were transferred to the jurisdiction of a specially established College of Economy. From that time on, the state itself determined the number of monasteries and monks necessary for the country, for it supported them with funds from the state treasury. The clergy finally turned into one of the groups of officials.

TEMPORARY BODIES UNDER CATHERINE II

Throughout the 18th century, in addition to the permanent central institutions under emperors and empresses, various councils and cabinets arose, replacing each other, as the highest legislative and administrative institutions that did not have legal independence.

Such institutions acquired special significance during the reign of Catherine II, which was associated with the active legislative and administrative activities of the Empress herself. Created by her at the beginning of the first Russian-Turkish war in 1768. Council at the High Court was a meeting of the heads of higher and central institutions "for the consideration of all matters related to the conduct of this war." It included the most important persons of the empire, who had ranks of the 1st and 2nd classes: Vice-Chancellor, Count N.I. Panin, Major General, Prince A.M. Golitsyn, President of the Military Collegium Count Z.G. Chernyshev, Hetman of Ukraine, Count K.G. Razumovsky, Prince G.G. Orlov, Prosecutor General of the Senate, Prince A.A. Vyazemsky; in 1774, a new favorite of Catherine II, Prince G.A. Potemkin, was added to them as vice-president of the Military Collegium.

The Council was an advisory body that did not have executive power, but the implementation of its decisions was entrusted to various government places and persons who were obliged to report the results. Papers received by the Council were divided into two categories: some for information, others directly for discussion. The latter came from various institutions or officials and dealt with all the most important issues of Russia's domestic and foreign policy. At the same time, the Council did not take part in the development of the most important legislative acts, but was mainly engaged in current administrative affairs, once again clearly demonstrating its role as an institution of Russian absolutism.

Under Catherine II, the importance of the personal office especially increased: in 1762-1764. from the Cabinet of Her Imperial Majesty stood out office of secretaries of state for "Her Imperial Majesty's own affairs" (only economic issues remained under the jurisdiction of the Cabinet). It was through the personal office that the monarch communicated with the highest and central state institutions, bills and reports on current affairs were prepared there, in which information on all issues of public administration was summarized and analyzed. Only especially trusted and devoted people served in the personal office, who, while occupying a not very high rank, had a huge influence on solving the most important issues of domestic and foreign policy. Thus, within the framework of the personal office of the monarch, signs of formal and informal institutions of power were intertwined, when the figure of an official who was closest to the emperor and thus had the opportunity to influence him, communicating in an informal setting, acquired particular importance.

A kind of supreme state temporarily acting body was Commission for the drafting of the new Code. 1767-1768 The main code of laws of the Russian state, the code of feudal law of the country.

This document became not only the largest act of state policy and legislative doctrine of its time, but also a kind of expression of the theory and policy of "enlightened absolutism." The "mandate" was addressed both to the empress's entourage and to representatives of different social strata.

Organization of the public administration system in the second half of the 18th century. had a distinctive feature associated with the form of state activity in the era of "enlightened absolutism", when in Russia there was no clear division of power into legislative, executive and judicial. The head of state was the monarch, who embodied all three branches of government.

The imperial power, displacing the traditional institutions of managing a class-representative monarchy with institutions directly subordinate to the emperor, at the same time created a kind of “duplicate system” of favorites - people close to the emperor and carrying out his direct instructions both through the management of state institutions and directly. Favoritism- this is a kind of universal characteristic of the system of government of the absolutist state, which should be fully considered an informal institution of power. The favorite, as a rule, was in close personal relations with the sovereign and, in connection with this, received the opportunity to dispose of part of his unlimited power. Favoritism was one of the essential instruments in the absolutist system of government. It should be defined as an appointment to government posts and positions, based on the personal interest of the monarch in the activities of a particular person.

The clearest example of this type of favorite - a statesman - can be consider G.A. Potemkin, who managed to successfully realize himself in the public service and had a great influence on the development and reform of the Russian Empire in the second half of the 18th century. At the same time, G.A. Potemkin was a fairly characteristic figure among famous statesmen of the 18th century: A.D. Menshikov, E. Biron, A.I. Osterman, I.I. Shuvalov and others. specific areas of government activity. Occupying certain posts, Potemkin at the same time participated in the discussion and resolution of almost all issues of legislation, domestic and foreign policy, reforming the state apparatus and the army, creating the Black Sea Fleet, etc. In fact, he was the second person in the state, and according to some biographers, even the co-ruler of the empress. The fate of G.A. Potemkin was a remarkable example of a successful career: from a student at Moscow University and a Reiter of the Horse Guards to the Most Serene Prince, President of the Military Collegium and Governor of the vast lands of Novorossia and Crimea.

Questions:

The system of public administration during the reign of Catherine II

State administration under Paul I

State and church in the second half of the 18th century.

In the second half of the XVIII century. in many European states, including Russia, there is a certain modernization of the political and economic system associated with the policy of enlightened absolutism. The main goal is the adaptation of an essentially feudal, absolute monarchy to new (capitalist) relations, which are beginning to objectively prevail in society.

The ideological basis of this policy was the Enlightenment, closely associated with the formation in the XVIII century. a new human type - an independent, judicious, active person, critical of authorities, accustomed to relying on his own strength in everything. The restructuring of society on new principles attracted particular attention of the educators. They believed that an enlightened monarch should be at the head of the state, whose main task is to create the kingdom of reason, i.e. a society based on bourgeois values: civil equality, freedom of the individual and its economic activity, inviolability of private property, etc. Catherine II, whose reign is traditionally associated with the policy of enlightened absolutism in Russia, sought to become such a monarch in the eyes of Europe.

1. The system of public administration during the reign of Catherine II

The future Russian Empress was born in 1729, she was the brother-in-law of the Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst, a general of the Prussian army.

The princess received a good education at home, in her childhood and adolescence she traveled quite a lot with her family, which helped her broaden her horizons. In 1745, Sophia Augusta Frederica, having adopted Orthodoxy and the name - Ekaterina Alekseevna, she married the heir to the Russian throne - Peter Fedorovich (before baptism Karl Peter Ulrich), the son of the elder sister of Empress Elizabeth - Anna Petrovna, who married the Duke of Holstein Karl Friedrich .

Having found herself in Russia at the age of 16, Ekaterina, having realistically assessed the situation, decided to become "her own", Russian as soon as possible - to master the language perfectly, to learn Russian customs - and she spared no effort to achieve her goal. She read a lot and educated herself. Catherine showed particular interest in descriptions of travels, works of the classics, history, philosophy, and the works of French encyclopedists.

By nature, Catherine had a sober mind, observation, the ability to suppress her emotions, listen carefully to her interlocutor, and be pleasant in communication. These qualities were very useful to her in the first years of her stay in Russia, since relations with her husband and, most importantly, with Empress Elizabeth Petrovna were quite difficult.

After the death of Elizabeth Petrovna in December 1761, Catherine's husband, Peter 111 (1728-1762), the son of the daughter of Peter I, Anna Petrovna and the German duke, became emperor, a mentally undeveloped person, poorly educated, cruel, alien to everything Russian, overly fond of military affairs. During his short reign, the most important was the decree "On the Liberty of the Nobility" dated February 18, 1762, which abolished the compulsory service for the nobles. Besides, the Secret Chancellery, which was in charge of political crimes, was abolished, instilled fear in the population. However, these measures could not bring Peter III popularity among his subjects. General dissatisfaction was caused by peace with Prussia, which meant the rejection of all Russian conquests in the Seven Years' War; preparations for war with Denmark in the interests of Holstein, huge Prussian and Holstein influence at the Russian court; disrespect for Orthodox customs; the introduction of German orders in the army, a dismissive attitude towards the Russian guard.

In such situation a significant part of the Russian nobility pinned their hopes on the name of Catherine, who, although she was German by birth, understood perfectly well that the Russian Empress should think, first of all, about the interests of Russia. Unlike her husband, who continued to consider himself the Duke of Holstein, Catherine renounced all rights to Anhalt-Zerbst after the death of her parents.

Great ambition, willpower, hard work helped Catherine, in the end, to achieve power. A group of conspirators rallied around the future Catherine II - mostly guards officers. Especially active were Catherine's favorite - Grigory Orlov (1734-1783) and his brother Alexei (1737-1808). On the night of June 28, 1762, Catherine, together with Alexei Orlov, came from Peterhof to St. Petersburg, where on the same day the Senate proclaimed her empress and declared Peter III deposed. On June 29, he was taken into custody, and in July he was killed under unclear circumstances. In September 1762 Catherine II was crowned in Moscow.

The empress devoted the first years of her reign to strengthening her power, selecting proxies, studying the state of affairs in the state, and also getting to know Russia more thoroughly (in 1763-1767 she made three trips to the European part of the country). Considering herself a student of the French philosophers of the 18th century, Catherine II sought, with the help of some transformations, to eliminate the elements of "barbarism" from the life of the country, to make Russian society more "enlightened", close to Western European, but at the same time to keep the autocracy and its social base - the nobility intact. .

The need for change was largely determined by the socio-economic situation prevailing at the beginning of the reign of Catherine II. Throughout the XVIII century. elements of capitalist relations developed in Russia, the ideas of entrepreneurship gradually penetrated into various sectors of society - the nobility, merchants, peasantry. The particular complexity of the internal situation of the country in the early 60s. 18th century gave the peasant movement, in which factory and monastery peasants most actively participated. All this, along with the ideas of the Enlightenment, determined the domestic policy of Russia, especially in the first two decades of the reign of Catherine II.

In the 60-70s. it was forbidden to buy peasants for industrial enterprises, freedom to organize industrial business was declared, all kinds of monopolies were abolished, as well as internal customs duties, which contributed to the inclusion in internal trade of new lands annexed to the Russian state during the reign of Catherine II: some regions of Ukraine, Belarus, Baltic, Black Sea, Azov, Kuban steppes, Crimea.

Considerable attention under Catherine II was paid to the development of the education system: educational houses, institutes for girls, and cadet corps were created. In the 80s. when organizing provincial and district public schools, the principle of classless education was proclaimed.

However, along with such progressive measures, which objectively contributed to the development of bourgeois relations, in Russia there is a strengthening of serfdom. Already in the manifesto of July 6, 1762, explaining the reasons for the coup, it was defined one of the main goals of Catherine's domestic policyII- support the landowners in every possible way and keep the peasants in subjection. In the 60s, when the empress still verbally supported the idea of ​​freeing the peasants, the serfs were forbidden to complain about the master, the landowners were allowed to send their peasants to hard labor. In order to destroy explosive centers in the south, self-government was liquidated and the Cossack districts were reorganized - here at the end of the 18th century. serfdom was widespread. Later, during the reign of Catherine II, there was an increase in the exploitation of the peasants: serfs accounted for about 50% of their total number, more than half of them were on corvee, which in the whole country by the 80s. increased to 5 days a week instead of 3 days in the 60s; especially in the second half of the 18th century. trade in serfs spread. The situation of the state peasants also worsened - the duties imposed on them were increased, their distribution to the landowners was actively carried out.

However, in an effort to maintain her reputation as an "enlightened monarch", Catherine II could not allow the complete transformation of serfs into slaves: they continued to be considered a taxable class, they could go to court and be witnesses in it! they could, however, with the consent of the landowner, sign up as merchants, engage in farming, etc.

In the last years of his reign under the influence of the peasant war led by E. Pugachev (1773-1775), I especially the Great French Revolution (1789-1794), Catherine II is gradually moving away from enlightened absolutism. This mainly concerns the ideological sphere - there is a pursuit of advanced ideas that can lead to a change in the existing order, which the Empress seeks to avoid at any cost. However, the foundation of society's life, laid down by the policy of enlightened absolutism, remained practically unchanged until the death of Catherine II.

One of the characteristic, essential features of the policy of enlightened absolutism of Catherine II was the streamlining of the state administration system. The idea of ​​the need for this was already expressed in the manifesto of July 6, 1762, its implementation began with the transformation of the Senate.

Apparatus of higher and central administration. At once after the accession of Catherine II to the throne, a participant in the coup N.I. Panin(1718-1783), famous diplomat, adviser to the College of Foreign Affairs, presented to the empress a draft of changes in the central administration. He proposed the creation of a permanent imperial council, consisting of four secretaries (foreign and internal affairs, military and naval departments) and two advisers. All major issues were to be considered by the Council in the presence of the Empress, who made the final decisions. In addition, it was proposed to divide the Senate into six departments.

Project N.I. Panin, as limiting the autocratic power of the empress, was rejected by her, however, in order to speed up and streamline office work, the idea of ​​dividing the Senate was put into practice in 1763. Six departments were created, four of which were in St. Petersburg: the first dealt with the most important internal and political affairs , the second - judicial, the third was in charge of the affairs of the western outskirts of the state, communications, higher education, the police; the fourth - military and naval affairs. Two Moscow departments corresponded to the first and second St. Petersburg ones.

Ekaterina P decided many important issues without the participation of the Senate. She maintained relations with him through the Attorney General of AL. Vyazemsky (1727-1793), who received a secret instruction to impede the legislative activities of the Senate. As a result, the importance of the Senate decreased, from the highest body of state administration, as it was under Elizabeth Petrovna, it turned into a central administrative and judicial institution. In the 70-80s. 18th century there was a further weakening of the central government. After the reform of 1775, the activity of the Senate was limited to judicial functions, the affairs of the majority of colleges were transferred to new provincial institutions.

By the 90s. most colleges have ceased to exist: in 1779 - Manufactory College (industry), in 1780 - State Offices - (state expenditures), in 1783 - Berg - (mining industry), in 1784 - Chambers - (state revenues) , in 1786 - the College of Justice (judicial) and Votchinnaya (issues of land tenure), in 1788 - the Revision College (control of public spending). Only those boards were left, the affairs of which could not be transferred to local authorities: Foreign, Military, Naval and Commerce Collegium.

Thus, during the reign of Catherine II, the role of the central authorities was gradually reduced to general leadership and supervision, the main management issues began to be resolved locally. However, even before the reform of the system of local government, the empress made an attempt to give Russia new legislation that would meet the spirit of the times.

Starting with Peter I, all the rulers of Russia understood the need to create a new set of Russian laws.. However, unlike their predecessors Catherine II sought not to systematize the old laws, but to create new ones. Planning to convene a "Commission to draw up a new code" instead of the outdated Code of 1649, she already in 1765 she began to draw up a special instruction for her - "Instruction", which reflected the ideas of enlightenment philosophy. Considering Russia a European country, Catherine sought to give her the appropriate laws, and the main sources for her were the works "On the Spirit of Laws" by the famous French enlightener Charles Louis Montesquieu (1689-1755) and "On Crimes and Punishments" by Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794) - Italian educator and lawyer.

The "Instruction" quite fully covers the most important issues of legislation: its tasks, the features of state government, legal proceedings, the system of punishments, the status of estates, etc. The original version of the "Instruction", shown to some close associates of the Empress, caused many objections on their part as too free-thinking and not in accordance with Russian customs. As a result, the "Nakaz" was significantly reduced mainly due to liberal provisions, for example, articles on improving the situation of the peasants, on the separation of the legislative power from the judiciary, etc. The articles relating to legal proceedings and education remained closest to the educational ideology. In general, the "Instruction" was a statement of the general principles that should guide the work of the Legislative Commission. In December 1766, a manifesto was issued to convene a "Commission to draw up a new code." The Commission was to be represented by elected deputies from all estates.

A total of 564 deputies were elected: 161 - from the nobility, 208 - from the cities, 167 - from the rural population, 28 - from the central institutions (Senate, Synod, collegiums and other government offices). Each deputy received from his voters a mandate that reflected their wishes. Total 1465 were submitted c, and most of them (1066) were from the rural population. During the work of the Legislative Commission, deputies were paid salaries from the treasury: nobles - 400 rubles, townspeople - 120 rubles, peasants - 37 rubles. Deputies were forever exempted from the death penalty, corporal punishment, confiscation of property.

On July 30, 1767, the Legislative Commission began its work in Moscow. General A.I. was elected its chairman, on the recommendation of Catherine II. Bibikov (1729-1774), he had the right to appoint meetings, submit and put proposals to the vote.

Office work in the Legislative Commission was quite complicated: each issue went through different commissions (there were about 20 of them) several times, in addition, the areas of activity of special commissions and the general meeting of deputies were not sufficiently delineated, which made work difficult. The commission moved from one issue to another, without having solved the previous one, for a year and a half the deputies could not even read all the orders.

In general, the activities of the Legislative Commission from the very beginning were doomed to failure due to the lack of preliminary preparation, as well as the huge volume and complexity of work: in order to create new laws, the deputies had to understand the old legislation, which included more than 10 thousand heterogeneous provisions, study deputy orders, to remove contradictions, often irreconcilable, between the wishes of various estates and, finally, to draw up a new legislative code based on the principles set forth in Catherine's "Instruction", which often contradict deputy orders. In December 1768, in connection with the beginning of the Russian-Turkish war and the fact that a significant part of the noble deputies had to go to the troops, The laid down commission was dissolved indefinitely, however, in the future, the deputies did not meet.

Despite the fact that the attempt to create new legislation ended in failure, the work of the Legislative Commission had a significant impact on the subsequent activities of Catherine I. The orders of the deputies showed the position of the various classes of Russian society, their wishes and largely determined the direction of further reforms.

The system of local government included the administration of provinces and districts, as well as cities and individual estates. In November 1775, the "Institution for the Administration of the Provinces of the Russian Empire" was published. The introduction to this document indicated the shortcomings that caused the need for reform: the vastness of the provinces, the insufficient number of government bodies, the shift in various cases in them.

As a result of the reform, the former administrative division (province, province, county) was changed: the provinces were abolished, the number of provinces increased to 40 (by the end of the reign of Catherine II, 51 provinces already existed due to the annexation of new territories to Russia). Previously, the regional division was carried out randomly, and the provinces with very different populations had approximately the same staff of officials. Now it was established that the provinces should be approximately the same in terms of the number of inhabitants - from 300 to 400 thousand people, for the county the population was determined at 20-30 thousand. Since the new administrative division was more fractional, about 200 large villages were transformed into county cities . With the change in administrative boundaries as part of the provincial reform local government was also changed: administrative, financial and judicial affairs were separated. In the future, the unification of local government throughout the country led to abolition of autonomy some suburbs: in Ukraine, this finally happened in 1781, and from 1783 the nationwide system of administrative control was extended to the Baltic states.

One or several provinces received the status of a governor-general and were subordinate to the governor-general appointed by the Senate, whose activities were directly controlled by the empress. The governor-general had broad powers to oversee all local government and the courts in the territory entrusted to him.

The management of a separate province was entrusted to the governor appointed by the Senate, who headed the provincial board - the main administrative body. In addition to the governor, it included two provincial councilors and a provincial prosecutor. The board dealt with various administrative issues, supervised the administration of the province, and together with the vice-governor, was in charge of all the police institutions of the province and county.

The vice-governor (or lieutenant of the ruler, i.e. the governor) was appointed by the Senate, if necessary, could replace the governor, and was also the chairman of the treasury chamber - the highest financial body of the province, which disposed of state property. She was in charge of tax collection, government contracts and buildings, provincial and county treasuries, economic peasants of former church estates.

In addition to administrative, financial and special judicial institutions, a new body was created in each provincial city - the order of public charity, which was in charge of schools, hospitals, almshouses and shelters. In contrast to the provincial government and the state chamber, the order of public charity had an elected composition.

The county executive body was the lower zemstvo court, led by captain(usually from retired officers). He was considered the head of the county, was in charge of the county administration and the police, monitored trade, and conducted preliminary investigations into court cases. He was elected by the nobles for a period of three years at the district meeting, and two assessors were also selected from the nobles to help him.

The head of the administrative and police authorities in the county town was the mayor, who was appointed by the Senate.

From 1775 class legal proceedings were introduced in the provinces. The provincial court for the nobles was the Supreme Zemsky Court, for the urban population - the provincial magistrate, for personally free peasants - the upper massacre. These judicial bodies consisted of assessors - elected from the corresponding class, headed by specially appointed officials. At each upper zemstvo court, a noble guardianship was established, which dealt with the affairs of widows and minor orphans of the nobles. In addition, special conscientious courts were established in the provincial cities to deal with criminal cases related to the insanity of a criminal, and civil cases decided by a settlement agreement.

As the highest judicial instances in all cases decided in the provincial class courts, the chamber of the civil court and the chamber of the criminal court were established. In case of any complaints, they had the right to make the final decision.

In each county for the nobles there was a county court, subordinate to the supreme zemstvo court, for the urban population - a city magistrate, which was under the jurisdiction of the provincial magistrate. In counties where more than 10 thousand personally free peasants lived, there was a lower punishment for them, which was subordinate to the upper punishment. In county judicial institutions, judges and assessors were elected from representatives of the estate, whose affairs were in charge, the government appointed only the chairman of the lower massacre. At each city magistrate, an orphan's court was established, which dealt with the cases of widows and minor orphans of the townspeople.

The role of supervisory bodies in each province was performed by provincial prosecutors and their assistants - criminal and civil solicitors. The prosecutors at the upper zemstvo court, the provincial magistrate and the upper massacre, as well as the district attorney, who served as the prosecutor in the district, were subordinate to the provincial prosecutor.

Noble self-government. In her domestic policy, Catherine II focused primarily on the nobility, and already in the first years of her reign, the foundations of self-government of this estate were laid. In preparation for the convening of the Legislative Commission in 1766, the nobles of each county were ordered to elect a county marshal for two years to lead the election of deputies to the Commission and in case of any other demands from the supreme authority.

The reform of 1775 increased the influence of the nobility on local government, gave it a class organization, giving the rights of a legal entity to the county noble assembly. The charter granted to the nobility in 1785 strengthened the positions of this class. It fixed the pre-existing rights and benefits of the nobility:

freedom from taxes and corporal punishment, from public service, the right to full ownership of land and serfs, the right to sue only with equals, etc. The charter granted the nobility also gave some new privileges, in particular, the confiscation of the estates of nobles for criminal offenses was prohibited, it was facilitated to obtain nobility etc. In addition, in 1785 the provincial nobility, as before the county nobility, as a whole, was granted the rights of a legal entity.

Ultimately, the system of nobility administration, which developed during the reign of Catherine II, had the following form. Once every three years, at county and provincial meetings, the nobles elected, respectively, county and provincial noble leaders and other officials. Only that nobleman could be elected, whose income from the estate was not less than 100 rubles. in year. Nobles who had reached the age of 25 and had an officer rank could participate in the elections. In addition to the election of officials, the meetings of the nobility resolved issues raised by the government, as well as problems related to class discipline. In addition, the assemblies had the right to submit their wishes to the governor or governor-general, and a specially elected deputation headed by the marshal of the nobility could apply to the empress.

In 1785, a Letter of Rights and Benefits to the Cities of the Russian Empire was also published, which later became known as the Charter to Cities. During its development, some wishes from the city mandates of the Legislative Commission were taken into account, as well as charters that determined the structure of the Baltic cities, in particular Riga. These statutes were based on Magdeburg (by the name of the city in Germany), or German, law, which developed in the Middle Ages as the right to self-government won by the townspeople, as well as on the basis of acts regulating craft and trade.

In accordance with the Charter of Letters, the population of each city was divided into six categories. The first included "real city dwellers", i.e. all, without distinction of origin, rank and occupation, having a house or land in the city. The second category consisted of merchants, divided into three guilds depending on the amount of capital.: 1st guild - from 10 to 50 thousand rubles, 2nd - from 5 to 10 thousand rubles, 3rd - from 1 to 5 thousand rubles. The third category included urban guild artisans, in fourth - out-of-town and foreign guests permanently residing in this city. The fifth category was made up of "eminent citizens" - elected officials, scientists and artists(painters, sculptors, architects, composers) with academic certificates or university diplomas, persons owning capital from 50 thousand rubles, bankers with capital from 100 to 200 thousand rubles, wholesalers, ship owners. The sixth category included "townspeople" - townspeople engaged in crafts, crafts, etc., and not included in other categories. Citizens of the third and sixth categories received the general name "petty bourgeois". The entire population of the city, in accordance with their category, was entered in the City Philistine Book.

Citizens of all ranks from the age of 25 had the right once every three years to elect from their midst the mayor and vowels (representatives from ranks) to the general city duma. Nobles were not widely represented in the city duma, as they had the right to refuse to perform city posts. The general city council met every three years or, if necessary, it was in charge of the city's economy, and was obliged to report to the governor on all income and expenses. In addition, the General Duma elected six representatives (one from each category) to the six-member Duma, whose meetings were held every week under the chairmanship of the mayor. The six-member Duma was in charge of collecting taxes, fulfilling government duties, beautifying the city, its expenses and income, i.e. was the executive body of the city government. Supervision of city self-government was carried out by the governor, to whom the Six-voice Duma could turn for help.

The rights of the city as a whole were protected by the city magistrate, who interceded for the city before the highest authorities, made sure that no new taxes or duties were imposed on it without the government's order.

Similarly, students consider the reform of local government of the country carried out by Catherine II, and compare it with the reform carried out by Peter I.

4. Next, the teacher organizes work with fragments of Catherine II's letters of commendation. Answering questions about documents, students note changes in the status of estates in the second half of the 18th century.
Formulating the conclusion of the lesson, students can note that thanks to the activities of Catherine II, the country relatively safely passed the turn of the 18th-19th centuries. However, the potential of the traditional system was exhausted, and its continued existence led to an ever greater lag behind Western Europe.
Homework:§ 47, answer the questions after the paragraph; make a comparative description of the personality of Catherine II and Peter I.

Lesson Objectives: characterization of the goals, directions and results of Russia's foreign policy during the reign of Catherine II; acquaintance with the life and work of the great commanders and naval commanders of Russia of the period under study.

Main dates and events
1768 -1774 - Russian-Turkish war.
1770 - the defeat of the Turkish fleet in the Chesme Bay.
1772 - the first section of the Commonwealth.
1774 - Kyuchuk-Kaynarji peace treaty between Russia and Turkey.
1787 -1791 - Russian-Turkish war.
1791 - Iasi peace treaty between Russia and Turkey.
1788 -1790s - Russian-Swedish war.
1790 - Verelsky peace treaty between Russia and Sweden.
1793 - the second section of the Commonwealth.
1795 - the third section of the Commonwealth.
1795 - Russia, England and Austria formed an alliance against France.

Terms and concepts of lessons
Bar Confederation - in 1768-1772. armed alliance of the Polish gentry against King Stanislaw Poniatowski and Russia.
Kyuchuk-Kainarji world - concluded on July 21, 1774 in the village of Kyuchuk-Kaynardzha on the Danube River, ended the Russian-Turkish war of 1768-1774. The Ottoman Empire recognized: the independence of the Crimean Khanate, the right of Russian merchant ships to freely navigate the Black Sea and pass through the Black Sea straits, the annexation of Azov, Kerch and other territories to Russia, the Russian protectorate over Moldavia and Wallachia.
Sections of the Commonwealth - partitions of the Polish state between Russia, Prussia and Austria in 1772, 1793 and 1795.
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth - the traditional name of the Polish state from the end of the 16th century, which was a class monarchy headed by a king elected by the Sejm. From the moment of the conclusion of the Union of Lublin in 1569 and until 1795, the Commonwealth was the official name of the united Polish-Lithuanian state.
Peace of Jassy - a peace treaty between Russia and Turkey, ended the Russian-Turkish war of 1787-1791. Concluded on January 9, 1792 in Iasi. He confirmed the annexation of Crimea and Kuban to Russia and established the Russian-Turkish border along the Dniester.
Persons: M. I. Kutuzov, A. G. Orlov, P. A. Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky, G. A. Spiridov, A. V. Suvorov, F. F. Ushakov.
Lesson equipment: map "Russia in the second half of the 18th century"; CD “Encyclopedia of the history of Russia. 862-1917"; CD "History of Russia and its nearest neighbors: Encyclopedia for children"; CD "Science to win", "History of military art" ("New Disc"); fragments of the films "Admiral Ushakov", "Ships storm the bastions" (director M.I. Romm), "Suvorov" (director V.I. Pudovkin).
Plan for studying new material: 1. The nature of Russia's foreign policy under Catherine II. 2. Main directions and results of foreign policy. 3. Great military leaders.
1. In the introductory speech, the teacher asks the students to remember what foreign policy goals and objectives Russia faced in the first half of the 18th century, which was achieved by the time of the accession of Catherine II. During the conversation, students identify two important foreign policy goals that Catherine II faced:
1) access to the Black Sea (solution of the Crimean problem);
2) completion of the process of reunification of Russia with Ukraine and Belarus.
An indicator of the growing influence of Russia in European affairs was the Seven Years' War. in the foreign policy of the second half of the 18th century. a line was drawn to assert Russia as a great European power. Going beyond Europeanism was carried out (intervention in crisis situations not directly related to the interests of Russia), and a trend was formed towards the globalization of foreign policy (diplomatic support for the North American colonies during the war of independence, sending the Cossacks to find ways to India).
2. The main directions and results of Russia's foreign policy under Catherine II are studied by schoolchildren on their own and the results are recorded in a table.

The Imperial Council, which consisted of 8 members in 1769. replaced by the Council at the highest court, which focused its activities on domestic policy and included all the heads of the central government.

The powers of the Senate under Catherine II: the department concentrated the executive functions, the judiciary. Since 1763 The Senate is the highest administrative and judicial institution, consists of 6 departments: 1st - state finance and secret office work, 2nd - court cases (supervision, generalization of practice, personnel selection, review of cases), 3rd provincial affairs ( administration, finance), 4th - military affairs, 5th - local administration, 6th - local courts. In the 70s and 80s of the 18th century. most of the colleges are liquidated or transformed, but in 1796. they again. The centralization and bureaucratization of the state apparatus reaches the limit, it is a closed and self-sufficient system. Under Catherine II, state secretaries appeared directly under the emperor (1763). In 1762 The Office of Secret Investigative Affairs is abolished (its activity caused active dissatisfaction on the part of the nobility) and instead the Secret Expedition of the Senate (which indicated the renewed political activity of the Senate). The secret expedition was subordinate to the governor-general and was under the control of the empress (Catherine II). The secret expedition created special secret investigative commissions to investigate specific cases. These bodies were of an emergency nature and were formed in accordance with the political situation.

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More on the topic 49. THE HIGHEST AUTHORITIES UNDER CATHERINE II

1. 26. The highest bodies of power and administration in Russia in the first half of the 19th century.
2. 52 The highest bodies of state power during the Great Patriotic War.
3. 14. The highest bodies of state power in the period of the estate-representative monarchy (XVI-XVII centuries).
4. 54 The highest bodies of state power and administration in the second half of the 40-80s. Constitution of the BSSR 1978.
5. 10 The state-political system of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the XIV - the first half of the XVI centuries. (until 1569). The highest authorities. Central administration.
6. 36. Constitution of the RSFSR 1918 (form of the state, higher and local authorities and administration, rights and obligations of citizens).

In order to strengthen absolutism, the central authorities were restructured. Catherine II believed that the Senate had arrogated too much power to itself, and in 1764 reformed it, dividing it into 6 departments (4 in St. Petersburg and 2 in Moscow). At the same time, each department acted as an independent unit with its own range of affairs and its own office, which destroyed the unity of the Senate, weakened it. The role of the personal office of the empress increased unusually. The preparation of legislative acts since 1768 was concentrated in the Council at the royal court; its creation once again clearly demonstrated the stability of the higher councils under the person of the monarch as an institution of Russian absolutism.

The reform of local government primarily solved the problem of strengthening the power of the monarch. Catherine II personally drew up the draft “Institutions for the management of provinces”, which in 1775 received the force of the current law. This law centralized local government, increasing the number of provinces and districts and endowing governors (under the authority of each governor, as a rule, 2-3 provinces were united), directly subordinate to the emperor, with broad sole power. At the same time, the “Institution” of 1775 was based on the ideas of the Enlightenment of the 18th century: the election of the court and its separation from the administration, giving it the character of a class “court of equals”. Along with the three-tiered system of elected court-class institutions (the district court in the district and the upper zemstvo court in the province - for the nobles, the city court and the provincial magistrate - for the townspeople, the lower and upper reprisals - for state peasants) in the provinces a conscientious court was created from representatives of three estates, which performed the functions of conciliation or arbitration. It was to this court that anyone held in prison for more than three days, not informed of the reason for the arrest and not subjected to interrogation, could file a complaint, and if he was not suspected of a serious crime, then he was released on bail (an attempt to borrow the English guarantee of the inviolability of individual rights). The influence of the ideas of the Enlightenment is even more felt in the creation of the provincial order of public charity, which also consisted of elected representatives from nobles, townspeople and state peasants and was obliged to help the population in the construction and maintenance of schools, hospitals, almshouses, orphanages and workhouses.

In an effort to create more realistic guarantees of an "enlightened monarchy", Catherine II began to work on charters to the nobility, cities and state peasants. Letters to the nobility and cities received the force of law in 1785. The charter granted to the nobility secured for each hereditary nobleman freedom from compulsory service, from state taxes, from corporal punishment, the right to own movable and immovable property, the right to sue only “equal” (i.e. . nobles), conduct trade, start "factories, needlework and all sorts of plants." The noble society of each county and each province secured the right to periodically meet, elect class leaders, and have its own treasury. True, the empress did not forget to put the noble assemblies under the control of governors-general (governors).

According to the letter to the cities, representatives of the “middle class of people” (philistines), like the nobles, received personal and corporate rights - the hereditary inalienability of the estate title, inviolability and free disposal of property, freedom of industrial activity. From the composition of the inhabitants of the cities, merchants stood out, recorded in the guild and received special privileges - to pay off with money from recruitment duty and to be free from government outfits. In addition, merchants of the 1st and 2nd guilds, as well as eminent citizens (scientists, artists, bankers, wholesalers, etc.), were exempted from corporal punishment. The city society was considered as a legal entity; it had the right to discuss and satisfy its needs, to elect the mayor. The unifying center of urban self-government was the city "general Duma" of deputies from all categories of urban society. Guided by the general principles of freedom of economic life, the legislator allowed the inhabitants of the villages "freely, safely to transport their growth, handicrafts and goods to the city and take out the necessary for them from the city."