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107-483: The Instruction proclaimed the equality of all men before the law and disapproved of the death penalty and torture, thus anticipating some of the issues raised by the later United States Constitution and the Polish Constitution . Although the ideas of absolutism were emphatically upheld, the stance towards serfdom is more blurry: the chapter about peasants was retouched a number of times. Catherine worked on

214-406: A natural law "that every man may claim the fullest liberty to exercise his faculties compatible with the possession of like liberty to every other man". Stated another way by Spencer, "each has freedom to do all that he wills provided that he infringes not the equal freedom of any other". Equality before the law is a tenet of some branches of feminism . In the 19th century, gender equality before

321-617: A common interest in lizards . Together they went to see patients. He arrived in Utrecht on a barge and met stadtholder William III in a tavern. When he visited the States-General of the Netherlands he left the hall and the astonished attendees with his wig pulled over his head, according Massie. He visited Jan van der Heyden , the inventor of a fire hose . He collected paintings by Adam Silo with ships and seascapes . In October 1697,

428-548: A convent, where she gave up her name and her position as a member of the royal family. Meanwhile, he was a frequent guest in German quarter, where he met Anna and Willem Mons . In 1692 he sent Eberhard Isbrand Ides as envoy to the Kangxi Emperor of China. In 1693 he sailed to Solovetsky Monastery and accepted divine providence after surviving a storm. Still, Peter could not acquire actual control over Russian affairs. Power

535-629: A cook, a priest, six trumpeters, 70 soldiers from the Preobrazhensky regiment , four dwarfs and a monkey which he purchased in Amsterdam; Jacob Bruce accompanied him. Peter stayed at 21 Norfolk Street, Strand , and met with Bishop of Salisbury Gilbert Burnet and Thomas Osborne and posed for Sir Godfrey Kneller . He watched the proceedings within the Parliament from a rooftop window. At some time, he had an affair with actress Letitia Cross . He visited

642-593: A decree was issued that allowed factory owners, regardless of whether they had a noble rank, to buy serfs . Peter made a temporary peace with the Ottoman Empire that allowed him to keep the captured fort of Azov, and turned his attention to Russian maritime supremacy. He sought to acquire control of the Baltic Sea, which had been taken by the Swedish Empire a half-century earlier. Peter declared war on Sweden, which

749-571: A factory for the development in the Samara Oblast . In 1721 the shipyard Petrozavod and Petrodvorets Watch Factory was established. Some 3,500 new words—German, French, Dutch, English, Italian, Swedish in origin—entered Russian in Peter's period, roughly one-fourth of them shipping and naval terms. As part of his reforms, Peter started an industrialization effort that was slow but eventually successful. Russian manufacturing and main exports were based on

856-470: A keen interest in The Education of a Christian Prince which offers advice to rulers on how to govern justly and wisely. He introduced into the concept of the autocrat's power the notion of the monarch 's duties. He considered it necessary to take care of his subjects, to protect them from enemies, to work for their benefit. Above all, he put the interests of Russia. He saw his mission in turning it into

963-668: A monarchy made up of three estates. Catherine tactfully ignored these ideas in favor of an absolutist bureaucratic monarchy. The Nakaz was written as a way to argue for the already existing system rather than bring about any serious change. Borrowing heavily from Montesquieu's Esprit des lois ("The Spirit of the Laws") Catherine was careful to make small alterations of the original that brought it into conformity with her view of Russia as an absolutist bureaucratic monarchy that has offices to manage things like tax collection, police service, etc. It took several drafts and ample input from advisors before

1070-612: A more conventional approach and arranged his marriage to Eudoxia Lopukhina in 1689. The marriage was a failure, and 10 years later, Peter forced his wife to become a nun and thus freed himself from the union. By the summer of 1689, Peter, planned to take power from his half-sister Sophia, whose position had been weakened by two unsuccessful Crimean campaigns against the Crimean Khanate in an attempt to stop devastating Crimean Tatar raids into Russia's southern lands. When she learned of his designs, Sophia conspired with some leaders of

1177-570: A new state body known as the Governing Senate . Normally, the Boyar duma would have exercised power during his absence. Peter, however, mistrusted the boyars; he instead abolished the Duma and created a Senate of ten members. The Senate was founded as the highest state institution to supervise all judicial, financial and administrative affairs. Originally established only for the time of the monarch's absence,

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1284-414: A power similar to Western countries, and subordinated his own life and the lives of his subjects to the realization of this idea. Gradually penetrated the idea that the task should be solved with the help of reforms, which will be carried out at the autocrat's will, who creates good and punishes evil. He considered the morality of a statesman separately from the morality of a private person and believed that

1391-560: A ship in Emmerich am Rhein and sailed to Zaandam, where he arrived on 18 August 1697. Peter studied saw-mills , manufacturing and shipbuilding in Zaandam but left after a week. He sailed to Amsterdam after he was recognized and attacked. The log-cabin he rented became the Czar Peter House . He sailed to Texel to see a fleet. Through the mediation of Nicolaas Witsen , an expert on Russia,

1498-730: A specific ideological stance. In 1988, prior to serving as a Justice of the Supreme Court, Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote: "Generalizations about the way women or men are – my life experience bears out – cannot guide me reliably in making decisions about particular individuals. At least in the law, I have found no natural superiority or deficiency in either sex. In class or in grading papers from 1963 to 1980, and now in reading briefs and listening to arguments in court for over seventeen years, I have detected no reliable indicator or distinctly male or surely female thinking – even penmanship". In an American Civil Liberties Union 's Women's Rights Project in

1605-406: A sword and a quill in one right hand") and courageous behavior he demonstrated to his subjects his personal positive example, showed how to act, fully devoting himself to the fulfillment of duty and service to the fatherland . Peter reigned for around 43 years. He implemented sweeping reforms aimed at modernizing Russia. Heavily influenced by his advisors, like Jacob Bruce , Peter reorganized

1712-596: A visit to a friend's mansion near Nigtevecht , a silk manufacture and a paper-mill. At five in the morning he was received by Herman Boerhaave who showed Peter the Botanical Garden . In April 1717 he continued his travel to Austrian Netherlands , Dunkirk and Calais. In Paris he obtained many books, requested to become a member of the Academie de Sciences and visited the parliament, the Sorbonne and Madame Maintenon . Via

1819-513: Is an absolute monarchy in which the leader voluntarily accepts limitations of the common law. Inconsistencies like this prove that Catherine was trying to use the Enlightenment to enforce her autocratic regime. A large portion of the rest of the Nakaz looks at law, more specifically, parts of the law such as crime, punishment, and trial. In this section Catherine also talks about equal treatment under

1926-454: Is no such passage in the Instruction. Her writings about how the judicial system should be viewed were radical at the time. She believed in the importance of a judge, jury, and witnesses, but claimed that the way police were viewed in society was wrong. Police, in her opinion, were meant to uncover crime, not exact justice, and this issue was looked at more closely in supplements she added to

2033-558: Is primarily credited with the modernization of the country, quickly transforming it into a major European power. His administrative reforms, creating a Governing Senate in 1711, the Collegium in 1717 and the Table of Ranks in 1722 had a lasting impact on Russia, and many institutions of the Russian government trace their origins to his reign. Peter grew up at Izmaylovo Estate and was educated at

2140-412: Is provided by most of the world's national constitutions, but specific implementations of this guarantee vary. For example, while many constitutions guarantee equality regardless of race, only a few mention the right to equality regardless of nationality. The legalist philosopher Guan Zhong (720–645 BC) declared that "the monarch and his subjects no matter how great and small they are complying with

2247-448: Is the principle that all people must be equally protected by the law. The principle requires a systematic rule of law that observes due process to provide equal justice , and requires equal protection ensuring that no individual nor group of individuals be privileged over others by the law. Also called the principle of isonomy , it arises from various philosophical questions concerning equality, fairness and justice. Equality before

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2354-604: Is to move forward and constantly be progressing. She goes on to say that the Christian duty of every worthwhile subject is to aid the nation with whatever skill they possess. The first three chapters of the Nakaz describe the state of the country. The body of the document starts by stating that Russia is a European power, and that the nation owes this to the reforms of Peter the Great . The next chapter specifies Russia's territory as containing 32 degrees of Latitude, and 165 of Longitude on

2461-463: The Amusement Palace from an early age by several tutors commissioned by his father, most notably Nikita Zotov , Patrick Gordon , and Paul Menesius . When his father died in 1676, he left the sovereignty to Peter's elder half-brother, the crippled Feodor III . Throughout this period, the government was largely run by Artamon Matveyev , an enlightened friend of Alexis, the political head of

2568-775: The Azov campaigns to take the fortress, but his attempts ended in failure. Peter returned to Moscow in November 1695 and began building a large navy in Voronezh . He launched about thirty ships against the Ottomans in 1696, capturing Azov in July of that year. He appointed Alexander Gordon , who later would publish a biography on Peter. Peter used to hold all his important meetings and numerous celebrations in Le Fort 's palace. Peter knew that Russia could not face

2675-670: The Moscow Print Yard . In 1707, Tsar Peter I bought a fully equipped printing house in Holland , including staff. Peter replaced the Cyrillic numerals with Arabic numerals (1705–1710) and the Cyrillic font with a civil script (1708–1710). In 1708, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz became an advisor and offered to write new laws for the country. In December Russia was divided into eight governorates ( guberniya ). Matwei Petrowitsch Gagarin

2782-549: The Naryshkin family and one of Peter's greatest childhood benefactors. This position changed when Feodor died in 1682. As Feodor did not leave any children, a dispute arose between the Miloslavsky family ( Maria Miloslavskaya was the first wife of Alexis I) and Naryshkin family ( Natalya Naryshkina was his second wife) over who should inherit the throne. He jointly ruled with his elder half-brother, Ivan V , until 1696. Ivan,

2889-743: The Ottoman and Swedish Empires . Despite initial difficulties, the wars were ultimately successful and led to expansion to the Sea of Azov and the Baltic Sea , thus laying the groundwork for the Imperial Russian Navy . His victory in the Great Northern War ended Sweden's era as a great power and was followed by the proclamation of the Russian Empire . Peter led a cultural revolution that replaced some of

2996-668: The Palace of Saint-Cloud , the Grand Trianon at Versailles, Fontainebleau , Spa he travelled on to Maastricht , at that time one of the most important fortresses in Europe. He went back Amsterdam to attend a Treaty with France and Prussia on 15 August. He achieved a diplomatic success, and his international prestige, consolidated. Again he visited the Hortus Botanicus and left the city early September 1717, heading for Berlin. In October he

3103-777: The Royal Mint four times; it is not clear whether he ever met Isaac Newton , the mint's warden , who introduced milling on the coinage. Peter was impressed by the Great Recoinage of 1696 , according to Massie. At some time he visited Spithead , Plymouth , with captain John Perry to watch a mock battle . In February he attended a Fleet Review in Deptford , and inspected the Woolwich Dockyard and Royal Arsenal with Anthony Deane . For three months he stayed at Sayes Court as

3210-527: The civil script , a reform of Russian orthography largely designed by himself. On the shores of the Neva River, he founded Saint Petersburg , a city famously dubbed by Francesco Algarotti as the "window to the West". In 1714, Peter relocated the capital from Moscow to St. Petersburg, a status it retained until 1918. Peter had a great interest in plants, animals and minerals, in malformed creatures or exceptions to

3317-532: The law of nature for his cabinet of curiosities . He encouraged research of deformities, all along trying to debunk the superstitious fear of monsters . He promoted industrialization in the Russian Empire and higher education. The Russian Academy of Sciences and the Saint Petersburg State University were founded in 1724, and invited Christian Wolff and Willem 's Gravesande . Peter

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3424-640: The 1970s, Ginsburg challenged in Frontiero v. Richardson the laws that gave health service benefits to wives of servicemen, but not to husbands of servicewomen. There are over 150 national constitutions that currently mention equality regardless of gender. Peter the Great Peter I ( [ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪt͡ɕ] ; Russian : Пётр I Алексеевич , romanized :  Pyotr I Alekseyevich ; 9 June [ O.S. 30 May] 1672 – 8 February [ O.S. 28 January] 1725),

3531-762: The Black Sea, which would require expelling the Tatars from the surrounding areas. As part of an agreement with Poland that ceded Kiev to Russia, Peter was forced to wage war against the Crimean Khan and against the Khan's overlord, the Ottoman Sultan. Peter's primary objective became the capture of the Ottoman fortress of Azov , near the Don River . In the summer of 1695 Peter organized

3638-477: The German edition to Frederick II of Prussia and the French one to Voltaire . She wrote to one of her correspondents that for the benefit of my Empire I pillaged President Montesquieu , without naming him in the text. I hope that if he had seen me at work, he would have forgiven this literary theft if only for the good of 20 million people which it may bring about. He loved humanity too much to be offended; his book

3745-561: The Great established the Olonets Shipyard at Lodeynoye Pole , where Russian frigate Shtandart was built. While the Poles fought the Swedes, Peter founded the city of Saint Petersburg on 29 June 1703 on Hare Island . He forbade the building of stone edifices outside Saint Petersburg, which he intended to become Russia's capital, so that all stonemasons could participate in the construction of

3852-488: The Instruction for two years. In 1766, she showed the manuscript to her closest advisors, Nikita Panin and Grigory Orlov , asking them to make changes as they thought necessary. In its final version, the Instruction consists of 22 chapters and 655 articles, which embrace various spheres of state, criminal, and civil law and procedure. More than 400 articles are copied verbatim from the works of Montesquieu , Beccaria , and other contemporary thinkers. In 1767, Catherine sent

3959-471: The Miloslavskys (the clan of Ivan ) and their allies to insist that Peter and Ivan be proclaimed joint tsars, with Ivan being acclaimed as the senior. Sophia then acted as regent during the minority of the sovereigns and exercised all power. For seven years, she ruled as an autocrat. From 1682 to 1689, Peter and his mother were banned to Preobrazhenskoye . At the age of 16, he discovered an English boat on

4066-506: The Nakaz — Observations sur le Nakaz — which opens with a famous contention: "There is no true sovereign except the nation; there can be no true legislator except the people". Catherine's Instruction to the Legislative Commission gave an in-depth description of the state of the nation at the time it was written (1764). Eighteen months in the making, the Nakaz was written with the intention of providing an unambiguous description of

4173-404: The Ottoman Empire alone. In March 1697, he traveled "incognito" to Western Europe on an 18-month journey with a large Russian delegation—the so-called "Grand Embassy" . Peter was the first tsar to leave Russia for more than 100 years. He used a fake name, allowing him to escape social and diplomatic events, but since he was far taller than most others, he could not fool anyone. One goal was to seek

4280-471: The Ottoman Empire. Russia had defeated what was considered to be one of the world's best militaries, and the victory overturned the view that Russia was militarily incompetent. In Poland, Augustus II was restored as King. Peter, overestimating the support he would receive from his Balkan allies, attacked the Ottoman Empire, initiating the Russo-Turkish War of 1710 . Peter's campaign in the Ottoman Empire

4387-539: The Ottoman Sultan. Peter failed to expand the anti-Ottoman alliance. In Riga, the local Swedish commander Erik Dahlbergh decided to pretend that he did not recognize Peter and did not allow him to inspect the fortifications. (Three years later, Peter would cite the inhospitable reception as one of the reasons for starting the Great Northern War). He met Frederick Casimir Kettler , the Duke of Courland. In Königsberg ,

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4494-458: The Russian Church of the opportunity to regain a single spiritual leader. Reducing the number of monasteries, he converted all monasteries with less than 30 monks into schools or churches. He encouraged the development of private entrepreneurship, but under strict state control. He initiated the construction of canals by John Perry and implemented a monetary reform, using the decimal principle as

4601-584: The Russian army along modern lines and dreamed of making Russia a maritime power . He faced much opposition to these policies at home but brutally suppressed rebellions against his authority, including by the Streltsy , Bashkirs , Astrakhan , and the greatest civil uprising of his reign, the Bulavin Rebellion . In his process to westernize Russia, he wanted members of his family to marry other European royalty. In

4708-404: The Russian people as rude, unintelligent, stubborn in their sluggishness, a child, a lazy student. He highly appreciated the state's role in the life of society, saw it as an ideal instrument for achieving high goals, saw it as a universal institution for transforming people, with the help of violence and fear, into educated, conscious, law-abiding and useful to the whole society subjects. Peter had

4815-623: The Senate became a permanent body after his return. A special high official, the Ober-Procurator , served as the link between the ruler and the senate and acted, in Peter own words, as "the sovereign's eye". Without his signature no Senate decision could go into effect; the Senate became one of the most important institutions of Imperial Russia. In 1701, 1705 and 1712, Peter I issued decrees establishing an Engineering School in Sukharev Tower , which

4922-458: The Streltsy, who continually aroused disorder and dissent. Peter, warned by others from the Streltsy, escaped in the middle of the night to the impenetrable monastery of Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra ; there he slowly gathered adherents who perceived he would win the power struggle. Sophia was eventually overthrown, with Peter I and Ivan V continuing to act as co-tsars. Peter forced Sophia to enter

5029-671: The Strong abdicated in 1706. Swedish king Charles XII turned his attention to Russia, invading it in 1708. After crossing into Russia, Charles defeated Peter at Golovchin in July. In the Battle of Lesnaya , Charles suffered his first loss after Peter crushed a group of Swedish reinforcements marching from Riga . Deprived of this aid, Charles was forced to abandon his proposed march on Moscow. Charles XII refused to retreat to Poland or back to Sweden and instead invaded Ukraine . Peter withdrew his army southward, employing scorched earth , destroying along

5136-567: The Strong . Peter's visit was cut short, when he was informed of the second Streltsy uprising in June. The rebellion was easily crushed by General Gordon before Peter returned home early September. Peter nevertheless acted ruthlessly towards the mutineers; 4,600 rebels were sent to prison. Around 1,182 were tortured and executed, and Peter ordered that their bodies be publicly exhibited as a warning to future conspirators. The Streltsy were disbanded, and Peter's half-sister Sophia, who they sought to put on

5243-597: The Tsar visited Delft and received an "eal viewer" from the microscopist Antoni van Leeuwenhoek . After the Peace of Ryswick he was invited by King of England to visit him. The Dutch regents considered the Tsar too inquisitive, and this affected their willingness to help the Russians. On 11 January 1698 ( O.S. ), Peter arrived at Victoria Embankment with four chamberlains, three interpreters ( Peter Shafirov , LeFort), two clock makers,

5350-514: The administration; the ministries were also reduced in number. This provoked fierce reactions. Sophia , one of Alexis' daughters from his first marriage, led a rebellion of the streltsy (Russia's elite military corps) in April–May 1682. In the subsequent conflict, some of Peter's relatives and friends were murdered, including Artamon Matveyev, and Peter witnessed some of these acts of political violence. The streltsy made it possible for Sophia,

5457-436: The aid of European monarchs, but Peter's hopes were dashed. France was a traditional ally of the Ottoman Sultan, and Austria was eager to maintain peace in the east while conducting its own wars in the west. Peter, furthermore, had chosen an inopportune moment: the Europeans at the time were more concerned about the War of the Spanish Succession over who would succeed the childless King Charles II of Spain than about fighting

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5564-416: The assembly of the Legislative Commission until a new code of laws had been finished. She also wrote that she knew her Instruction could not be perfect so she permitted the Legislative Commission to request changes to the document. Equality before the law Equality before the law , also known as equality under the law , equality in the eyes of the law , legal equality , or legal egalitarianism ,

5671-545: The basis of the monetary system (1698-–1704). Peter attracted many foreign specialists and opened an educational institution for surgery , led by Nicolaas Bidloo . In 1701, the Moscow School of Mathematics and Navigation was founded, led by Jacob Bruce ; for fifteen years, naval officers, surveyors, engineers, and gunners were educated there. In 1700, Jan Thesingh (-1701) received a monopoly on printing and importing books, maps and prints into Russia for fifteen years. In 1701 he appointed Fedor Polikarpov-Orlov as head of

5778-444: The course of the Russian Enlightenment . It was in this document that the basic tenets of the French Enlightenment were articulated in Russian for the first time. Catherine's work had little practical value however: the Legislative Commission failed to outline the new code of laws and the Instruction never circulated in Russia outside Moscow and St. Petersburg. Denis Diderot , who visited Russia in 1774, penned an extensive critique of

5885-443: The court apothecary; Johann Daniel Schumacher was appointed secretary and librarian of the Kunstkamera . The country's first scientific library was opened in his palace in the Summer Garden. Peter ordered the development of Aptekarsky Island , headquarters for the Medical Clerical Office and the Main Pharmacy. Gottlieb Schober was commissioned to examine hot springs and discovered rich deposits of sulfur ; Peter immediately set up

5992-505: The cultures of "savage nations", China, Japan, Lacedaemonians (Spartans), Rome, and Spain as examples of how elements such as climate, resources, and general manner of the people affect the development of their individual cultures. The discussion of culture and law is followed by views on punishment and how crime should be measured and how punishment should relate to crime. Catherine states that there are four types of offenses: crimes against religion, crimes against morals, crimes that disturb

6099-420: The end of April 1698 he left after being shown how to make watches, and carpeting coffins. Back in Holland he visited Harderwijk and Cleves. The Embassy next went to Leipzig, Dresden, where he met with the Queen of Poland . Three times he visited the Kunstsammlung , then Königstein Fortress , Prague, Vienna, to pay a visit to Leopold I . At Rava-Ruska , he crossed the border and Peter spoke with Augustus II

6206-428: The estate, had it restored and learned to sail. He received a sextant , but did not know how to use it. Peter was fascinated by sundials . Therefore, he began a search for a foreign expert in the German Quarter . Peter befriended Andrew Vinius , a bibliophile, who taught him Dutch and two Dutch carpenters, Frans Timmerman and Karsten Brandt. Peter studied arithmetic, geometry, and military sciences ( fortification ). He

6313-426: The ethics of the practice. Other areas she covers are marriage, taxes, trade and manufacture, education, the nobility, the middle class, the role of towns in the Russian infrastructure, and the practice of inheritance and will making. Catherine concludes her instruction by stating that this work takes careful reading and that everyone should take the time to try to understand it. She wanted it to be read every month at

6420-399: The existing code of laws as well as Catherine's opinion of them. The rest of the chapters excluding the last two discuss the people of Russia as a whole. Chapters 21 and 22, the supplementary chapters, come after the conclusion and analyze the organization of the police and the state's management of money, respectively. Catherine begins her Instruction by stating that the nature of an empire

6527-399: The existing laws. Though Catherine based her writing heavily on the Enlightenment of Western Europe, she merely utilized some of the broader ideas of the movement, such as equality under the law, to strengthen autocracy. Montesquieu, whose works heavily influenced Catherine, wrote of such things as a divided government (where the power is split between the executive and legislative bodies) and

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6634-399: The fact that Black men in the state could legally vote since the beginning of statehood. Activists in Nebraska extend the motto to other groups, for example, to promote LGBT rights in Nebraska . The fifth demand of the South African Freedom Charter , adopted in 1955, is "All Shall Be Equal Before The Law!" Article 200 of the Criminal Code of Japan , the penalty regarding parricide ,

6741-439: The final document was finished, by which time several more radical proposals were eliminated. Catherine continued to listen to criticism and make changes to her work up until 1767, at which time two supplementary chapters were written. The Instruction is composed of a total of 22 chapters, 655 clauses, an introduction and a conclusion. The first three chapters discuss the current state of the Russian Empire. Chapters 4-10 discuss

6848-412: The forces of Charles XII, rather than employ a slow methodical siege, attacked immediately using a blinding snowstorm to their advantage. After the battle, Charles XII decided to concentrate his forces against the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, which gave Peter time to reorganize the Russian army and conquered Nyenschantz in the Ingrian campaign . Bidloo had to organize a military hospital. Robert Bruce

6955-418: The genius Leibniz . Blumentrost and Areskine accompanied him. In early December Peter arrived in Amsterdam and visited Nicolaas Witsen . He bought the anatomic and herbarium collection of Frederik Ruysch , Levinus Vincent and Albertus Seba . He obtained many paintings among other from Maria Sibylla Merian for his Kunstkamera and Rembrandt's "David and Jonathan" for Peterhof Palace . He paid

7062-439: The globe. In that chapter, Catherine says that an absolute monarchy is necessary to rule over such a vast realm. Continuing to defend autocracy, she states "Another reason is, that it is better to obey the Laws under the direction of one Master, than to be subject to the Wills of many." Her final argument for autocracy is that an absolute government does not deprive people of liberty, but directs them so that they can contribute to

7169-452: The guest of John Evelyn , a member of the Royal Society . He was trained on a telescope at the Greenwich Observatory by John Flamsteed . Peter communicated with Thomas Story and William Penn about their position that believers should not join the military. King William III presented a schooner with a whole crew to Peter I in exchange for the monopoly right of English merchants to trade tobacco in Russia (see Charles Whitworth ). At

7276-557: The law is one of the basic principles of some definitions of liberalism . It is incompatible with legal slavery . Article 7 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) states: "All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law". Thus, it states that everyone must be treated equally under the law regardless of race , gender , color , ethnicity , religion , disability , or other characteristics, without privilege , discrimination or bias . The general guarantee of equality

7383-407: The law was a radical goal, but some later feminist views hold that formal legal equality is not enough to create actual and social equality between women and men. An ideal of formal equality may penalize women for failing to conform to a male norm while an ideal of different treatment may reinforce sexist stereotypes. In Reed v. Reed, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg highlighted the evolving the nature of

7490-518: The law will be the great order". The 431   BC funeral oration of Pericles , recorded in Thucydides 's History of the Peloponnesian War , includes a passage praising the equality among the free male citizens of the Athenian democracy : If we look to the laws, they afford equal justice to all in their private differences; if to social standing, advancement in public life falls to reputation for capacity, class considerations not being allowed to interfere with merit; nor again does poverty bar

7597-399: The law, the nature of law, and what liberty means in an autocratic state. Though she does not explore the issue of serfdom very deeply, many of her more in-depth thoughts were expressed in previous drafts of her Instruction that were edited out. Catherine first states that law should have sanction and should provide equal protection to all. The discussion of equal protection to all brought to

7704-460: The mining and lumber industries. In 1719, the privileges of miners were enshrined in law with the Berg Privilege, which allowed representatives of all classes to search for ores and build metallurgical plants. At the same time, manufacturers and artisans were exempted from state taxes and recruiting , and their houses were exempt from the post of troops. The law also guaranteed the inheritance of

7811-660: The new city. While the city was being built along the Neva he lived in a modest three-room log cabin (with a study but without a fire-place) which had to make room for the first version of the Winter Palace . The first buildings which appeared were a shipyard at the Admiralty , Kronstadt (1704-1706) and the Peter and Paul Fortress (1706). Peter took his whole family on a boat trip to Kronstadt. Following several defeats, Polish King Augustus II

7918-484: The overall society to make it better. Lastly, Catherine describes the power structure of Russia in this first section of the Instruction. First there are the intermediate powers such as local judicatures, and then the Supreme powers which the inferior powers are subject to and dependent on. However, the sovereign is the source of all power, both supreme and civil. Catherine contradicts this notion later by saying that Russia

8025-399: The ownership of factories, proclaimed industrial activity a matter of state importance and protected manufacturers from interference in their affairs by local authorities. The same law established the Collegium of Mining , and managed the entire mining and metallurgical industry , and local administrations. The Demidovs became the first Russian exporters of iron to Western Europe . In 1721,

8132-555: The past, his ancestors had been snubbed at the idea; however, it was proving fruitful. He negotiated with Frederick William, Duke of Courland to marry his niece, Anna Ivanovna . He used the wedding in order to launch his new capital, St Petersburg, where he had already ordered building projects of westernized palaces and buildings. Peter hired Italian and German architects to design it. He attracted Domenico Trezzini , Carlo Bartolomeo Rastrelli , Jean-Baptiste Alexandre Le Blond and Andreas Schlüter . To improve his nation's position on

8239-404: The peace, and crimes that affect the security of the citizens. Here Catherine takes her stance on torture and condemns the practice as a punishment. Due to other arguments made on the issue of crime and punishment, it came to be widely believed that Catherine was of the school of thought that suggested it is better to let ten guilty men go free than to convict a single innocent man. In fact, there

8346-545: The phrase, "We, the People" in the U.S Constitution emphasizing how it has become more inclusive over time. She discussed the progression of women's roles in society, noting that women were fully recognized as citizens and gained the right to vote, which allowed them to be treated equally under the Fourteenth Amendment. Ginsburg's comments focus on the historical and legal advancements regarding gender equality without promoting

8453-499: The possibility of future joint ventures with the Knights, including action against the Turks and the possibility of a future Russian naval base. On 12 September 1698, Peter officially founded the first Russian Navy base, Taganrog on the Sea of Azov . In 1699, Peter changed the date of the celebration of the new year from 1 September to 1 January. Traditionally, the years were reckoned from

8560-908: The power and jurisdiction is reciprocal, no one having more than another; there being nothing more evident, than that creatures of the same species and rank, promiscuously born to all the same advantages of nature, and the use of the same faculties, should also be equal one amongst another without subordination or subjection, unless the lord and master of them all should, by any manifest declaration of his will, set one above another, and confer on him, by an evident and clear appointment, an undoubted right to dominion and sovereignty." In 1774, Alexander Hamilton wrote: "All men have one common original, they participate in one common nature, and consequently have one common right. No reason can be assigned why one man should exercise any power over his fellow creatures more than another, unless they voluntarily vest him with it". In Social Statics , Herbert Spencer defined it as

8667-532: The purported creation of the World , but after Peter's reforms, they were to be counted from the birth of Christ . Thus, in the year 7207 of the old Russian calendar, Peter proclaimed that the Julian Calendar was in effect and the year was 1700. On the death of Lefort in 1699, Menshikov succeeded him as Peter's prime favourite and confidant. In 1700, Peter I prevented the election of a new patriarch and deprived

8774-548: The quarrelsome Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin with which Peter wanted an alliance. He obtained the assistance of the Frederick William I of Prussia who sieged the strong Swedish fortress Wismar . In Altona he met with Danish diplomats, supporting Prussia. He sailed to Copenhagen heading an allied fleet. In Wittenberg he visited the monastery, where Luther lived. In May he went on to Bad Pyrmont , and, because of his physical problems he stayed at this spa. There he met with

8881-473: The same year, Peter also sought to end arranged marriages , which were the norm among the Russian nobility , because he thought such a practice was barbaric and led to domestic violence, since the partners usually resented each other. In 1698, Peter sent a delegation to Malta , under boyar Boris Sheremetev , to observe the training and abilities of the Knights of Malta and their fleet . Sheremetev investigated

8988-720: The seas, Peter sought more maritime outlets. His only outlet at the time was the White Sea at Arkhangelsk . The Baltic Sea was at the time controlled by Sweden in the north, while the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea were controlled by the Ottoman Empire and Safavid Empire respectively in the south. The country's need for metal was exacerbated by the outbreak of wars for access to the Black and Baltic Seas. Peter attempted to acquire control of

9095-522: The southern half of modern Estonia ), driving the Swedes out of Finland . In 1714, the Russian fleet won the Battle of Gangut . During the Great Wrath most of Finland was occupied by Russian forces. In January 1716, Tsar Peter traveled in the Baltic region to discuss peace negotiations and how to protect the sea trade route from the Swedes. He visited Riga, Königsberg and Danzig . There his niece married

9202-412: The sovereign in the name of state interests can go to murder, violence, forgery and deceit. He went through the naval service, starting from the lowest ranks: bombardier (1695), captain (1696), colonel (1706), schout-bij-nacht (1709), vice-admiral (1714), admiral (1721). By hard daily work (according to the figurative expression of Peter the Great himself, he was simultaneously "forced to hold

9309-425: The table the issue of serfdom. Consideration was given to outright condemnation of the practice of serfdom, but Catherine was advised against such radical proposals; consequently in the final document, the discussion of the subject is limited to her criticism and condemnation of physical abuse. The Instruction explores the nature of law, or more specifically, how laws of different cultures come about. Catherine cites

9416-415: The text later. She went so far as to say that being arrested "ought not to be looked upon as a punishment, but rather as the means of preserving the person of the accused in safety, which assure him at the same time of his liberty, provided he is innocent." The final section of the body of the Nakaz is devoted to statistics and theories about the people of Russia. Catherine takes another look at serfdom and

9523-529: The throne, was kept in strictest seclusion at Novodevichy Convent . Peter's visits to the West impressed upon him the notion that European customs were in several respects superior to Russian traditions. He commanded all of his courtiers and officials to wear European clothing (no caftans ) and cut off their long beards, causing Boyars and Old Believers , who were very fond of their beards, great upset. Boyars who sought to retain their beards were required to pay an annual beard tax of one hundred rubles . In

9630-674: The traditionalist and medieval social and political systems with ones that were modern, scientific, Westernized , and based on radical Enlightenment . In December 1699, he introduced the Julian calendar , which replaced the Byzantine calendar that was long used in Russia, but the Russian Orthodox Church was particularly resistant to this change. In 1703, he introduced the first Russian newspaper, Sankt-Peterburgskie Vedomosti , and ordered

9737-513: The tsar engaged many skilled workers such as builders of locks, fortresses, shipwrights, and seamen—including Cornelis Cruys , a vice-admiral who became, under Franz Lefort , the tsar's advisor in maritime affairs; engineer Menno van Coehoorn refused. Peter put his knowledge of shipbuilding to use in helping build Russia's navy. Peter and Witsen visited Frederik Ruysch who had all the specimens exposed in five rooms. He taught Peter how to catch butterflies and how to preserve them. They also had

9844-417: The tsar was apprenticed for two months to an artillery engineer. (Decrees were issued on the construction of the first Ural blast furnace plants.) In July he met Sophia of Hanover at Coppenbrügge castle. She described him: "The tsar is a tall, handsome man, with an attractive face. He has a lively mind is very witty. Only, someone so well endowed by nature could be a little better mannered." Peter rented

9951-571: The tsar was given the opportunity to gain practical experience in shipyard, belonging to the Dutch East India Company , for a period of four months, under the supervision of Gerrit Claesz Pool . The diligent and capable tsar assisted in the construction of an East Indiaman Peter and Paul specially laid down for him. Peter felt that the ship's carpenters in Holland worked too much by eye and lacked accurate construction drawings. During his stay

10058-520: The way anything that could assist the Swedes. Deprived of local supplies, the Swedish army was forced to halt its advance in the winter of 1708–1709. In the summer of 1709, they resumed their efforts to capture Russian-ruled Ukraine , culminating in the Battle of Poltava on 27 June. The battle was a decisive defeat for the Swedish forces, ending Charles' campaign in Ukraine and forcing him south to seek refuge in

10165-644: The way. The Bible says that "You and the foreigner shall be the same before the Lord: The same laws and regulations will apply both to you and to the foreigner residing among you." (Numbers 15:15f) The US state of Nebraska adopted the motto "Equality Before the Law" in 1867. It appears on both the state flag and the state seal . The motto was chosen to symbolize political and civil rights for Black people and women in Nebraska, particularly Nebraska's rejection of slavery and

10272-404: Was Tsar of all Russia from 1682, and the first Emperor of all Russia , known as Peter the Great , from 1721 until his death in 1725. He reigned jointly with his half-brother Ivan V until 1696. From this year, Peter was an absolute monarch , an autocrat who remained the ultimate authority and organized a well-ordered police state . Most of Peter's reign was consumed by long wars against

10379-415: Was appointed commander-in-chief of St. Petersburg. After the defeat at Narva, Peter I gave the order to melt the church bells into cannons and mortars. In 1701, Peter ordered the construction of Novodvinsk Fortress north of Archangelsk. Everybody was convinced they knew: his Majesty will wage war. In the siege of Nöteborg Russian forces captured the Swedish fortress, renamed Shlisselburg . In 1702 Peter

10486-538: Was at the time led by the young King Charles XII . Sweden was also opposed by Denmark–Norway , Saxony , and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . The Preobrazhensky regiment took part in all major battles of the Great Northern War. Russia was ill-prepared to fight the Swedes, and their first attempt at seizing the Baltic coast ended in disaster at the Battle of Narva in 1700. In the conflict,

10593-618: Was declared unconstitutional for violating the equality under the law by the Supreme Court of Japan in 1973. This was a result of the trial of the Tochigi patricide case . Liberalism calls for equality before the law for all persons. Classical liberalism as embraced by libertarians and modern American conservatives opposes pursuing group rights at the expense of individual rights . In his Second Treatise of Government (1689), John Locke wrote: "A state also of equality, wherein all

10700-516: Was disastrous, and in the ensuing Treaty of the Pruth , Peter was forced to return the Black Sea ports he had seized in 1697. In return, the Sultan expelled Charles XII. The Ottomans called him Mad Peter ( Turkish : deli Petro ), for his willingness to sacrifice large numbers of his troops in wartime. Peter's northern armies took the Swedish province of Livonia (the northern half of modern Latvia , and

10807-410: Was instead exercised by his mother. It was only when Natalya died in 1694 that Peter, then aged 22, became an independent sovereign. Formally, Ivan V was a co-ruler with Peter, though being ineffective. Peter became the sole ruler when Ivan died in 1696 without male offspring. Peter grew to be extremely tall, especially for the time period, reportedly standing 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m). He

10914-579: Was my breviary . The extant manuscript of the Instruction was written by Catherine in French. There is also a Russian translation by herself. On 10 August 1767 the Russian and German editions were printed in Moscow . The Latin and French editions followed in 1770. In 1769 Duc de Choiseul had the Instruction officially prohibited in France as a "libertarian book". The Instruction generated much discussion among Russian intellectuals and exerted considerable influence on

11021-468: Was next in line but was weakminded and blind. Consequently, the Boyar Duma (a council of Russian nobles) chose the 10-year-old Peter to become tsar, with his mother as regent . A hole was cut in the back of the throne, so that she, literally behind the scenes, could whisper to the two boys. The "Moscow Grand Discharge" started in 1677 and was completed in 1688; it affected noble families with high ranks in

11128-463: Was not interested in a musical education but liked fireworks and drumming. Peter was not particularly concerned that others ruled in his name; Boris Golitsyn and Fyodor Apraksin played an important role. He engaged in such pastimes as shipbuilding in Pereslavl-Zalessky and sailing at Lake Pleshcheyevo , as well as mock battles with his toy army . Peter's mother sought to force him to adopt

11235-486: Was seen as a "second Goliath " or Samson . Saint-Simon described him in 1717 as "tall, well-formed and slim... with a look both bewildered and fierce". Peter had noticeable facial tics, and he may have suffered from neck spasm . As a young man, Peter I adopted the Protestant model of existence in a pragmatic world of competition and personal success, which largely shaped the philosophy of his reformism . He perceived

11342-441: Was supposed to recruit up to 100 students, but had only 23. Therefore, he issued another decree in 1714 calling for compulsory education , which dictated that all Russian 10- to 15-year-old children of the nobility, government clerks, and lesser-ranked officials must learn basic arithmetic, trigonometry and geometry , and should be tested on the subjects at the end of their studies. Areskine , an iatrochemist , became head of

11449-684: Was the first governor of Siberia. Peter was visited by Cornelis de Bruijn , who spent six years in Russia and made drawings of the Kremlin. In 1711, Peter visited elector August II of Poland in Dresden, Carlsbad and Torgau where his son Aleksei married. In 1713 he visited Hamburg, sieged Tönningen with his allies. He then traveled to Hanover and was a guest of Duke Anton Ulrich of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel in Salzdahlum . From Danzig he sailed to Riga, Helsingfors and Turku . In 1711, Peter established by decree

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