Author
Hugo Kołłątaj 1750-1812

He was born in Dederkały Wielkie (Volhynia) on the 1st of April, 1750. He was educated first at a school in Pińczów, then at the Cracow Academy (receiving his Ph. D. in 1768), and later in Vienna and Rome. Having returned to Poland, Kołłątaj became a Canon in Kraków; he also served as a vicar in Pińczów and Krzyżanowice Dolne. He became involved in various undertakings for the benefit of the development of education in Poland. He was an active member of the Society for Elementary Books and Commission of National Education. On behalf of the latter institution he undertook to reform the Cracow Academy. He was also its rector in 1782-1786. Having settled down in Warsaw, he rallied around himself a circle of political activists and publicists (including, for instance, Franciszek Salezy Jezierski and Franciszek Zabłocki), who shared his view that the    Polish Commonwealth needed thorough reforms. That body of people is known as the so-called ‘Kołłątaj’s Forge’. Kołłątaj and his collaborators played a significant part during the Great Sejm, when they formed the left side of the reform camp, propagating Enlightenment ideas and referring to the watchwords of the French Revolution. It was then that Kołłataj published his Listy Anonima, in which he presented his views concerning the desirable form of political transformation of the Polish Commonwealth. These views were partly expressed in the Constitution of the 3rd of May, 1791 - the comprehensive plan for a governmental, political, and social reform of the declining State. During the Polish-Russian war of 1792 Kołłątaj supported King Stanisław II Augustus’ decision to join the Targowica Confederation. During the Kościuszko Uprising he served on the Supreme National Council as the head of its Treasure Department. In 1794 he was arrested by the Austrians and spent several years in prison (until 1802). Following his release, he helped to create the Krzemieniec Lyceum. In 1807-1808 Kołłątaj was detained in Moscow by the Russians. He died in Warsaw on the 28th of February, 1812. Among his major works are the following titles: Listy Anonima (Do Stanisława Małachowskiego, referendarza koronnego. O przyszłym sejmie Anonima listów kilka (1788-1789), Prawo polityczne narodu polskiego (1790), and Porządek filozoficzno-moralny (1810).

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