Verdi Square

Verdi Square is a 0.1-acre (400 m2) park on a trapezoidal traffic island on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Named for Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi, the park is bounded by 72nd Street on the south, 73rd Street on the north, Broadway on the west, and Amsterdam Avenue on the east. Verdi Square's irregular shape arises from Broadway's diagonal path relative to the Manhattan street grid. The western half of the park is built on the former northbound lanes of Broadway, which were closed permanently in 2003 during a renovation of the New York City Subway's adjacent 72nd Street station. Verdi Square is designated as a New York City scenic landmark and is operated by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.

The eastern half of Verdi Square contains the Verdi Monument, sculpted in 1906 by Pasquale Civiletti [it]. The monument contains a dark-granite pedestal with four statues of characters from Verdi's operas; a statue of Verdi stands atop the pedestal. Surrounding the monument is the original park, a triangular site with plantings. The western half of the park contains a head house that serves as an entrance to the 72nd Street station. Designed by Richard Dattner & Partners and Gruzen Samton, the head house contains artwork that references Verdi's opera Rigoletto. Each September, the park hosts a series of free concerts called Verdi Square Festival of the Arts.

The portion of Broadway around modern-day Verdi Square opened in 1703 and was added to the Commissioners' Plan of 1811, which created Manhattan's street grid, in the late 19th century. The city government acquired the site of Verdi Square in 1887. The site was originally the northern part of Sherman Square, under which the subway station was built in 1904. The Verdi Monument was installed in 1906 following a fundraising effort led by newspaper founder Carlo Barsotti, and the site around the monument was named for Verdi in 1921. The park gradually fell into disrepair and was frequented by drug dealers and homeless people in the late 20th century; as a result, Verdi Square was nicknamed "Needle Park" in the 1970s. The monument was restored in the late 1980s, and the park was significantly expanded in the early 2000s.

## Site

Verdi Square is operated by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation and covers 0.10 acres (400 m2). It occupies a trapezoidal site bounded by 72nd Street on the south, 73rd Street on the north, Broadway on the west, and Amsterdam Avenue on the east. Much of the park is built on the former northbound lane of Broadway. One block to the south is Sherman Square. On the north side, the park faces the Apple Bank Building at 2112 Broadway, designed by York and Sawyer. To the northwest is The Ansonia apartment complex, while to the southeast is another apartment building, The Dorilton. Two apartment buildings are on the east side of the square: the Severn and the Van Dyck, designed by Mulliken and Moller.

Originally, Verdi Square was a triangle. The park's shape arises from Broadway's diagonal alignment relative to the Manhattan street grid. Further south, the angled course of Broadway creates convergences with other avenues at Columbus Circle and at Times, Herald, Madison, and Union Squares. Verdi Square is the northernmost location at which Broadway intersects an avenue diagonally, as Broadway straightens out to the north. The Museum of the City of New York described Verdi Square as one of several bowtie-shaped intersections "where the bustle of New York is brought out in all of its glory".

## Monument and plantings

The eastern section of Verdi Square contains the Giuseppe Verdi Monument, a monument to the opera composer Giuseppe Verdi, erected in 1906 and sculpted by Pasquale Civiletti [it]. The monument measures 25.75 feet (7.85 m) tall and up to 18 feet (5.5 m) across. The pedestal is made of dark granite steps, topped by a cylinder, and measures 15 feet (4.6 m) tall. Statues of four characters from Verdi's operas are on the pedestal: Aida, Otello, Leonora of La forza del destino, and Falstaff. These statues respectively face north, east, south, and west. The character statues are made of white Carrara marble, with large marble lyres placed between them. The western side of the pedestal contains an etching with Civiletti's name. A time capsule was embedded in the Verdi monument's base. The main statue of Verdi, placed atop the pedestal, is also made of white Carrara marble.

Surrounding the monument is a triangular green space surrounded by shrubs, walkways, and trees. Prior to Verdi Square's expansion, those were the only greenery in the park. In the landscaping devised by Lynden Miller in 2004, flowers around the statue bloom in the spring and summer months. In 2019, chairs and tables were installed around the monument. A garden known as the Woodland was planted around the Verdi Monument; it contains native species such as Lindera benzoin, Asclepias tuberosa, and Magnolia virginiana. A raised garden called the Meadow faces Broadway.

## Subway entrance and plaza

The 72nd Street station, served by the New York City Subway's , lies under the square. The western section of Verdi Square contains a head house, built on Broadway's former northbound lanes. The head house is one of two entrances for the 72nd Street station; the other, built within Sherman Square on the south side of 72nd Street in 1904, is one of the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line's three remaining original head houses. Verdi Square's head house was designed by Richard Dattner & Partners and Gruzen Samton. Its overall design was inspired by the Crystal Palace in London. The artwork inside is a mosaic pattern, signifying the notation for an excerpt from Verdi's Rigoletto. Elevators and stairs from the head house lead down to the station's platforms.

Next to the entrance is a plaza containing granite urns with raised plantings. The urns are made of cast iron and are near the northern end of the park. The urns were inspired by bronze planters, designed by Stanford White, near one entrance to Prospect Park in Brooklyn. The Verdi Square planters do not have cobra-shaped handles, unlike the Prospect Park planters. Additionally, the design of the planters was modified to fit Verdi Square's surroundings.

There is a concession stand next to the plaza, which was built in 2002 as a newsstand. NYC Parks considered removing the newsstand in 2015, on the grounds that there was also a newsstand in the subway entrance. The concession stand was leased by a Le Pain Quotidien bakery in 2016. Though the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene cited the stand for unsanitary conditions the next year, the concession remains in operation as of 2022.

Near the 72nd Street end of the plaza is a bronze lamppost, one of two that originally flanked the Firemen's Memorial on Riverside Drive. Installed at Verdi Square in 2004, the pole dates to between 1913 and 1935 and was removed from its original location in the 1970s, when it was vandalized. The pole contains a bronze coating with cloven hooves at the base and rams' heads at its pinnacle. Verdi Square also contains Odalisca, a sculpture by Spanish artist Manolo Valdés. The sculpture alludes to the artwork of Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse.

## History

The portion of Broadway around modern-day Verdi Square opened in 1703 as Bloomingdale Road, which extended from Lower Manhattan in the south to modern-day Morningside Heights in the north. The road originally only measured 33 feet (10 m) wide. In the 1760s, a neighborhood known as Harsenville was developed around Bloomingdale Road between modern-day 68th and 81st Streets, after farmer Jacob Harsen moved there with his family. The neighborhood contained several countryside villas, which overlooked the Hudson River to the south. Many French people settled in the area in the aftermath of the French Revolution in the 1790s, including Louis Philippe I, who later became the king of France.

Bloomingdale Road was initially excluded from the Manhattan street grid, which was laid out as part of the Commissioners' Plan of 1811. Because the Upper West Side was largely undeveloped until the late 19th century, Bloomingdale Road remained in use. Bloomingdale Road was widened to 75 feet (23 m) in 1849 and was renamed Broadway. In 1867, city planner Andrew Haswell Green convinced the state legislature to give his Central Park Commission the power to make changes in the grid north of 59th Street. Green laid out a street through the West Side along the path of Bloomingdale Road. Work began in 1867, and the road between 59th and 155th Streets was widened the next year, becoming an avenue with landscaped medians. The road was called "Western Boulevard" or "The Boulevard" and measured 150 feet (46 m) wide; it was paved in 1874. Residential developments in the area increased in the late 1870s, and the Harsenville neighborhood was consequently razed by the 1880s.

### Creation and early years

What is now Verdi Square was acquired by the government of New York City in 1887. The site was then considered part of Sherman Square, which in turn was named after U. S. Army general William Tecumseh Sherman. In 1899, the Boulevard was renamed Broadway. By then, planning for the city's first subway line was underway; the line was planned to run under Broadway on the Upper West Side. A plan was formally adopted in 1897, and all legal conflicts concerning the route alignment were resolved near the end of 1899. August Belmont Jr., incorporated the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) in April 1902 to operate the subway. Work on the IRT's West Side Line (now the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line) from 60th Street to 82nd Street had begun in August 1900. The tunnel was built directly under Broadway using a cut and cover method of construction, requiring the avenue's pavement to be ripped up. The 72nd Street station opened on October 27, 1904, though its initial entrance was south of 72nd Street.

Meanwhile, Carlo Barsotti, the founder of Italian-language daily newspaper Il Progresso Italo-Americano, had started raising funds for a monument to Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi after the latter died in 1901. Though the monument had received \$4,000 worth of subscriptions by early 1903, a site had yet to be selected. Ultimately, the Verdi Monument's backers decided to install it in the northern section of Sherman Square. Pasquale Civiletti sculpted the monument in his studio in Italy, and it was shipped to the U.S. at the end of August 1906. The monument's cornerstone was laid on September 20, 1906, and the monument was dedicated on October 12, 1906, coinciding with Columbus Day. Thousands of people were present at the dedication, including representatives of the Spanish, French, German, Russian, and Argentine governments. Contemporary newspapers variously reported the cost of the monument as \$20,000 or \$30,000. At the time of the dedication, Barsotti still owed some money on the monument. As a result, a fundraiser for the monument was hosted during a luncheon in Barsotti's and Civiletti's honor in June 1907.

In the decade after the subway's opening, the surrounding area grew rapidly into a residential neighborhood. The northern section of Sherman Square was dedicated as Verdi Square in 1921. Musicians frequently visited the park during the early 20th century. These included tenor Enrico Caruso and conductor Arturo Toscanini, who lived in the Ansonia, as well as composers George and Ira Gershwin, who lived a few blocks away on Riverside Drive. In addition, the Central Savings Bank Building (later Apple Bank Building) was erected north of Verdi Square from 1926 to 1928, with a narrow facade on the square. By the late 1920s, dirt had accumulated on the Verdi statue. The managers of the Hotel Ansonia wrote a letter to the city's parks commissioner in December 1929, offering to clean the statue; the commissioner readily accepted this offer. The next month, the statue was cleaned by several Metropolitan Opera members who lived at the Ansonia. Several dozen pigeons at the park were poisoned in 1937 in the city's first recorded mass poisoning of birds; the perpetrator was never caught.

### Decline and preservation

Through the mid-20th century, Verdi Square existed as a small traffic island between Amsterdam Avenue and Broadway. Its widest frontage on 73rd Street was only slightly wider than the median of Broadway. An image from 1955 indicated that the Verdi monument was surrounded by fences and benches. In the 1960s and 1970s, Verdi Square and Sherman Square were highly frequented by local drug users and dealers. As part of a citywide "beautification" initiative announced in 1967, the city government would have planted trees and flowers in the park. The nickname "Needle Park" came to be applied to Verdi Square after the release of the 1971 film The Panic in Needle Park, although the "Needle Park" in the film might have been Sherman Square. In 1972, local teenagers repainted the benches and planted 300 begonias in the park.

The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) proposed designating Verdi Square as a landmark in November 1974. The LPC had just gained the authority to designate city parks as scenic landmarks, having protected its first scenic landmark, Bryant Park, the same month. The square was designated as a landmark on January 28, 1975, along with the facade of the adjacent Apple Bank Building; the New York City Board of Estimate ratified the designations that March. Residents of the Ansonia cleaned the monument in mid-1975, and it was cleaned again in 1977. Civic organization Friends of Verdi Square held free concerts at the park in October 1976 to raise money for a planned \$70,000 renovation. The organization planned to relocate benches, fence off the statue, and add bright lights.

In 1983, The New York Times wrote that "a succession" of homeless men slept on the park's 73rd Street sidewalk because warm air came from the subway ventilation grate there. By the end of that decade, the Times described Verdi Square as having undergone a "noticeable transformation". The park was still used by homeless people at night, even though it served as a busy meeting place for elderly residents during the day. In 1987, NYC Parks announced that the Verdi monument would be restored for \$300,000. Over the years, the marble had cracked because of repeated freezing and thawing of water during the winter, as the Carrara marble was naturally soft. The entire monument had to be removed for restoration, and NYC Parks planned to clean the monument regularly after it was restored.

NYC Parks' antiquities director Jonathan Kuhn sought funding for a further restoration of the monument. Kuhn asked pasta companies, attendees at a Verdi concert in Central Park, and the publicist of screenwriter Francis Ford Coppola to donate money, but he was unsuccessful. Ultimately, Italian brand Bertolli funded the monument's restoration, which was completed in June 1996. Bertolli also donated \$50,000 to a maintenance fund for the monument. The same decade, parks commissioner Henry J. Stern also installed a flagpole in Verdi Square, one of 750 he installed without receiving prior approval from the New York City Art Commission or the LPC. The New York City government opened a seasonal greenmarket at Verdi Square in 1997. The market attracted two dozen farmers and 2,500 to 5,000 visitors each weekend and was shown in the 1998 film You've Got Mail.

### Expansion

Dattner Architects and Gruzen Samton had completed a design for the 72nd Street station's renovation in 1996. The architects announced plans for the renovation two years later, which included a new entrance in Verdi Square. The plans included closing the three northbound lanes of Broadway from 72nd to 73rd Street, which were mainly used by buses, and diverting northbound traffic to Amsterdam Avenue. This move, which would more than double Verdi Square's size, would offset the loss of park space caused by the head house's construction. The New York State Legislature had to agree to transfer ownership of the roadway to NYC Parks. The new subway entrance would contain elevators directly above the platforms; as a result, Broadway's southbound lanes also had to be shifted to the west. Local residents and business owners expressed concerns that Broadway's western sidewalk would be narrowed by up to 8 feet (2.4 m). The greenmarket was closed in December 1999 to make way for the renovation.

Work on the project, which was to cost \$53 million (equivalent to \$ million in ), commenced in June 2000. When excavations began, contractors discovered that the Verdi monument was infested with rats; residents had known about the infestations for years and had nicknamed the park "Vermin Square". The northbound lanes of Broadway were permanently closed in 2001, and the head house was built in the expanded park. The station's renovation was completed on October 29, 2002. The project was closed-out fourteen months late due to a setback in the installation of street lighting, as well as the New York City Department of Transportation's acceptance of the project. The Firemen's Memorial lamppost was renovated and installed in the park in 2004 upon the request of former parks commissioner Stern. Stern had wanted to surround the monument with a fence depicting parading elephants, a reference to Verdi's Aida, but the Art Commission disapproved because it would "detract from the monument". NYC Parks also hung a fake owl in a tree near the Verdi Monument to deter roosting pigeons, and the Odalisca sculpture was installed in Verdi Square in 2010.

After the park's renovation was completed, local resident Lauri Grossman contacted several friends to organize an opera festival there, having been inspired by street musicians she saw during a trip to Europe. Many people, including then-parks commissioner Adrian Benepe, supported the proposal. George Litton, father of orchestral conductor Andrew Litton, launched the annual Verdi Square Festival of the Arts in September 2006. The festival's first season contained two concerts performed by the Manhattan School of Music and The New School; subsequent seasons were expanded to three concerts due to their popularity. The festival consists of three free outdoor Sunday afternoon concerts, presenting young musicians in repertoire ranging from opera to bluegrass. Each concert typically included printed programs for 400 guests. The concerts typically took place during September, but two of the 2009 concerts were moved to May due to holidays in September.

Verdi Square gradually fell into disrepair again after its renovation. Though the Times reported in 2014 that Verdi Square "has become as much a place to hang out as pass through", local residents cited an increase in homeless people in the park. The Verdi Monument was restored in mid-2016 as part of NYC Parks' Citywide Monuments Conservation Program. Additionally, a Le Pain Quotidien bakery opened in the park's concession stand in 2016. Local resident Aleya Lehmann founded an organization, Friends of Verdi Square, in 2018 to clean up the park. The next year, Friends of Verdi Square installed seating areas around the monument and cleaned up the park with guidance from NYC Parks officials. Verdi Square became an official partner of NYC Parks in September 2019. With this cleanup, the park's rodent population had decreased by 95 percent by March 2020.

## See also

- Memorials to Giuseppe Verdi
- List of New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan from 59th to 110th Streets
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Manhattan from 59th to 110th Streets

Public park in Manhattan, New York

Buildings and structures completed in 1906

National Register of Historic Places in Manhattan


2014 Tour de France

The 2014 Tour de France was the 101st edition of the race, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The 3,660.5-kilometre (2,274.5 mi) race included 21 stages, starting in Leeds, Yorkshire, United Kingdom, on 5 July and finishing on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on 27 July. The race also visited Belgium for part of a stage. Vincenzo Nibali of the team won the overall general classification by more than seven minutes, the biggest winning margin since 1997. By winning, he had acquired victories in all Grand Tours. Jean-Christophe Péraud () placed second, with Thibaut Pinot () third.

Marcel Kittel of was the first rider to wear the general classification leader's yellow jersey after winning stage one. He lost the following day to stage winner Nibali as the race reached the mountains. Nibali held the race lead until the end of the ninth stage, when it was taken by 's Tony Gallopin. The yellow jersey returned to Nibali the following stage, and he held it until the conclusion of the race.

The points classification was decided early in the race and was won by 's Peter Sagan. Rafał Majka of , winner of two mountain stages, won the mountains classification. Pinot finished as the best young rider. The team classification was won by and Alessandro De Marchi () was given the award for the most combative rider. Kittel and Nibali won the most stages, with four each.

Following criticism by the professional women's peloton and campaign groups like Le Tour Entier regarding the lack of a women's Tour de France, a one day women's race - La Course by Le Tour de France - was held on the Champs-Élysées, prior to the last stage of the Tour.

## Teams

Twenty-two teams participated in the 2014 edition of the Tour de France. The race was the 18th of the 29 events in the UCI World Tour, and all of its eighteen UCI ProTeams were automatically invited, and obliged, to attend the race. On 14 January 2015, the organiser of the Tour, Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), announced the four second-tier UCI Professional Continental teams given wildcard invitations: , , and . The team presentation – where the members of each team's roster are introduced in front of the media and local dignitaries – took place at the First Direct Arena in Leeds, United Kingdom, on 3 July, two days before the opening stage held in the city. The riders arrived at the arena by a ceremonial ride from the University of Leeds. The event included performances from Embrace and Opera North, in front of an audience of 10,000.

Each squad was allowed a maximum of nine riders, therefore the start list contained a total of 198 riders. Of these, 47 were riding the Tour de France for the first time. The riders came from 34 countries; France, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Germany, Australia and Belgium all had 10 or more riders in the race. 's Ji Cheng was the first Chinese rider to participate in the Tour. Riders from eight countries won stages during the race; German riders won the largest number of stages, with seven. The average age of riders in the race was 29.88 years, ranging from the 20-year-old Danny van Poppel to the 42-year-old Jens Voigt, both riders. Voigt, riding in his final year as a professional, equalled Stuart O'Grady's record for most appearances in the Tour with 17. had the highest average age, while had the lowest.

The teams entering the race were:

## Pre-race favourites

According to many observers before the race the top two favourites for the general classification were Chris Froome () and Alberto Contador (). Their closest rivals were thought to have been Vincenzo Nibali () and Alejandro Valverde (). A possible contender was the 2013 Tour runner-up, Nairo Quintana, who had chosen not to ride the Tour after his 2014 Giro d'Italia win that took place during May. Andy Schleck (), who was retroactively awarded the 2010 Tour title, was selected by his team as a domestique, and was not considered a possible favourite. The other riders considered contenders for the general classification were Andrew Talansky (), Rui Costa (), Thibaut Pinot (), Tejay van Garderen (), Jurgen Van den Broeck ().

Defending champion and runner-up in the 2012 Tour, Froome, had shown his form so far in the 2014 season by winning the general classification of two stage races, the Tour of Oman and the Tour de Romandie. Contador, winner of the 2007 and 2009 Tours, also won two stage races, the Tirreno–Adriatico and the Tour of the Basque Country in the lead-up to the Tour, placing second overall in the Volta ao Algarve, Volta a Catalunya and Critérium du Dauphiné. Nibali had missed the 2013 Tour as he had focused on the 2013 Giro, which he won. His highest Tour result was third in 2012. His best results so far in the 2014 season were fifth in the Tour de Romandie and seventh in the Dauphiné. Valverde, who placed eighth in the 2013 Tour and won the 2009 Vuelta a España, had a number of wins in the 2014 season prior to the Tour, most notably, the Vuelta a Andalucía stage race and the La Flèche Wallonne one-day race.

The sprinters considered favourites for the points classification and wins on the flat or hilly bunch sprint finishes were Peter Sagan (), Mark Cavendish (), André Greipel (), Alexander Kristoff () and riders Marcel Kittel and John Degenkolb. Winner of the points classification in the two previous Tours, Sagan, had won the E3 Harelbeke one-day race and won the points classifications in three stage races, the Tirreno–Adriatico, the Tour of California and the Tour de Suisse, during the 2014 season up until the Tour. Cavendish, who won the points classification in 2011, had nine wins so far in the season and had the full backing of his team. Greipel had amassed a total of twelve wins during the season prior to the Tour, but his team would have to share support for him and Van den Broeck. Kristoff had won the Milan–San Remo, and was considered a dark horse for the points classification. Kittel was seen as a top contender for the bunch sprints, as he won the most stages in the 2013 Tour, a total of four. He had an amassed seven wins so far in the season, two of which were in the Giro. It was thought that Degenkolb would be used by for the more challenging sprints. His major results of the season were first place in Gent–Wevelgem and second place in Paris–Roubaix, both one-day races.

## Route and stages

On 14 December 2012, the ASO announced that the English historic county of Yorkshire would host the 2014 edition's early stages (known as the Grand Départ). Further details of the first three stages held in the United Kingdom were released on 17 January 2013. This was the fourth Tour to contain stages in the United Kingdom, after 1974, 1994 and 2007. The entire route was announced by the ASO on 23 October 2013 at the official presentation at the Palais des Congrès in Paris. At the event, Stephen Roche, winner of the 1987 Tour, described the route as "fairly soft". Notable features of the route were the fifth stage's sections of sett paving, the five high altitude stage finishes and the lack time trialling, with only stage twenty's 54 km (34 mi) individual time trial.

The first of the two stages held in Yorkshire started in Leeds and finished in Harrogate, with stage two held between York and Sheffield. After a transfer to the East Anglian city of Cambridge, the race went south to the finish in London. The Tour transferred across the English Channel to the start of stage four Le Touquet-Paris-Plage, with the finish in Lille. Stage five began in Ypres, Belgium, and finished back in France. The following three stages crossed the north-east to the Vosges Mountains for stages nine and ten. The eleventh stage took place between Besançon and Oyonnax through the Jura Mountains. Stage twelve headed west to Saint-Étienne, with the next stage moving back east into the Chartreuse Mountains, with the finish at the Alpine ski resort of Chamrousse. The fourteenth stage ended in the town of Risoul. The following stage took the race south to Nîmes. After a transfer to Carcassonne, the route moved into the Pyrenees for the next two stages. The nineteenth stage took a northerly direction to the department of Dordogne and the location of stage twenty. A long transfer took the Tour back to the north-east to finish with the Champs-Élysées stage in Paris.

There were 21 stages in the race, covering a total distance of 3,660.5 km (2,275 mi). The longest mass-start stage was the seventh at 234.5 km (146 mi), and stage 17 was the shortest at 124.5 km (77 mi). Nine stages were officially classified as flat, five as medium mountain and six as high mountain. Stage five, although classified as medium mountain, was flat with sett paving sections. There were five summit finishes: stage 10, to La Planche des Belles Filles; stage 13, to Chamrousse; stage 14, to Risoul; stage 17, to Saint-Lary Pla d’Adet; and stage 18, to Hautacam. The highest point of elevation in the race was the 2,360 m (7,740 ft)-high Col d'Izoard mountain pass on stage fourteen. It was among six hors catégorie (English: beyond category) rated climbs in the race. There were nine new stage start or finish locations. The rest days were after stage 10, in the Besançon, and after 15, in Carcassonne.

## Race overview

### Opening week and Vosges

The first stage's bunch sprint finish was won by Marcel Kittel. A crash in the sprint caused Mark Cavendish, a favourite for the win, to fall; he did not start stage two. Kittel gained the race leader's yellow jersey and the green jersey as the leader of the points classification, with Jens Voigt taking the polka dot jersey as the leader of the mountains classification. In the following stage, likened to a "mini Liège-Bastogne-Liège", Vincenzo Nibali took the stage win and yellow jersey, attacking on Sheffield's hilly terrain with 2 km (1.2 mi) remaining. Peter Sagan took the green jersey and Cyril Lemoine () took the polka dot jersey. Stages three and four, finishing in London and Lille respectively, ended in bunch sprints and were both won by Kittel. Crashes in stages four and five forced pre-race favourite Chris Froome to abandon the race; his injuries were later revealed to be fractures to his left wrist and right hand. The weather was wet throughout the fifth stage, with the sett paving causing many crashes (although not Froome's). The fractured ending was won by an attack in the final 5 km (3.1 mi) by Lars Boom of . Nibali, who placed third, extended his overall lead over his rivals, with Alberto Contador 2 min 37 s down. André Greipel won stage six's bunch sprint in Reims. Another bunch sprint took place at the end of the next stage, with the hilly finish decided by a photo finish between Sagan and the winner Matteo Trentin ().

Stage eight, the first at altitude, was taken by 's Blel Kadri, who attacked from a breakaway group with 25 km (15.5 mi) to go; he managed to hold his lead over the chasing group of overall favourites, who came in over two minutes behind. His win put Kadri into the polka dot jersey. Another solo victory came the following day, when Tony Martin of dropped fellow breakaway rider Alessandro De Marchi () with 60 km (37.3 mi) remaining. A large group that formed in pursuit of the duo finished 2 min 45 s behind, with the unconcerned general classification contenders coming together in at 7 min 46 s down. The yellow jersey went to a rider from the first group, 's Tony Gallopin. Martin now led the mountains classification. Stage ten was the Tour's first high mountain stage. On the final climb to the finish at La Planche des Belles Filles, Nibali attacked from the group of overall contenders with 3 km (1.9 mi) remaining, passed two surviving riders from the day's early breakaway, and claimed his second stage win, which put him back in the yellow jersey. Joaquim Rodríguez (), one of the two breakaway riders, took the polka dot jersey. Contador crashed during the descent of the Petit Ballon, 95 km (59.0 mi) into the stage, forcing him to quit the race; it was later revealed that he had fractured his right tibia. The next day was the first rest day of the Tour.

### Jura and Alps

Stage eleven's rolling terrain resulted in a final peloton that included mainly puncheurs; Gallopin won the stage after an attack 13 km (8.1 mi) from the finish in Oyonnax split the peloton and a second with 2.7 km (1.7 mi) remaining that successfully held off the chasers. The twelfth stage was won by Alexander Kristoff from a bunch sprint. Nibali took the stage win the following stage, making his move from the leading group in the final 3 km (1.9 mi) on the hors catégorie climb to Chamrousse. He extended his lead over the second-placed overall rider Alejandro Valverde to 3 min 37 s. Richie Porte, who was second overall before the stage and the new leader of , lost around nine minutes and dropped to sixteenth. Nibali took the lead of the mountains classification. In stage fourteen, Rafał Majka () attacked from a reduced breakaway on the climb to the finish in Risoul with 10 km (6.2 mi) remaining and managed to hold off chasing the group of overall favourites and soloed to victory. Nibali, second in the stage, extended his lead further by one minute as Valverde lost time and Rodríguez regained the polka dot jersey. Kristoff won the bunch sprint in the transitional stage fifteen.

In the first of the three stages in the Pyrenees, the sixteenth, a breakaway group of 21 riders formed 75 km (46.6 mi) in. The group reduced to five after the final climb, the hors catégorie Port de Balès with 21 km (13.0 mi) remaining, out of which came the winner, Michael Rogers of (), who attacked 3 km (1.9 mi) from finish in Bagnères-de-Luchon. The group of general classification favourites came in over eight minutes down. Majka led the mountains classification. The Tour's queen stage, the seventeenth, featured three first-category climbs and the hors catégorie climb to the finish at Saint-Lary Pla d’Adet. An early nine-strong breakaway was pulled back before the first climb by for their rider Rodríguez to take the mountains classification points and the temporary lead of the competition. This led to the formation of a large lead group which gradually split across the middle climbs. Rodriguez and Majka led the lead group race over the penultimate climb, with the former first. On the final climb, a group of four that had escaped were caught by Majka, who had dropped Rodríguez, and he soloed to claim his second stage win and the large number of points for the summit finish. Nibali had split apart the group of chasing overall favourites and came in third. Second-placed overall Valverde lost a minute to Thibaut Pinot in third.

### Pyrenees and finale

The Tour's final mountain stage, the eighteenth, saw Nibali take his fourth victory of the race at Hautacam; his stage winning move came 9 km (5.6 mi) from the finish, on the climb to Hautacam. He finished 1 min 10 s ahead of a group which were four of his nearest general classification rivals, with the exception of Valverde, who lost further time and dropped to fourth overall, displaced by Thibaut Pinot and Jean-Christophe Péraud, respectively. Majka finished third in the stage and secured the mountains classification. In stage nineteen, Ramūnas Navardauskas of attacked a peloton fractured by rain 13 km (8.1 mi) from the finish to win the stage. Martin claimed his second stage of the Tour in the penultimate stage's individual time trial. His time of 1h 6 min 21 s over the 54 km (33.6 mi) course was 1 min 39 s faster than second-placed Tom Dumoulin (). Nibali finished fourth, increasing his advantage.

In the final stage, Kittel secured a second successive victory on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, his fourth stage win of the race. Nibali finished the race to win the general classification by a margin of 7 min 39 s, the largest winning margin since Jan Ullrich in the 1997 Tour. Second and third respectively were Péraud and Pinot, with the latter 8 min 15 s down on Nibali. The points classification was won by Sagan with 431 points; Kristoff came second with 282 points. Majka finished with 181 points in the mountains classification, 13 ahead of second-placed Nibali. Pinot was the best young rider, with Romain Bardet () second. The team classification was won by , 34 min 46 s ahead of second-placed . Of the 198 starters, 164 reached the finish of the last stage in Paris.

## Classification leadership and minor prizes

There were four main individual classifications contested in the 2014 Tour de France, as well as a team competition. The most important was the general classification, which was calculated by adding each rider's finishing times on each stage. There were no time bonuses given at the end of stages for this edition of the Tour. If a crash had happened within the final 3 km (1.9 mi) of a stage, not including the time trial and summit finishes, the riders involved would have received the same time as the group they were in when the crash occurred. The rider with the lowest cumulative time was the winner of the general classification and was considered the overall winner of the Tour. The rider leading the classification wore a yellow jersey.

The second classification was the points classification. Riders received points for finishing among the highest placed in a stage finish, or in intermediate sprints during the stage. The points available for each stage finish were determined by the stage's type. The leader was identified by a green jersey.

The third classification was the mountains classification. Points were awarded to the riders that reached the summit of the most difficult climbs first. The climbs were categorised as fourth-, third-, second-, first-category and hors catégorie, with the more difficult climbs rated lower. Double points were awarded on the summit finishes on stages 10, 13, 14, 17 and 18. The leader wore a white jersey with red polka dots.

The final individual classification was the young rider classification. This was calculated the same way as the general classification, but the classification was restricted to riders who were born on or after 1 January 1989. The leader wore a white jersey.

The final classification was a team classification. This was calculated using the finishing times of the best three riders per team on each stage; the leading team was the team with the lowest cumulative time. The number of stage victories and placings per team determined the outcome of a tie. The riders in the team that lead this classification were identified with yellow number bibs on the back of their jerseys and yellow helmets.

In addition, there was a combativity award given after each stage to the rider considered, by a jury, to have "made the greatest effort and who has demonstrated the best qualities of sportsmanship". No combativity awards were given for the time trial and the final stage. The winner wore a red number bib the following stage. At the conclusion of the Tour, Alessandro De Marchi won the overall super-combativity award, again, decided by a jury.

A total of €2,035,000 was awarded in cash prizes in the race. The overall winner of the general classification received €450,000, with the second and third placed riders got €200,000 and €100,000 respectively. All finishers of the race were awarded with money. The holders of the classifications benefited on each stage they led; the final winners of the points and mountains were given €25,000, while the best young rider and most combative rider got €20,000. The winners of the team classification received €50,000. There were also two special awards each with a prize of €5000, the Souvenir Henri Desgrange, given to first rider to pass the summit of the highest climb in the Tour, the Col d'Izoard in stage fourteen, and the Souvenir Jacques Goddet, given to the first rider to pass Goddet's memorial at the summit of the Col du Tourmalet in stage eighteen. Joaquim Rodríguez won the Henri Desgrange and Blel Kadri won the Jacques Goddet.

- In stage two, Bryan Coquard, who was third in the points classification, wore the green jersey, because Marcel Kittel (in first place) wore the yellow jersey as leader of the general classification and Peter Sagan (in second place) wore the white jersey as leader of the young rider classification during that stage.
- In stages three–five, Romain Bardet, who was second in the young rider classification, wore the white jersey, because Peter Sagan (in first place) wore the green jersey as leader of the points classification. Additionally, in stages six–seven, Michał Kwiatkowski wore the white jersey for the same reason.
- In stage fourteen, Joaquim Rodríguez, who was second in the mountains classification, wore the polka-dot jersey, because Vincenzo Nibali (in first place) wore the yellow jersey as leader of the general classification.

## Final standings

### General classification

### Points classification

### Mountains classification

### Young rider classification

### Team classification

## UCI World Tour rankings

Riders from the ProTeams competing individually, as well as for their teams and nations, for points that contributed towards the World Tour rankings. Points were awarded to the top twenty finishers in the general classification and to the top five finishers in each stage. The 200 points accrued by Vincenzo Nibali moved him from fortieth position to second in the individual ranking. retained their lead of the team ranking, ahead of second-placed . Spain remained as leaders of the nation ranking, with Italy second.

## See also

- 2014 in men's road cycling
- 2014 in sports


Constitution of 3 May 1791

The Constitution of 3 May 1791, titled the Governance Act, was a constitution adopted by the Great Sejm ("Four-Year Sejm", meeting in 1788–1792) for the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, a dual monarchy comprising the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The Constitution was designed to correct the Commonwealth's political flaws. It had been preceded by a period of agitation for—and gradual introduction of—reforms, beginning with the Convocation Sejm of 1764 and the ensuing election that year of Stanisław August Poniatowski, the Commonwealth's last king. It's the second constitution in history, after that of the United States.

The Constitution sought to implement a more effective constitutional monarchy, introduced political equality between townspeople and nobility, and placed the peasants under the government's protection, mitigating the worst abuses of serfdom. It banned pernicious parliamentary institutions such as the liberum veto, which had put the Sejm at the mercy of any single deputy, who could veto and thus undo all the legislation adopted by that Sejm. The Commonwealth's neighbours reacted with hostility to the adoption of the Constitution. King Frederick William II broke Prussia's alliance with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. He joined with Catherine the Great's Imperial Russia and the Targowica Confederation of anti-reform Polish magnates to defeat the Commonwealth in the Polish–Russian War of 1792.

The 1791 Constitution was in force for less than 19 months. It was declared null and void by the Grodno Sejm that met in 1793, though the Sejm's legal power to do so was questionable. The Second and Third Partitions of Poland (1793, 1795) ultimately ended Poland's sovereign existence until the close of World War I in 1918. Over those 123 years, the 1791 Constitution helped keep alive Polish aspirations for the eventual restoration of the country's sovereignty. In the words of two of its principal authors, Ignacy Potocki and Hugo Kołłątaj, the 1791 Constitution was "the last will and testament of the expiring Homeland."

The Constitution of 3 May 1791 combined a monarchic republic with a clear division of executive, legislative, and judicial powers. It is generally considered Europe's first and the world's second modern written national constitution, after the United States Constitution that had come into force in 1789.

## Background

Polish constitutionalism can be traced to the 13th century, when government by consensus and representation was already well established in the young Polish state. The emergence of parliamentary bodies, the sejm and sejmiki, followed in the first half of the 16th century. By the 17th century, Poland's legal and political tradition was characterized as parliamentary institutions and a system of checks and balances on state power, which was itself limited by decentralization. The idea of a contractual state embodied in texts like the Henrician Articles and the Pacta conventa; the concept of individual liberties; and the notion that the monarch owed duties to his subjects. This system, which primarily benefited the Polish nobility (szlachta), came to be known as the "nobles' democracy."

### End of Golden Age

The 1791 Constitution was a response to the increasingly perilous situation in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, which had been a major European power only a century earlier and was still the largest state on the continent. In the 1590s, at the peak of the nobles' democracy, King Sigismund III Vasa's court preacher—the Jesuit Piotr Skarga—had condemned the weaknesses of the Commonwealth. In the same period, writers and philosophers such as Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski and Wawrzyniec Grzymała Goślicki, and the egzekucja praw (Execution-of-the-Laws) reform movement led by Jan Zamoyski had advocated political reforms. In 1656, in what came to be known as the Lwów Oath, Sigismund's son King John II Casimir Vasa made a solemn vow on behalf of the entire Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth that he would free the Polish peasants "from the unjust burdens and oppression." As he was struggling with the Sejm, in 1661 John Casimir—whose reign saw highly destructive wars and obstructionism by the nobility—correctly predicted that the Commonwealth was in danger of a partition by Russia, Brandenburg and Austria.

As the Sejm failed to implement sufficient reforms, the state machinery became increasingly dysfunctional. A significant cause of the Commonwealth's downfall was the liberum veto ("free veto"), which, since 1652, had allowed any Sejm deputy to nullify all the legislation enacted by that Sejm. As a result, deputies bribed by magnates or foreign powers—primarily from the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia and France, which had an ongoing revolution—or deputies who believed they were living in an unprecedented "Golden Age" paralysed the Commonwealth's government for over a century. The threat of the liberum veto could only be overridden by the establishment of a "confederated sejm", which was immune to the liberum veto. Declaring that a sejm either constituted a "confederation" or belonged to one was a contrivance prominently used by foreign interests in the 18th century to force a legislative outcome.

By the early 18th century, the magnates of Poland and Lithuania controlled the state, ensuring that no reforms that might weaken their privileged status (the "Golden Freedoms") would be enacted. The ineffective monarchs who were elected to the Commonwealth throne in the early 18th century, Augustus II the Strong and Augustus III of Poland of the House of Wettin, did not improve matters. The Wettins, used to the absolute rule practiced in their native Saxony, tried to govern through intimidation and the use of force, which led to a series of conflicts between their supporters and opponents—including another pretender to the Polish throne, King Stanisław Leszczyński. Those conflicts often took the form of confederations—legal rebellions against the king permitted under the Golden Freedoms—including the Warsaw Confederation (1704), Sandomierz Confederation, Tarnogród Confederation, Dzików Confederation and the War of the Polish Succession. Only 8 out of 18 Sejm sessions during the reign of Augustus II (1694–1733) passed legislation. For 30 years during the reign of Augustus III, only one session was able to pass legislation. The government was near collapse, giving rise to the term "Polish anarchy", and the country was managed by provincial assemblies and magnates.

Other reform attempts in the Wettin era were led by individuals such as Stanisław Dunin-Karwicki, Stanisław A. Szczuka, Kazimierz Karwowski and Michał Józef Massalski; these mostly proved to be futile.

### Early reforms

The Enlightenment greatly affected the thinking of influential Commonwealth circles during the reign (1764–95) of its last king, Stanisław II August Poniatowski. The King was an "enlightened" Polish magnate who had been a deputy to several Sejms between 1750 and 1764 and had a deeper understanding of Polish politics than previous monarchs. The Convocation Sejm of 1764, which elected Poniatowski to the throne, was controlled by the reformist Czartoryski Familia and was backed by Russian military forces invited by the Czartoryskis. In exchange for passing decrees favorable to them, the Russians and Prussians let the confederated Convocation Sejm enact a number of reforms, including the weakening of the liberum veto and its no longer applying to treasury and economic matters. A more comprehensive reform package was presented by Andrzej Zamoyski, but opposition from Prussia, Russia, and the Polish nobility thwarted this ambitious program, which had proposed deciding all motions by majority vote.

In part because his election had been imposed by Empress Catherine the Great, Poniatowski's political position was weak from the start. He proceeded with cautious reforms, such as the establishment of fiscal and military ministries and the introduction of a national customs tariff, which was soon abandoned due to opposition from Prussia's Frederick the Great. These measures had already been authorized by the Convocation Sejm; more legislative and executive improvements inspired by the Familia or the King were implemented during and after the 1764 Sejm.

The Commonwealth's magnates viewed reform with suspicion and neighboring powers, content with the deterioration of the Commonwealth, abhorred the thought of a resurgent and democratic power on their borders. With the Commonwealth Army reduced to around 16,000, it was easy for its neighbors to intervene directly—the Imperial Russian Army numbered 300,000 and the Prussian Army and Imperial Austrian Army had 200,000 each.

Russia's Empress Catherine and Prussia's King Frederick II provoked a conflict between members of the Sejm and the King over civil rights for religious minorities, such as Protestants and Greek Orthodox whose positions, which were guaranteed equal with the Catholic majority by the Warsaw Confederation of 1573, had worsened considerably. Catherine and Frederick declared their support for the szlachta and their "liberties", and by October 1767 Russian troops had assembled outside Warsaw in support of the conservative Radom Confederation. The King and his adherents had little choice but to acquiesce to Russian demands. During the Repnin Sejm (named after the unofficially presiding Russian ambassador Nicholas Repnin) the King accepted the five "eternal and invariable principles" which Catherine had vowed to "protect for all time to come in the name of Poland's liberties": the election of kings, the right of liberum veto, the right to renounce allegiance to and raise rebellion against the king (rokosz), the szlachta's exclusive right to hold office and land, and landowners' power over their peasants. Thus all the privileges ("Golden Freedoms") of the nobility that had made the Commonwealth ungovernable were guaranteed as unalterable in the Cardinal Laws. The Cardinal Laws and the rights of "religious dissenters" passed by the Repnin Sejm were personally guaranteed by Empress Catherine. By these acts of legislation, for the first time, Russia formally intervened in the Commonwealth's constitutional affairs.

During the 1768 Sejm, Repnin showed his disregard for local resistance by arranging the abduction and imprisonment of Kajetan Sołtyk, Józef A. Załuski, Wacław Rzewuski and Seweryn Rzewuski, all vocal opponents of foreign domination and the recently proclaimed policies. The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth had legally and practically become a protectorate of the Russian Empire. Nonetheless, several minor beneficial reforms were adopted, political rights of the religious minorities were restored and the need for more reforms was becoming increasingly recognized.

King Stanisław August's acquiescence to the Russian intervention encountered some opposition. On 29 February 1768, several magnates—including Józef Pułaski and his young son Kazimierz Pułaski (Casimir Pulaski)—vowing to oppose Russian influence, declared Stanisław August a lackey of Russia and Catherine, and formed a confederation at the town of Bar. The Bar Confederation focused on limiting the influence of foreigners in Commonwealth affairs, and being pro-Catholic was generally opposed to religious tolerance. It began a civil war to overthrow the King, but its irregular forces were overwhelmed by Russian intervention in 1772.

The defeat of the Bar Confederation set the scene for the partition treaty of 5 August 1772, which was signed at Saint Petersburg by Russia, Prussia, and Austria. The treaty divested the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth of about a third of its territory and population—over 200,000 km2 (77,220 sq mi) and 4 million people. The three powers justified their annexation, citing anarchy in the Commonwealth and its refusal to cooperate with its neighbors' efforts to restore order. King Stanisław August yielded and on 19 April 1773, he called the Sejm into session. Only 102 of about 200 deputies attended what became known as the Partition Sejm. The rest were aware of the King's decision and refused. Despite protests from the deputy Tadeusz Rejtan and others, the treaty—later known as the First Partition of Poland—was ratified.

The first of the three successive 18th-century partitions of Commonwealth territory that would eventually remove Poland's sovereignty shocked the Commonwealth's inhabitants and made it clear to progressive minds that the Commonwealth must either reform or perish. In the thirty years before the Constitution, there was a rising interest among progressive thinkers in constitutional reform. Before the First Partition, a Polish noble, Michał Wielhorski was sent to France by the Bar Confederation to ask the philosophes Gabriel Bonnot de Mably and Jean-Jacques Rousseau for their suggestions on a new constitution for a reformed Poland. Mably submitted his recommendations Du gouvernement et des lois en Pologne (The Government and Laws of Poland) in 1770–71, whereas Rousseau finished his Considerations on the Government of Poland in 1772 when the First Partition was already underway. Works advocating the need for reform and presenting specific solutions were published in the Commonwealth by Polish–Lithuanian thinkers: On an Effective Way of Councils or on the Conduct of Ordinary Sejms (1761–63), by Stanisław Konarski, founder of the Collegium Nobilium; Political Thoughts on Civil Liberties (1775) and Patriotic Letters (1778–78), by Józef Wybicki, author of the lyrics of the Polish National Anthem; (Anonymous Letters to Stanisław Małachowski (1788–89) and The Political Law of the Polish Nation (1790), by Hugo Kołłątaj, head of the Kołłątaj's Forge party; and Remarks on the Life of Jan Zamoyski (1787), by Stanisław Staszic. Ignacy Krasicki's satires of the Great Sejm era were also seen as crucial to giving the constitution moral and political support.

A new wave of reforms supported by progressive magnates such as the Czartoryski family and King Stanisław August were introduced at the Partition Sejm. The most important included the 1773 establishment of the Commission of National Education (Komisja Edukacji Narodowej)—the first ministry of education in the world. New schools were opened, uniform textbooks were printed, teachers received better education and poor students were provided with scholarships. The Commonwealth's military was to be modernized and funding to create a larger standing army was agreed. Economic and commercial reforms—including some intended to cover the increased military budget previously shunned as unimportant by the szlachta—were introduced. A new executive assembly, the 36-strong Permanent Council comprising five ministries with limited legislative powers, was established, giving the Commonwealth a governing body in constant session between Sejms and therefore immune to their liberum veto disruptions.

In 1776, the Sejm commissioned former chancellor Andrzej Zamoyski to draft a new legal code. By 1780, he and his collaborators had produced the Zamoyski Code (Zbiór praw sądowych). It would have strengthened royal power, made all officials answerable to the Sejm, placed the clergy and their finances under state supervision, and deprived landless szlachta of many of their legal immunities. The Code would also have improved the situation of non-nobles—townspeople and peasants. Zamoyski's progressive legal code, containing elements of constitutional reform, met with opposition from native conservative szlachta and foreign powers; the 1780 Sejm did not adopt it.

## Constitution's adoption

An opportunity for reform occurred during the "Great Sejm"—also called the "Four-Year Sejm"—of 1788–92, which began on 6 October 1788 with 181 deputies. In accordance with the Constitution's preamble, from 1790 it met "in dual number" when 171 newly elected deputies joined the earlier-established Sejm. On its second day, the body became a confederated sejm to avoid the liberum veto. Concurrent world events appeared to have been opportune for the reformers. Russia and Austria were at war with the Ottoman Empire, and the Russians found themselves simultaneously fighting in the Russo-Swedish War, 1788–1790. A new alliance between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Prussia seemed to provide security against Russian intervention, and King Stanisław August drew closer to leaders of the reform-minded Patriotic Party.

The Sejm passed few major reforms in its first two years, but the subsequent two years brought more substantial changes. The Sejm adopted the 1791 Free Royal Cities Act, which was formally incorporated into the final constitution. This act addressed a number of matters related to the cities, crucially expanding burghers' (i.e., townspeople's) rights, including electoral rights. While the Sejm comprised representatives of the nobility and clergy, the reformers were supported by the burghers, who in late 1789 organized in Warsaw a "Black Procession" demanding full political enfranchisement of the bourgeoisie. On 18 April 1791 the Sejm—fearing that the burghers' protests, if ignored, could turn violent, as they had in France not long before—adopted the Free Royal Cities Act.

The new constitution was drafted by the King, with contributions from Ignacy Potocki, Hugo Kołłątaj and others. The King is credited with writing the general provisions and Kołłątaj with giving the document its final shape. Stanisław August wanted the Commonwealth to become a constitutional monarchy similar to that of Great Britain, with a strong central government based on a strong monarch. Potocki wanted the Sejm to be the strongest branch of government. Kołłątaj wanted a "gentle" revolution, carried out without violence, to enfranchise other social classes in addition to the nobility.

The proposed reforms were opposed by the conservatives, including the Hetmans' Party. Threatened with violence by their opponents, the advocates of the draft began the debate on the Government Act two days early, while many opposing deputies were away on Easter recess. The debate and subsequent adoption of the Government Act was executed as a quasi-coup d'état. No recall notices were sent to known opponents of reform, while many pro-reform deputies secretly returned early. The royal guard under the command of the King's nephew Prince Józef Poniatowski were positioned about the Royal Castle, where the Sejm was gathered, to prevent opponents from disrupting the proceedings. On 3 May, the Sejm convened with only 182 members, about half its "dual" number. The bill was read and overwhelmingly adopted, to the enthusiasm of the crowds outside. A protest was submitted the next day by a small group of deputies, but on 5 May the matter was officially concluded and protests were invalidated by the Constitutional Deputation of the Sejm. It was the first time in the 18th century that a constitutional act had been passed in the Commonwealth without the involvement of foreign powers.

Soon after, the Friends of the Constitution (Zgromadzenie Przyjaciół Konstytucji Rządowej)—which included many participants in the Great Sejm—was organised to defend the reforms already enacted and to promote further ones. It is now regarded as the first modern-style political party in Poland's history. The response to the new constitution was less enthusiastic in the provinces, where the Hetmans' Party enjoyed considerable influence. General support among the middle nobility was crucial and still very substantial; most of the provincial sejmiks deliberating in 1791 and early 1792 supported the constitution.

## Features

The Constitution of 3 May 1791 reflected Enlightenment influences, including Rousseau's concept of the social contract and Montesquieu's advocacy of a balance of powers among three branches of government—legislative, executive, and judicial—and of a bicameral legislature. As stated in Article V of the 3 May 1791 Constitution, the government was to ensure that "the integrity of the states, civil liberty, and social order shall always remain in equilibrium." Jacek Jędruch writes that the liberality of the 3 May 1791 Constitution's provisions "fell somewhere below [that of] the French Constitution of 1791, above [that of the Canadas’] Constitutional Act of 1791, and left the [1794] General State Laws for the Prussian States far behind, but did not equal [that of] the American Constitution [that went into force in 1789]." King Stanisław August Poniatowski was reported to have said that the 3 May 1791 Constitution was "founded principally on those of England and the United States of America, but avoiding the faults and errors of both, and adapted as much as possible to the local and particular circumstances of the country." However, Polish historians report the Constitution as having been described as "based mainly on the United States Constitution, but minus the latter's flaws, and adapted to Poland's circumstances." George Sanford writes that the Constitution of 3 May 1791 provided "a constitutional monarchy close to the English model of the time."

Article I acknowledged the Roman Catholic faith as the "dominant religion" but guaranteed tolerance and freedom to all religions. It was less progressive than the 16th-century Warsaw Confederation, and placed Poland clearly within the Catholic sphere of influence. Article II confirmed many old privileges of the nobility, stressing that all nobles were equal and should enjoy personal security and the right to property. Article III stipulated that the earlier Free Royal Cities Act (Miasta Nasze Królewskie Wolne w Państwach Rzeczypospolitej), of 18 (or 21) April 1791, was integral to the Constitution. Personal security—neminem captivabimus, the Polish version of habeas corpus—was extended to townspeople (including Jews). Townspeople also gained the right to acquire landed property and became eligible for military officers' commissions and public offices, such as reserved seats in the Sejm and seats in the executive commissions of the Treasury, Police, and Judiciary. Membership in the nobility (szlachta) was also made easier for burghers to acquire.

With half a million burghers in the Commonwealth now substantially enfranchised, political power became more equally distributed. Little power was given to the less politically conscious or active classes, such as Jews and peasants. Article IV placed the Commonwealth's peasantry under the protection of the national law—a first step toward enfranchising the country's largest and most oppressed social class. Their low status compared to other classes was not eliminated, as the constitution did not abolish serfdom. The Second Partition and Kościuszko's Proclamation of Połaniec in 1794 would later begin to abolish serfdom.

Article V stated that "all power in civil society [should be] derived from the will of the people." The constitution referred to the country's "citizens," which for the first time included townspeople and peasants. The document's preamble and 11 individual articles introduced the principle of popular sovereignty applied to the nobility and townspeople, and the separation of powers into legislative (a bicameral Sejm), executive ("the King and the Guardians," the Guardians of the Laws being the newly established top governmental entity) and judicial branches. It advanced the democratization of the polity by limiting the excessive legal immunities and political prerogatives of landless nobility.

Legislative power, as defined in Article VI, rested with the bicameral parliament (an elected Sejm and an appointed Senate) and the king. The Sejm met every two years, and when required by national emergency. Its lower chamber—the Chamber of Deputies (Izba Poselska)—had 204 deputies (2 from each powiat, 68 each from the provinces of Greater Poland, Lesser Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania) and 21 plenipotentiaries from royal cities (7 from each province). The royal chancellery was to inform the sejmiks of the legislation it intended to propose in advance, so deputies could prepare for the discussions. The Sejm's upper chamber—the Chamber of Senators (Izba Senacka)—had between 130 and 132 (sources vary) senators (voivodes, castellans, and bishops, as well as governments ministers without the right to vote). The king presided over the Senate and had one vote, which could be used to break ties. The king and all deputies had legislative initiative, and most matters—known as general laws, and divided into constitutional, civil, criminal, and those for the institution of perpetual taxes—required a simple majority, first from the lower chamber, then the upper. Specialized resolutions, including treaties of alliance, declarations of war and peace, ennoblements and increases in national debt, needed a majority of both chambers voting jointly. The Senate had a suspensive veto over laws that the Sejm passed, valid until the next Sejm session, when it could be overruled.

Article VI recognized the Prawo o sejmikach, the act on regional assemblies (sejmiks) passed on 24 March 1791. By reducing the enfranchisement of the noble classes, this law introduced major changes to the electoral ordinance. Previously, all nobles had been eligible to vote in sejmiks, which de facto meant that many of the poorest, landless nobles—known as "clients" or "clientele" of local magnates—voted as the magnates bade them. Now right to vote was tied to a property qualification: one had to own or lease land and pay taxes, or be closely related to somebody who did, to vote. 300,000 of 700,000 previously eligible nobles were thus disfranchised. Voting rights were restored to landowners in military service. They had lost these rights in 1775. Voting was limited to men aged at least 18. The eligible voters elected deputies to local powiats, or county sejmiks, which elected deputies to the General Sejm.

Finally, Article VI explicitly abolished several institutional sources of government weakness and national anarchy, including the liberum veto, confederations and confederated sejms, and the excessive influence of sejmiks stemming from the previously binding nature of their instructions to their Sejm deputies. The confederations were declared "contrary to the spirit of this constitution, subversive of government and destructive of society." Thus the new constitution strengthened the powers of the Sejm, moving the country towards a constitutional monarchy.

Executive power, according to Article V and Article VII, was in the hands of "the King in his council," a cabinet of ministers that was called the Guardians of the Laws (or Guard of the Laws, Straż Praw). The ministries could not create or interpret laws, and all acts of the foreign ministry were provisional and subject to Sejm approval. The King presided over his council, which comprised the Roman Catholic Primate of Poland—who was also president of the Education Commission—and five ministers appointed by the King: a minister of police, a minister of the seal (internal affairs), a minister of foreign affairs, a minister belli (of war), and a minister of treasury. Council members also included—without a vote—the Crown Prince, the Marshal of the Sejm, and two secretaries. This royal council descended from similar councils that had functioned since King Henry's Articles (1573), and from the recent Permanent Council. Acts of the King required the countersignature of the pertinent minister. A minister was required to countersign a law, unless all other ministers endorsed his objection to that law. In that case, the King could withdraw the law or press the issue by presenting it to parliament. The stipulation that the King, "doing nothing of himself, ... shall be answerable for nothing to the nation," parallels the British constitutional principle that "The King can do no wrong." (In both countries, the pertinent minister was responsible for the King's acts.) The ministers were responsible to the Sejm, which could dismiss them by a two-thirds vote of no confidence of both houses. Ministers could also be held accountable by the Sejm Court, where a simple-majority vote sufficed to impeach a minister. The King was the nation's commander-in-chief; there is no mention of hetmans (the previous highest-ranking military commanders). The King had the right to grant pardons, except in cases of treason. The royal council's decisions were implemented by commissions, whose members were elected by the Sejm.

The Constitution changed the government from an elective to a hereditary monarchy. This provision was intended to reduce the destructive influence of foreign powers at each election. The royal dynasty was elective, and if one were to cease, a new family would be chosen by the nation. The king reigned by the "grace of God and the will of the Nation," and "all authority derives from the will of the Nation." The institution of pacta conventa was preserved. On Stanisław August's death the Polish throne would become hereditary and pass to Frederick Augustus I of Saxony of the House of Wettin, which had provided the two kings before Stanisław August. This provision was contingent upon Frederic Augustus' consent. He declined when Adam Czartoryski offered him the throne.

Discussed in Article VIII, the judiciary was separated from the two other branches of the government, and was to be served by elective judges. Courts of first instance existed in each voivodeship and were in constant session, with judges elected by the regional sejmik assemblies. Appellate tribunals were established for the provinces, based on the reformed Crown Tribunal and Lithuanian Tribunal. The Sejm elected from its deputies the judges for the Sejm Court, a precursor to the modern State Tribunal of Poland. Referendary courts were established in each province to hear the cases of the peasantry. Municipal courts, described in the law on towns, complemented this system.

Article IX covered procedures for regency, which should be taken up jointly by the council of the Guardians, headed by the Queen, or in her absence by the Primate. Article X stressed the importance of education of royal children and tasked the Commission of National Education with this responsibility. The last article of the constitution, Article XI, concerned the national standing army. Said army was defined as a "defensive force" dedicated "solely to the nation's defense." The army was to be increased in strength to 100,000 men.

To further enhance the Commonwealth's integration and security, the Constitution abolished the erstwhile union of Poland and Lithuania in favor of a unitary state. Its full establishment, supported by Stanisław August and Kołlątaj, was opposed by many Lithuanian deputies. As a compromise, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania received numerous privileges guaranteeing its continued existence. Related acts included the Declaration of the Assembled Estates (Deklaracja Stanów Zgromadzonych) of 5 May 1791, confirming the Government Act adopted two days earlier, and the Mutual Pledge of the Two Nations (Zaręczenie Wzajemne Obojga Narodów), i.e., of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, of 22 October 1791, affirming the unity and indivisibility of Poland and Lithuania within a single state and their equal representation in state-governing bodies. The Mutual Pledge strengthened the Polish–Lithuanian union while keeping many federal aspects of the state intact.

The Constitution was also published in English-, French-, and German-language editions. Also a manuscript in lithuanian language exists but it was made in the beginning of XIX century.

The Constitution provided for potential amendments, which were to be addressed at an extraordinary Sejm to be held every 25 years.

The Constitution remained to the last a work in progress. The Government Act was fleshed out in a number of laws passed in May and June 1791: on sejm courts (two acts of 13 May), the Guardians of the Laws (1 June), the national police commission (a ministry, 17 June), and municipal administration (24 June).

The Constitution's co-author Hugo Kołłątaj announced that work was underway on "an economic constitution ... guaranteeing all rights of property [and] securing protection and honor to all manner of labor ..." A third planned basic law was mentioned by Kołłątaj: a "moral constitution," most likely a Polish analog to the United States Bill of Rights and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. The Constitution called for the preparation of a new civil and criminal code, tentatively called the Stanisław August Code. The King also planned a reform improving the situation of the Jews.

## Aftermath: war and final two Partitions

The constitutional formal procedures were performed for little over a year before being stopped by Russian armies allied with conservative Polish nobility in the Polish–Russian War of 1792, also known as the War in Defense of the Constitution. With the wars between Turkey and Russia and Sweden and Russia having ended, Empress Catherine was furious over the adoption of the document, which she believed threatened Russian influence in Poland. Russia had viewed Poland as a de facto protectorate. "The worst possible news have arrived from Warsaw: the Polish king has become almost sovereign" was the reaction of one of Russia's chief foreign policy authors, Alexander Bezborodko, when he learned of the new constitution. The contacts of Polish reformers with the Revolutionary French National Assembly were seen by Poland's neighbors as evidence of a revolutionary conspiracy and a threat to the absolute monarchies. The Prussian statesman Ewald von Hertzberg expressed the fears of European conservatives: "The Poles have given the coup de grâce to the Prussian monarchy by voting a constitution", elaborating that a strong Commonwealth would likely demand return of the lands that Prussia had acquired in the First Partition.

Magnates who had opposed the constitution draft from the start, Franciszek Ksawery Branicki, Stanisław Szczęsny Potocki, Seweryn Rzewuski, and Szymon and Józef Kossakowski, asked Tsarina Catherine to intervene and restore their privileges—the Cardinal Laws abolished under the new statute. To that end these magnates formed the Targowica Confederation. The Confederation's proclamation, prepared in St. Petersburg in January 1792, criticized the constitution for contributing to "contagion of democratic ideas" following "the fatal examples set in Paris." It asserted that "The parliament ... has broken all fundamental laws, swept away all liberties of the gentry and on the third of May 1791 turned into a revolution and a conspiracy." The Confederates declared an intention to overcome this revolution. We "can do nothing but turn trustingly to Tsarina Catherine, a distinguished and fair empress, our neighboring friend and ally", who "respects the nation's need for well-being and always offers it a helping hand", they wrote.

Russian armies entered Poland and Lithuania, starting the Polish–Russian War of 1792. The Sejm voted to increase the army of the Commonwealth to 100,000 men, but owing to insufficient time and funds this number was never achieved and soon abandoned even as a goal. The Polish King and the reformers could field only a 37,000-man army, many of them untested recruits. This army, under the command of Józef Poniatowski and Tadeusz Kościuszko, defeated or fought to a draw the Russians on several occasions, but in the end, a defeat loomed inevitable. Despite Polish requests, Prussia refused to honor its alliance obligations. Stanisław August's attempts at negotiations with Russia proved futile. As the front lines kept shifting to the west and in July 1792 Warsaw was threatened with siege by the Russians, the King came to believe that victory was impossible against the numerically superior enemy, and that surrender was the only alternative to total defeat. Having received assurances from the Russian ambassador Yakov Bulgakov that no territorial changes will occur, the Guardians of the Laws cabinet voted 8:4 to surrender. On 24 July 1792, King Stanisław August Poniatowski joined the Targowica Confederation, as the Empress had demanded. The Polish Army disintegrated.

Many reform leaders, believing their cause was for now lost, went into self-imposed exile. Some hoped that Stanisław August would be able to negotiate an acceptable compromise with the Russians, as he had done in the past. But the King had not saved the Commonwealth and neither had the Targowica Confederates, who governed the country for a short while. To their surprise, the Grodno Sejm, bribed or intimidated by the Russian troops, enacted the Second Partition of Poland. On 23 November 1793, it concluded its deliberations under duress, annulling the constitution and acceding to the Second Partition. Russia took 250,000 square kilometres (97,000 sq mi), while Prussia took 58,000 square kilometres (22,000 sq mi). The Commonwealth now comprised no more than 215,000 square kilometres (83,000 sq mi). What was left of the Commonwealth was merely a small buffer state with a puppet king, and Russian garrisons keeping an eye on the reduced Polish army.

For a year and a half, Polish patriots waited while planning an insurrection. On 24 March 1794 in Kraków, Tadeusz Kościuszko declared what has come to be known as the Kościuszko Uprising. On 7 May, he issued the Proclamation of Połaniec (Uniwersał Połaniecki), granting freedom to the peasants and ownership of land to all who fought in the insurrection. Revolutionary tribunals administered summary justice to those deemed traitors to the Commonwealth. After initial victories at the Battle of Racławice (4 April), the capture of Warsaw (18 April) and the Wilno (22 April)—the Uprising was crushed when the forces of Russia, Austria and Prussia joined in a military intervention. Historians consider the Uprising's defeat to have been a foregone conclusion in face of the superiority in numbers and resources of the three invading powers. The defeat of Kościuszko's forces led in 1795 to the third and final partition of the Commonwealth.

## Legacy

### Historic importance

The Constitution of 3 May 1791 has been both idealized, and criticized for either not going far enough or being too radical. As its provisions remained in force for only 18 months and 3 weeks, its influence was, in any case, limited. However, for generations, the memory of the Constitution—recognized by political scientists as a progressive document for its time—helped keep alive Polish aspirations for an independent and just society, and continued to inform the efforts of its authors' descendants. Bronisław Dembiński, a Polish constitutional scholar, wrote a century later that "The miracle of the Constitution did not save the state but did save the nation." In Poland the Constitution is mythologized and viewed as a national symbol and as the culmination of the Enlightenment in Polish history and culture. In the words of two of its authors, Ignacy Potocki and Hugo Kołłątaj, it was "the last will and testament of the expiring Homeland." Since Poland's recovery of independence in 1918, the 3 May anniversary of the Constitution's adoption has been observed as the country's most important civil holiday.

The 3 May Constitution was a milestone in the history of law and in the growth of democracy. The 18th-century Irish statesman Edmund Burke described it as "the noblest benefit received by any nation at any time ... Stanislas II has earned a place among the greatest kings and statesmen in history." The 3 May Constitution was the first to follow the 1788 ratification of the United States Constitution. Poland and the United States, though geographically distant from each other, showed similar approaches to the designing of political systems. The 3 May Constitution has been called the second constitution in world history. Constitutional-law expert Albert Blaustein calls it the "world's second national constitution", and Bill Moyers writes that it was "Europe's first codified national constitution (and the second oldest in the world)." Historian Norman Davies calls it "the first constitution of its type in Europe." The 3 May Constitution and the Great Sejm that adopted it have been the subjects of a large body of works by Polish scholars, starting with the still often cited 19th-century works of Walerian Kalinka and Władysław Smoleński, and continued in the 20th century by Bogusław Leśnodorski.

The document's official name was Ustawa Rządowa ("Government Act"), where "government" referred to the political system. In the Commonwealth, the term "constitution" (Polish: konstytucja) had previously denoted all the legislation, of whatever character, that had been passed by a given Sejm.

### Holiday

3 May was declared a Polish holiday (Constitution Day—Święto Konstytucji 3 Maja) on 5 May 1791. The holiday was banned during the partitions of Poland but reinstated in April 1919 under the Second Polish Republic—the first holiday officially introduced in the newly independent country. It was again outlawed during World War II by both the Nazi and Soviet occupiers. It was celebrated in Polish cities in May 1945, although in a mostly spontaneous manner. The 1946 anti-communist demonstrations did not endear it to the Polish communists, and it competed for attention with the communist-endorsed 1 May Labor Day celebrations in the Polish People's Republic; this led to its "rebranding" as Democratic Party Day and removal from the list of national holidays by 1951. Until 1989, 3 May was a frequent occasion for anti-government and anti-communist protests. 3 May was restored as an official Polish holiday in April 1990 after the fall of communism. Polish-American pride has been celebrated on the same date, for instance in Chicago, where since 1982 Poles have marked it with festivities and the annual Polish Constitution Day Parade.

Polish constitution

1791 in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth