Author
Adam Stanisław Krasiński 1714-1800

He was born on the 4th of April 1714. During the struggle for the Polish crown in 1733 he was among the supporters of Stanisław I Leszczyński. Krasiński was educated, among others, in Rome, and at the Cracow Academy. Thanks to Andrzej Stanisław Załuski’s support, he became a Canon of Płock. In 1752 he obtained the title of the Great Secretary of the Crown. In the following year he became a Canon of Gniezno. In the 1760’s he was one of the leading opponents of Czartoryskis’ ‘Familia’, the reformist camp who tried to implement their plans for reform relying on Russian support. Krasiński came out against their schemes of raising Stanisław August Poniatowski to the Polish throne, supporting instead his contenders from the House of Wettin. When Poniatowski was elected, Krasiński officially recognized that choice but did not desist from actions directed against the new monarch. He even considered overthrowing Poniatowski with Russian help. Such plans, however, did not prevent him from getting involved in the struggle against the increasing Russian domination. He took the lead of the most important body of the anti-Russian Bar Confederation, the so-called ‘Generality’ (General Council of the Confederated Estates) and spared no effort for its benefit in the field of diplomacy, looking for support in various countries including France and Austria. As an opponent of the First Partition of Poland (1772) he restrained his political activity for some time, but was eventually reconciled with the king. He had the reputation of being one of the finest minds of his time and enjoyed high esteem and exerted strong influence in the camp of the advocates of a thorough governmental reform of the Polish Commonwealth. During the Great Sejm (or Four-Year Sejm, 1788-1792) he took the lead of the Deputation for the Form of Government, a body that took up the work on the draft of a constitution. It was then that Krasiński published his List o konieczności sukcesji tronu (1790) and presented Projekt do formy rządu. He played a significant part in the passing of the Constitution of the 3rd of May, 1791. He came out against the Targowica Confederation and supported the Kościuszko Uprising, for which he was victimized severely (for instance, he lost his diocese). Krasiński spent the final years of his life in the lands of the Prussian Partition.

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