The position of Spain at the end of the XVII century.

The decline of the productive forces, the disorder of finances and disorder in administration affected the size of the army. In wartime, it numbered no more than 15-20 thousand soldiers, and in peacetime - 8-9 thousand. The Spanish fleet also did not represent any significant force. If in the XVI and in the first half of the XVII century. Spain was a thunderstorm for its neighbors, but by the beginning of the 18th century it had already weakened so much that the question arose of dividing its possessions between France, Austria and England.

Preparations for the War of the Spanish Succession

The last Spanish Habsburg - Charles II (1665-1700) had no offspring. The end of the dynasty expected with his death during the life of Charles caused negotiations between the great powers on the division of the Spanish inheritance - the largest that was previously known in the history of Europe. In addition to Spain itself, it included the Duchy of Milan, Naples, Sardinia and Sicily, the Canary Islands, Cuba, San Domingo (Haiti), Florida, Mexico with Texas and California, Central and South America, with the exception of Brazil, the Philippine and Caroline Islands and others smaller holdings.

The reason for the conflict over Spanish possessions was the dispute over dynastic rights that arose in connection with "Spanish marriages". Louis XIV and Emperor Leopold I were married to the sisters of Charles II and were counting on the transfer of the Spanish crown to their offspring. But behind the disagreements over hereditary rights, the aggressive aspirations of the strongest states of Western Europe were hidden. The real causes of the war were rooted in the contradictions between France, Austria and England. The Russian representative at the Karlovitsky Congress (1699) Voznitsyn wrote that France wants to establish its dominance in Western Europe, and “the maritime powers (England and Holland. - Ed.) And Austria are preparing for war in order to prevent the Frenchman from reaching the Gishpan kingdom, if he has acquired it, he will crush them all.

In the last years of the life of Charles II, French troops were concentrated on the border near the Pyrenees. Charles II and the most influential Spanish grandees feared a break with France. They decided to transfer the crown to the French prince, hoping that France would be able to protect the integrity of the Spanish possessions from other powers. Charles II bequeathed his throne, that is, Spain with all its colonies, to the second grandson of Louis XIV - Duke Philip of Anjou, with the proviso that Spain and France would never unite under the rule of one monarch. In 1700 Charles II died and the Duke of Anjou succeeded to the Spanish throne; in April of the following year he was crowned in Madrid under the name of Philip V (1700-1746). Soon, Louis XIV recognized the right of Philip V to the French throne with a special charter and occupied the border fortresses of the Spanish Netherlands with his troops. The rulers of the Spanish provinces were ordered from Madrid to obey all the orders of the French king, as if they came from the Spanish monarch. Subsequently, trade duties between the two countries were abolished. Intending to undermine the trading power of England, Louis XIV wrote to Philip V in Madrid that the time had come "to exclude England and Holland from trade with the Indies." The privileges of English and Dutch merchants in Spanish possessions were abolished.

To weaken France, the "sea powers" entered into an alliance with Austria, France's main enemy on land. Austria sought to capture the Spanish possessions in Italy and the Netherlands, as well as Alsace. By transferring the Spanish crown to the Austrian pretender to the Spanish throne, Archduke Charles, Emperor Leopold I wanted to create a threat to France from the Spanish border. Prussia also joined the coalition.

Hostilities opened in the spring of 1701. At the very beginning of the war, the English fleet destroyed 17 Spanish and 24 French ships. In 1703, Archduke Charles landed in Portugal with the troops of the allies, which immediately submitted to England and concluded an alliance with her and a trade agreement on the duty-free importation of English goods into Portugal. In 1704, the English fleet bombarded Gibraltar and, having landed troops, captured this fortress. An ally of France, the Duke of Savoy went over to the side of the emperor.

The French offensive in Southwest Germany, which was thus subjected to terrible devastation, was halted by the Anglo-Dutch troops under the command of the Duke of Marlborough. Joining up with the Austrians, they inflicted a severe defeat on the French at Hochstedt. In 1706, the French army suffered a second major defeat at Turin from the Austrians under the command of Prince Eugene of Savoy. The following year, the imperial troops occupied the Duchy of Milan, Parma, and most of the Kingdom of Naples.

Somewhat longer than in Italy, the French held out in the Spanish Netherlands. But in 1706 and 1708. Marlborough inflicted two defeats on them - at Ramilly and at Oudenard - and forced them to clear Flanders. Although the French troops took revenge in the bloody battle near the village of Malplyake (1709), where the allies suffered huge losses, the war was clearly on the side of the latter. The English fleet captured Sardinia and Menorca, in America the British captured Acadia. Archduke Charles landed in Spain and proclaimed himself king in Madrid.

However, in 1711, when Charles also assumed the Austrian throne, the prospect of uniting Austria and Spain under one rule arose, unpleasant for England. In addition, the depletion of financial resources, dissatisfaction with the theft and bribery of Marlborough and other Whigs contributed to their fall and the transfer of power to the Tory party, who were inclined towards peace with France. Without devoting Austria to the cause, the British and Dutch governments entered into secret negotiations with France and Spain. In March 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht was signed, which put an end to France's claims to hegemony in Western Europe. England and Holland agreed to recognize Philip V as King of Spain on the condition that he renounce for himself and his offspring all rights to the French throne. Spain abandoned Lombardy, the Kingdom of Naples, Sardinia in favor of the Austrian Habsburgs, ceded to the Duke of Savoy Sicily, Prussia - Geldern and England - Menorca and Gibraltar.

Agricultural relations

The 18th century found in Spain the complete dominance of feudal relations. The country was agrarian, agricultural products even at the end of the 18th century. significantly (almost five times) exceeded industrial production, and the population employed in agriculture was six times greater than the population associated with industrial production.

About three-quarters of the cultivated land belonged to the nobility and the Catholic Church. The peasants performed a wide variety of feudal duties in favor of both secular and spiritual lords. In addition to direct payments for holding the land, they made laudemia (payment to the lord for the provision of an allotment or when the feudal lease was renewed), kavalgada (ransom for military service), a cash contribution, which was a commutated form of working off in the manor's fields and vineyards, "section fruits” (the right of the lord to 5-25% of the peasant’s harvest), fees for permission to drive cattle over the land of the lord, etc. The lord, in addition, owned a number of banalities. Church requisitions, especially tithes, were also extremely heavy.

The rent was largely paid in kind, since monetary relations were still relatively poorly developed. The price of land, due to the monopoly of the feudal owners on it, remained excessively high, while the rent continuously increased. In the province of Seville, for example, it doubled in the decade from 1770 to 1780.

For these reasons, capitalist agriculture was unprofitable. Spanish economists of the late 18th century. noted that in Spain capital avoids agriculture and seeks employment in other areas.

For feudal Spain of the XVIII century. characterized by a huge army of landless day laborers, who accounted for about half of the entire peasantry. According to the 1797 census, there were 805,000 day laborers per 1,677,000 rural population (including large landowners). This phenomenon stemmed from the peculiarities of Spanish feudal landownership. The vast latifundia, especially in Andalusia and Extremadura, were concentrated in the hands of a few aristocratic families who were not interested in the intensive exploitation of land resources due to the huge size of the holdings, the diverse nature of other sources of income and the unprofitability of commercial agriculture. Large landowners were not even interested in leasing the land. Huge areas of arable land in Castile, Extremadura and Andalusia were turned into pastures by the lords. For their personal needs, they cultivated a small part of the land with the help of hired agricultural workers. As a result, a huge mass of the population, especially in Andalusia, remained without land and without work; day laborers at best worked four or five months of the year, and begged the rest of the time.

But the position of the peasant holders was little better. Only in the form of rent, not counting other feudal requisitions, they gave the lord from one quarter to one half of the crop. Forms of short-term holding that were extremely unfavorable for the peasants prevailed. The most difficult was the position of the peasant holders in Castile and Aragon; the population of Valencia lived somewhat better due to the spread of long-term rentals, as well as more favorable climatic conditions. In a relatively prosperous state were the Basque peasants, among whom there were many small land owners and long-term tenants. There were also strong prosperous farms, which were not in other parts of Spain.

The hopeless position of the Spanish peasantry pushed him to fight against the oppressors-seigneurs. Very common in the 18th century. There was a protest in the form of robbery. The famous robbers, hiding in the gorges of the Sierra Morena and other mountains, took revenge on the lords and helped the poor peasants. They were popular among the peasants and always found refuge and support among them.

A direct consequence of the plight of the Spanish peasants and the extremely severe forms of feudal tenancy was the general low level of agricultural technology. The traditional three-field system prevailed; the ancient irrigation system in most of the districts was abandoned and fell into disrepair. Agricultural implements were extremely primitive. Yields remained low.

State of industry and commerce

Spanish industry in the 18th century handicraft, regulated by guild charters, prevailed. In all provinces there were small workshops that produced haberdashery, leather goods, hats, woolen, silk, and linen fabrics for the local market. In the North, especially in Biscay, iron was mined in an artisanal way. The metalworking industry, located mainly in the Basque provinces and in Catalonia, was also of a primitive character. The largest share of industrial production fell on three provinces - Galicia, Valencia and Catalonia. The latter was the most industrialized of all the regions of Spain.

Spain in the 18th century. there was still no such important factor of capitalist development as the national market.

The marketability of agriculture (excluding sheep breeding) was very low. The sale of agricultural products usually did not go beyond the local market, and there was a very limited demand for manufactured goods: the poor peasantry could not buy them, while the nobility and higher clergy preferred foreign products.

The formation of a national market was also hampered by impassability, countless internal duties and alkabala - a burdensome tax on transactions with movable property.

A sign of the narrowness of the domestic market was also weak money circulation. Money capital at the end of the XVIII century. rarely met. Wealth was represented at that time mainly by lands and houses.

The weakness of internal trade, the absence of a national market reinforced the historical isolation and isolation of individual regions and provinces, which resulted in a catastrophic rise in food prices and famine in some regions of the country in the event of a crop failure, despite the relative prosperity in other regions.

The maritime provinces conducted a rather active foreign trade, but its balance remained sharply passive for Spain, since Spanish goods were for the most part unable to compete on the European market with goods from other countries due to the backwardness of industrial technology and the exceptionally high costs of agricultural production.

In 1789, Spanish exports amounted to only 290 million reais, and imports - 717 million. Spain exported to European countries mainly fine wool, some agricultural products, colonial goods and precious metals. Spain had the most lively trade relations with England and France.

In the second half of the XVIII century. in Spain capitalist industry is growing in the form of mainly scattered manufacture. In the 1990s, the first machines appeared, especially in the cotton industry of Catalonia. The number of workers in some Barcelona enterprises reached 800 people. Throughout Catalonia, more than 80,000 people were employed in the cotton industry. In this regard, in Catalonia in the second half of the XVIII century. the population of cities has increased significantly. In its capital and largest industrial center, Barcelona in 1759, there were 53 thousand inhabitants, and in 1789 - 111 thousand. Around 1780, one Spanish economist noted that “now in Barcelona, ​​having given throughout Catalonia it is difficult to find agricultural workers and domestic servants, even for greatly increased wages, ”explaining this by the emergence of a large number of industrial enterprises.

In 1792, a metallurgical plant was built in Sargadelooi (Asturias) with the first blast furnace in Spain. The development of industry and the needs of military arsenals caused a significant increase in coal mining in Asturias.

Thus, in the last decades of the XVIII century. in Spain there is a certain growth of capitalist industry. This is evidenced by the change in the composition of the population: the censuses of 1787 and 1797. show that during this decade the population employed in industry increased by 83%. At the very end of the century, the number of workers in factories and centralized manufactories alone exceeded 100,000.

The role of the American colonies in the Spanish economy

An important role in the economic life of Spain was played by its American colonies. Taking over in the 16th century vast and rich territories in America, the Spaniards, first of all, tried to turn them into their closed market by numerous prohibitions. Until 1765, all trade with the colonies was conducted through only one Spanish port: until 1717 - through Seville, later - through Cadiz. All ships leaving for and arriving from America were subjected to inspection at this port by agents of the Indian Chamber of Commerce. Trade with America was in fact a monopoly of the richest Spanish merchants, who incredibly inflated prices and made huge profits.

The weak Spanish industry was not able to provide its colonies with even a starvation norm of goods. In the XVII-XVIII centuries. foreign products accounted for between one-half and two-thirds of all goods imported into the Americas on Spanish ships. In addition to the legal trade in foreign goods, the widest smuggling trade took place in the colonies. Around 1740, for example, the English smuggled into America the same amount of goods that the Spaniards themselves brought in legally. Nevertheless, the American market was of the utmost importance for the Spanish bourgeoisie. In the conditions of the extreme narrowness of the domestic market, the American colonies, where Spanish merchants enjoyed special privileges, were a profitable market for the products of Spanish industry. This was one of the reasons for the weakness of the bourgeois opposition.

The colonies were no less important for the Spanish government, which, with a total state income of about 700 million reais, received at the end of the 18th century. from America 150-200 million reais per year in the form of deductions from precious metals mined in the colonies (quinto) and numerous taxes and duties.

The weakness of the Spanish bourgeoisie

Spanish bourgeoisie in the 18th century. were few in number and had no influence. Due to the underdevelopment of capitalism, the most conservative group, the merchant class, prevailed in its ranks, while the industrial bourgeoisie was only just emerging.

The vast majority of the Spanish bourgeoisie, in the conditions of the extremely narrow internal market, served mainly the nobility, clergy, bureaucracy and officers, that is, the privileged strata of feudal society, on which it thus economically depended. Such economic ties also contributed to the political conservatism of the Spanish bourgeoisie. In addition, the bourgeoisie was connected by the common interests of exploiting the colonies with the ruling classes of the feudal-absolutist monarchy, and this also limited its opposition to the existing system.

The conservatism of the Spanish bourgeoisie was also strengthened by the tradition of blind obedience to the authorities, which had been cultivated for centuries by the Catholic Church.

Feudal nobility

The ruling class in Spain was the feudal nobility, which even in early XIX in. retained in their hands more than half of all cultivated land and an even greater percentage of uncultivated land. In fact, it disposed of those 16% of cultivated land that belonged to the church, since high church positions were occupied, as a rule, by people from the nobility.

Land wealth and related feudal requisitions, as well as such additional sources of income as commanding positions in spiritual and knightly orders, court sinecures, etc., were mainly concentrated in the hands of the titled aristocracy. Most of the Spanish nobles, due to the existence of the institution of majorat, did not have land holdings. The poor nobility sought sources of food in the military and public service or in the ranks of the clergy. But a significant part of it remained without a place and eked out a miserable existence.

Spanish absolute monarchy of the 18th century. represented the interests of the richest part of the nobility - large landowners-latifundists, who belonged to the titled aristocracy.

Dominance of the Catholic Church

Along with the nobility, the most important social force that guarded the foundations of the Middle Ages in Spain was the Catholic Church with its huge army of clergy and untold wealth. At the end of the XV11I century. with a total population of 10.5 million people in Spain, there were about 200 thousand black (monastic) and white clergy. In 1797 there were 40 different male monastic orders with 2067 monasteries and 29 female orders with 1122 monasteries. The Spanish Church owned vast landholdings, which brought her more than a billion reais in an annual income.

In economically and culturally backward feudal Spain of the XVIII century. the Catholic Church, as before, dominated in the field of ideology.

Catholicism was the state religion in Spain. Only Catholics could live in the country. Any person who did not perform church rites aroused suspicion of heresy and attracted the attention of the Inquisition. This threatened the loss of not only property and freedom, but also life. When entering the service, attention was paid to the "purity of blood": places in the church apparatus and in the public service were available exclusively to "old Christians", clean from every stain and admixture of the "bad race", i.e. persons who did not count among their ancestors of not a single Moor, Jew, heretic, victim of the Inquisition. When entering military educational institutions and in a number of other cases, it was required to present documentary evidence of the "purity of the race."

The terrible tool of the Catholic Church was the Spanish Inquisition. Reorganized in the fifteenth century, it retained its grand inquisitor, high council, and 16 provincial tribunals until 1808, not counting the special tribunals in America. Only in the first half of the XVIII century. the Inquisition burned over a thousand people, and in total about 10 thousand people were persecuted during this period.

The entire huge church apparatus, from the highest-ranking princes of the church to the last mendicant monk, stood guard over the medieval social order, striving to block access to enlightenment, progress, and free thought. The Catholic clergy controlled the universities and schools, the press and the circuses. Mainly through the fault of the church, Spanish society even by the end of the 18th century. struck foreign travelers with its backwardness. The peasantry was almost entirely illiterate and extremely superstitious. The cultural level of the nobility, bourgeoisie and aristocracy, with rare exceptions, was slightly higher. Even in the middle of the XVIII century. most educated Spaniards rejected the Copernican astronomical system.

bourgeois enlighteners

In the second half of the XVIII century. Spanish Enlighteners opposed the reactionary medieval ideology. They were weaker and acted more timidly than, for example, the French enlighteners. In order to protect themselves from persecution by the Inquisition, Spanish scientists were forced to make public statements that science does not come into contact with religion at all, that religious truths are higher than scientific truths. This gave them the opportunity, more or less calmly, to engage in at least natural science. It was not until the end of the century that science forced the church to retreat in some way. In the 70s, some universities began to expound the doctrine of the rotation of the earth, Newton's laws and other scientific theories.

The progressive people of Spain showed great interest in socio-economic issues. They condemned the brutal exploitation of Negroes and Indians, questioned the privileges of the nobility, discussed the causes of property inequality. It was in economic literature, as well as in fiction, that the formation of the eighteenth century found its expression first of all. ideology of the Spanish bourgeoisie.

The revolutionary consciousness of the Spanish bourgeoisie arose during a period of acute crisis in feudal society. The contrast between the backward economy of Spain and the booming industry of the advanced countries of Europe led the Spanish patriots to study the causes that brought their homeland into such a sad state. In the XVIII century. a significant number of theoretical works on political economy, letters and treatises appeared on the problems of the development of the Spanish national economy, elucidating the causes of its backwardness and ways to overcome this backwardness. Such are the works of Macanas, Ensenada, Campomanes, Floridablanca, Jovellanos and others.

In the second half of the XVIII century. in Spain, Patriotic (or, as they were otherwise called, Economic) societies of friends of the motherland, began to be created, which aimed to promote the progress of industry and agriculture. The first such society arose in the province of Gipuzkoa around 1748.

Members of patriotic societies were characterized by a deep interest in the past and present of their homeland. They traveled around the country in order to better know the state of all its regions, their natural resources; comparing Spain with advanced countries, they emphasized her backwardness and shortcomings in order to focus the attention of their compatriots on them. They fought for the use of their native language in science and university teaching instead of Latin and studied the cultural heritage of the Spanish people, searching for and publishing old texts. The heroic epic about Side first appeared in print in the second half of the 18th century. Members of patriotic societies studied the archives in order to restore the history of their country and educate contemporaries on the example of the best traditions of the past.

Patriotic societies sought from the government legislative measures to encourage the development of industry and agriculture. The most prominent representative of the Spanish Enlightenment, Jovellanos (1744-1811), on behalf of the Madrid Society, compiled his famous Report on the Agrarian Law, which expressed the demands of the rising bourgeoisie.

The creation of patriotic societies was a manifestation of the growth of the class and national consciousness of the Spanish bourgeoisie.

The Spanish educated society showed great interest in the works of the English, French and Italian educators. Despite the fact that the government banned the distribution in Spain of the works of Rousseau, Voltaire, Montesquieu, and the encyclopedists, this literature was widely represented in the libraries of the Patriotic Societies; many Spaniards subscribed to the French "Encyclopedia". By the end of the century, overcoming censorship slingshots, original philosophical works by Spanish authors, written in the spirit of the Enlightenment, began to appear. Such, for example, is Pérez López's New System of Philosophy, or the Fundamental Principles of Nature Underlying Politics and Morality. In the same 1785, when this book was published, the first political magazine appeared in Spain - "Sensor", which, however, was soon banned by censorship.

The progressive ideas of the Spanish bourgeoisie even at the end of the 18th century were of a half-hearted, compromise character. Jovellanos demanded the abolition of the inalienability of land, the abolition of feudal duties and duties that hindered the development of agriculture and hampered trade, the organization of an irrigation system and the creation of communication lines, the dissemination of agricultural knowledge. But his program did not include the transfer of the land of the seigneurs to the peasants. He was against any state intervention in the economic relations of individuals and considered wealth inequality useful.

As the ideologist of the Spanish bourgeoisie, closely connected economically with the nobility, Jovellanos did not dare to encroach on the landed property of the nobles. He was far from the idea of ​​revolution and sought only to eliminate some of the main obstacles to the development of capitalism in Spain through reforms from above. Only towards the end of the century, especially under the influence of the French Revolution, the representatives of the advanced circles of the Spanish bourgeoisie began to discuss the problems of political reforms more widely, but at the same time they, as a rule, remained monarchists.

Administrative and military reforms

By the beginning of the XVIII century. Spain was still a loosely centralized state with significant remnants of medieval fragmentation. The provinces still retained different monetary systems, measures of weight, different laws, customs, taxes, and duties. The centrifugal aspirations of individual provinces were also sharply manifested during the War of the Spanish Succession. Aragon, Valencia and Catalonia took the side of the Austrian Archduke, who promised to keep their ancient privileges. The resistance of Aragon and Valencia was broken, and their statutes and privileges abolished in 1707, but in Catalonia the bitter struggle continued for some time. Only on September 11, 1714, that is, after the conclusion of peace, the Duke of Berwick, commander of the French army in Spain, took Barcelona. After that, the charters of the ancient Catalan fueros were publicly burned by the hand of the executioner, and many leaders of the separatist movement were executed or expelled. In Catalonia, the laws and customs of Castile were introduced, the use of the Catalan language in legal proceedings is prohibited. However, even after that, the complete unity of laws, weights, coins and taxes throughout Spain was not achieved, in particular, the ancient liberties of the Basques were completely preserved.

The process of centralization of state power continued under the sons of Philip V - Ferdinand VI (1746-1759) and Charles III (1759-1788). The royal secretaries of the most important departments (foreign affairs, justice, military, financial, navy and colonies) begin to play a more independent role, gradually turning into ministers, while the medieval councils, with the exception of the Council of Castile, lose their importance. In all the provinces, with the exception of Navarre, which was ruled by a viceroy, and New Castile, the highest civil and military authority was entrusted to captain-generals appointed by the king. At the head of the provincial financial departments, quartermasters were placed, following the French model. The court and police were also reformed.

The expulsion of the Jesuits was also among the measures aimed at strengthening the central government. The reason for this was the unrest in Madrid and other cities at the end of March 1766, caused by the actions of the Minister of Finance and Economy, the Neapolitan Skilacce. The monopoly he imposed on the supply of food to Madrid led to higher prices. The unpopularity of the minister was further increased when he tried to ban the Spaniards from wearing their traditional dress - a wide cloak and a soft hat (sombrero). The masses sacked the palace of Schilacce in Madrid and forced the king to send him out of Spain. A group of prominent figures of “enlightened absolutism”, headed by the Chairman of the Council of Ministers, Count Aranda, took advantage of these unrest, in which the Jesuits were involved, to push through the Council of Castile a decision on the total expulsion of members of this order from Spain and all its colonies. Aranda carried out this decision with great energy. On the same day, the Jesuits were sent into exile from all Spanish possessions, their property was confiscated, and their papers were sealed.

The government of Charles III paid much attention to strengthening the armed forces of Spain. The Prussian system of training was introduced in the army; the recruitment of the army by volunteer mercenaries was replaced by a system of forced recruitment by lot. However, this reform met with strong resistance, and in practice the government often had to resort to recruiting arrested vagrants and criminals, who naturally turned out to be bad soldiers.

The reform of the naval forces also yielded negligible results. The government was unable to revive the Spanish fleet; for this there were not enough people or money.

Government economic policy

The 18th century brought forward a number of statesmen in Spain who sought to carry out the reforms necessary for the country in the spirit of "enlightened absolutism", especially in the spheres of economy and culture. The development of capitalism in industry in the second half of this century caused a particularly vigorous activity of the ministers of Charles III - Aranda, Campomanes and Floridablanca. These ministers carried out a number of economic measures, mainly in the spirit of the teachings of the physiocrats, while relying on the assistance of patriotic societies.

Industry was at the center of their attention, the rise of which they sought to ensure by various measures. To improve the skills of workers, technical schools were created, technical textbooks were compiled and translated from foreign languages, qualified craftsmen were sent from abroad, young Spaniards were sent abroad to study technology. For success in the development of production, the government awarded craftsmen and entrepreneurs with bonuses and provided them with various benefits. Privileges and monopolies of workshops were abolished or limited. Attempts were made to establish protectionist tariffs, which, however, did not give noticeable results due to widespread smuggling. The experience of creating exemplary state-owned manufactories turned out to be not much more successful: most of them soon fell into decay.

In the interests of trade, roads were laid, canals were built, but they were built poorly, and they quickly collapsed. Post office, passenger communication on stagecoaches were organized. In 1782 the National Bank was established.

For the development of trade and industry, the most important reform carried out by Floridablanca in 1778, namely, the establishment of free trade between Spanish ports and American colonies, was of the greatest importance. This led to a significant expansion of the turnover of the Spanish-American trade and contributed to the development of the cotton industry in Catalonia.

Something has been done in the interests of agriculture. The sale of part of the communal and municipal lands, noble estates and some lands belonging to spiritual corporations was allowed. But these measures failed to cause any significant mobilization of landed property due to the resistance of the nobles and the clergy.

To protect the fields from incursions by roaming sheep herds, laws were issued that limited the medieval rights and privileges of the Mesta and allowed peasants to fence arable land and plantations to protect them from damage.

To set an example of rational farming, the government in the 70s organized exemplary agricultural colonies on the wastelands of the Sierra Morena, for which the Germans and the Dutch were involved. Initially, the economy of the colonists developed successfully. However, after a few decades, the colonies fell into decline, mainly due to heavy taxes, but also because of the lack of roads, which prevented the sale of agricultural products.

Ministers who tried to carry out progressive reforms encountered fierce resistance from reactionary forces. Very often, a progressive measure introduced by a minister was followed by a countermeasure imposed by the reactionaries, which limited or canceled its effect. In general, the government was often compelled, under the pressure of reactionary circles, to limit and cancel its own measures.

Foreign policy

In the foreign policy of the first king of the Bourbon dynasty, Philip V, dynastic motives played a decisive role. On the one hand, Philip sought to regain the French crown for himself or his sons (which forced him to look for an ally in England against the French Bourbons and make concessions to the British in America); on the other hand, he tried to return the former Italian possessions to Spain. As a result of a series of wars and diplomatic agreements, Philip's sons Charles and Philip were recognized: the first - the king of both Sicilies (1734), the second - the duke of Parma and Piacenza (1748), but without joining these possessions to Spain. Spain's attempts to expel the British from Gibraltar were also unsuccessful.

Under Ferdinand VI, supporters of the English and French orientation fought for influence, and the advantage remained on the side of the former. The result of this was an unfavorable trade agreement for Spain with England in 1750.

In 1753, relations with the papacy were settled to the advantage of the Spanish monarchy by a special concordat. From now on, the king could influence the appointment of vacant spiritual positions, participate in the disposal of free church property, etc.

Under Charles III, there is a rapprochement with France and a break with England. This turn in the policy of Spain was explained by the fact that the military and economic aggression of England in Spanish America took over from the middle of the 18th century. especially persistent and systematic character. The British smuggling trade in America continued and intensified; they founded trading posts in Spanish Honduras and cut down valuable dye-wood there. At the same time, the British forbade the Spaniards to fish off the coast of Newfoundland, even outside the territorial waters, and from the beginning of the Seven Years' War they began to search and seize Spanish ships on the high seas.

Spain abandoned the policy of neutrality. The so-called family pact (1761) was concluded with France - a defensive and offensive alliance, and Spain joined the Seven Years' War, speaking out in January 1762 against England. But Spain and France were defeated. Under the Treaty of Paris in 1763, Spain ceded Florida and lands to the east and southeast of the Mississippi to England, refused to fish in the waters of Newfoundland and allowed the British to cut down the dye tree in Honduras, although the English trading posts were subject to liquidation. France, in order to save an ally, ceded to Spain the part of Louisiana that remained with her.

Relations between Spain and England continued to be tense after the Peace of Paris. A manifestation of the Spanish-English contradictions were the frequent clashes between Spain and Portugal over the borders of their possessions in South America, which led in 1776-1777. to military action in America. In October 1777, a peace treaty was signed, ending centuries of border disputes. Under this treaty, Spain received the Portuguese colony of Sacramento on La Plata, an important center of English smuggling in the Spanish colonies, which had long been a bone of contention, and retained in its hands the colony of Paraguay, which Portugal claimed.

In 1775, the war of the North American colonies of England for independence began. Some Spanish politicians, such as the Count of Aranda, pointed out the danger that a North American victory would pose to Spanish rule in the Americas. Nevertheless, since 1776, Spain has been secretly helping the Americans with money, weapons and ammunition. But while her ally, France, was increasingly inclined towards open military assistance to the Americans and in 1778 entered the war against England, Spain tried to evade such a decisive step. She made several attempts to mediate between the warring parties, hoping to get Menorca and Gibraltar in return. However, these attempts were rejected by the British, who, moreover, did not stop their attacks on Spanish ships on the high seas. June 23, 1779 Spain declared war on England. Since the main forces of the latter were tied up in America, the Spaniards were able to regain Menorca and Florida and drive the British out of Honduras and the Bahamas. Under the Treaty of Versailles in 1783, Florida and Menorca were left to Spain, the rights of the British in Honduras were limited, but the Bahamas were returned to England.

General results of the foreign policy of Spain in the XVIII century. testified to some growth of its international significance, but due to its economic and political backwardness, it could play only a secondary role in international politics.

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Belgorod 2008

1. Socio-economic development of the country

By the middle of the 17th century, the devastation and ruin of the Time of Troubles had been overcome. The economy recovered slowly in the conditions of preservation of traditional forms of farming (poor productivity of the peasant economy with its primitive equipment and technology; sharply continental climate; low soil fertility in the Non-Black Earth region).

In the second half of the 17th century, agriculture remained the leading branch of the Russian economy. Progress in this sphere of material production at that time was associated with the widespread use of three-field cultivation and the use of natural fertilizers. Bread gradually became the main commercial product of agriculture. By the middle of the century, the Russian people with hard work overcame the devastation caused by foreign invasions. The peasants repopulated the abandoned villages, plowed the wastelands, acquired livestock and agricultural implements. As a result of Russian peasant colonization, new areas were developed: in the south of the country, in the Volga region, Bashkiria, and Siberia. In all these places, new centers of agricultural culture arose. But the overall level of agricultural development was low. In agriculture, such primitive tools as plows and harrows continued to be used. In the forest regions of the North, the undercut still existed, and in the steppe zone of the South and the Middle Volga region, there was a fallow.

The basis for the development of animal husbandry was the peasant economy. Cattle breeding especially developed in Pomorye, in the Yaroslavl region, in the southern counties. Noble land ownership grew rapidly as a result of numerous government grants of estates and estates to nobles. By the end of the 17th century, patrimonial noble land ownership began to exceed the previously dominant land ownership. The center of an estate or patrimony was a village or village. Usually in the village there were about 15-30 peasant households. But there were villages with two or three courtyards. The village differed from the village not only in its large size, but also in the presence of a church with a bell tower. It was the center for all the villages included in his church parish. Subsistence farming predominated in agricultural production. Small-scale production in agriculture was combined with domestic peasant industry and small-scale urban handicrafts. Trade in agricultural products also increased markedly, which was associated with the development of fertile lands in the south and east, the emergence of a number of fishing areas that did not produce their own bread, and the growth of cities. A new and very important phenomenon in agriculture was its connection with industrial enterprise. Many peasants in their free time from field work, mainly in autumn and winter, were engaged in handicrafts: they made linens, shoes, clothes, dishes, agricultural implements, etc. Some of these products were used in the peasant economy itself or given as quitrent to the landowner, the other was sold at the nearest market. The feudal lords increasingly established contact with the market, where they sold the products and handicrafts received by dues. Not satisfied with dues, they expanded their own plowing and set up their own production of products. Preserving a largely natural character, the agriculture of the feudal lords was already largely connected with the market. The production of foodstuffs for the supply of cities and a number of industrial regions that did not produce bread grew. The southern districts of the state turned into grain-producing regions, from where bread came to the Don Cossacks region and to the central regions (especially to Moscow). The counties of the Volga region also gave an excess of bread. The main way for the development of agriculture of this time was extensive: landowners included an increasing number of new territories in the economic circulation.

Among all classes and estates, the dominant place, of course, belonged to the feudal lords. In their interests, the state power carried out measures to strengthen the ownership of the land by the boyars and nobles and the peasants, to unite the strata of the feudal class. Service people took shape in a complex and clear hierarchy of ranks, obliged to the state by service in the military, civil, court departments in exchange for the right to own land and peasants. They were divided into Duma ranks (boyars, okolnichie, Duma nobles and Duma clerks), Moscow (stewards, solicitors, Moscow nobles and residents) and city ranks (elected nobles, nobles and children of boyars yards, nobles and children of boyars city). By merit, service and nobility of origin, the feudal lords passed from one rank to another. The nobility turned into a closed class - an estate.

The authorities strictly and consistently sought to keep their estates and estates in the hands of the nobles. The demands of the nobility and the measures of the authorities led to the fact that by the end of the 17th century the difference between the estate and the estate was reduced to a minimum. Throughout the century, the government, on the one hand, handed out vast tracts of land to the feudal lords; on the other hand, part of the possessions, more or less significant, was transferred from the estate to the estate. Large land holdings with peasants belonged to spiritual feudal lords. In the 17th century, the authorities continued the course of their predecessors to limit church land ownership. The Code of 1649, for example, prohibited the clergy from acquiring new lands. The privileges of the church in matters of court and administration were limited. Unlike the feudal lords, especially the nobility, the situation of peasants and serfs in the 17th century deteriorated significantly. Of the privately owned peasants, the palace peasants lived better, the worst of all - the peasants of the secular feudal lords, especially the small ones. The peasants worked for the benefit of the feudal lords on corvée and paid tribute in kind and money. Nobles and boyars took carpenters and masons, brickmakers and other masters from their villages and villages. Peasants worked at the first factories and factories that belonged to feudal lords or the treasury, made cloth and canvas at home, and so on. Serfs, in addition to work and payments in favor of the feudal lords, carried duties in favor of the treasury. In general, their taxation, duties were heavier than those of the palace and black-mowed. The situation of the peasants dependent on the feudal lords was aggravated by the fact that the trial and reprisals of the boyars and their clerks were accompanied by overt violence, bullying, and humiliation of human dignity. After 1649, the search for fugitive peasants assumed wide dimensions. Thousands of them were seized and returned to their owners. In order to live, the peasants went to waste, to "farm laborers", to work. The impoverished peasants passed into the category of beans. Feudal lords, especially large ones, had many slaves, sometimes several hundred people. These are clerks and servants for parcels, grooms and tailors, watchmen and shoemakers, falconers, etc. By the end of the century, serfdom merged with the peasantry. Life was better for the state, or black-mowed, peasants. They depended on the feudal state: taxes were paid in its favor, they carried various duties. Despite the modest share of merchants and artisans in the total population of Russia, they played a very significant role in its economic life. Moscow was the leading center of handicraft, industrial production, trade operations. Here in the 1940s, masters of metalworking, fur making, the manufacture of various food, leather and leather products, clothes and hats, and much more - everything that a large populous city needed. A significant part of the artisans worked for the state, the treasury. Part of the artisans served the needs of the palace (palace) and the feudal lords living in Moscow and other cities (patrimonial artisans). Simple capitalist cooperation also appeared, hired labor was used. Poor townspeople and peasants went as mercenaries to the wealthy blacksmiths, boilermakers, bakers and others. The same thing happened in transport, river and horse-drawn. The development of handicraft production, its professional, territorial specialization, revitalizes the economic life of cities, trade relations between them and their districts. It is to the XVII century. the beginning of the concentration of local markets, the formation of the all-Russian market on their basis. Guests and other wealthy merchants appeared with their goods in all parts of the country and abroad. Wealthy merchants, artisans, industrialists ran everything in the township communities. They shifted the main burden of fees and duties to small artisans and merchants.

In industry, unlike agriculture, things were much better. The most widespread domestic industry; throughout the country, peasants produced canvases and homespun cloth, ropes and ropes, felted and leather shoes, various clothes and utensils, and much more. Gradually peasant industry is transformed into petty commodity production. Among the artisans, the most numerous group was made up of draft workers - artisans of urban settlements and black-moss volosts. They carried out private orders or worked for the market. Palace artisans served the needs of the royal court; state and notebook worked on orders from the treasury; privately owned - from peasants, beavers and serfs - produced everything necessary for the landlords and estate owners. Metalworking, which has long existed in the country, was based on the extraction of swamp ores. The centers of metallurgy were formed in the counties south of Moscow: Serpukhov, Kashirsky, Tula, Dedilovsky, Aleksinsky. Another center is the districts to the north-west of Moscow: Ustyuzhna Zheleznopolskaya, Tikhvin, Zaonezhie. Moscow was a major metalworking center - in the early 1940s there were more than one and a half hundred forges here. The best gold and silver craftsmen in Russia worked in the capital. Ustyug the Great, Nizhny Novgorod, Veliky Novgorod, Tikhvin and others were also centers of silver production. Copper and other non-ferrous metals were processed in Moscow and Pomorye. Metalworking is to a large extent converted into commodity production, and not only in the towns, but also in the countryside. Blacksmithing reveals tendencies towards the enlargement of production, the use of hired labor. This is especially true for Tula, Ustyuzhna, Tikhvin, Veliky Ustyug.

Similar phenomena, although to a lesser extent, are observed in woodworking. Throughout the country, carpenters worked mainly to order - they built houses, river and sea vessels. Carpenters from Pomorye were distinguished by special skill. The largest center of the leather industry was Yaroslavl, where raw materials for the manufacture of leather products were supplied from many districts of the country. A large number of small "factories" - craft workshops - worked here. The leather was processed by craftsmen from Kaluga and Nizhny Novgorod. Yaroslavl tanners used hired labor; some factories grew into manufactory-type enterprises with a significant division of labor. With all its development, handicraft production could no longer satisfy the demand for industrial products. This leads to the emergence in the 17th century of manufactories - enterprises based on the division of labor between workers. If in Western Europe manufactories were capitalist enterprises, served by the labor of hired workers, then in Russia, under the dominance of the feudal serf system, the emerging manufacturing production was largely based on serf labor. Most of the manufactories belonged to the treasury, the royal court and large boyars. Palace manufactories were created to produce fabrics for the royal court. One of the first palace linen manufactories was the Khamovny yard, located in the palace settlements near Moscow. State-owned manufactories, which arose as early as the 15th century, as a rule, were founded to produce various kinds weapons. The state-owned manufactories were the Cannon Yard, the Armory, the Money Yard, the Jewelery Yard and other enterprises. The population of Moscow state and palace settlements worked at state and palace manufactories. Workers, although they received a salary, were feudally dependent people, did not have the right to quit their jobs. The patrimonial manufactories had the most pronounced serf character. Iron-making, potash, leather, linen and other manufactories were created in the estates of the boyars Morozov, Miloslavsky, Stroganov and others. Here, almost exclusively forced labor of serfs was used. Wage labor was used in merchant manufactories. In Ustyuzhna, Tula, Tikhvin, Ustyug the Great, some wealthy merchants began to establish metalworking enterprises. In the 90s of the 17th century, the wealthy Tula blacksmith-artisan Nikita Antufiev opened an iron-smelting plant. Some manufactories and crafts were founded by wealthy peasants, for example, the Volga salt mines, leather, ceramic and textile manufactories. In addition to merchant manufactories, hired labor is also used in brick production, in construction, in the fishing and salt industries. Among the workers there were many quitrent peasants who, although personally not free people, sold their labor power to the owners of the means of production.

The growth of productive forces in agriculture and industry, the deepening of the social division of labor and territorial production specialization led to a steady expansion of trade ties. At the end of the 17th century, trade relations already exist on a national scale. In the North, in need of imported bread, there are grain markets, the main of which was Vologda. Novgorod remained a trading center in the northwestern part of the state - a large market for the sale of linen and hemp products. Important markets for livestock products were Kazan, Vologda, Yaroslavl, markets for furs - some cities in the northern part of Russia: Solvychegodsk, Irbit, etc. Tula, Tikhvin and other cities became the largest producers of metal products. The main trading center throughout Russia was still Moscow, where trade routes converged from all over the country and from abroad. Silks, furs, metal and woolen products, wines, bacon, bread and other domestic and foreign goods were sold in 120 specialized rows of the Moscow market. Fairs acquired all-Russian significance - Makarievskaya, Arkhangelsk, Irbitskaya. The Volga connected many Russian cities with economic ties. The dominant position in trade was occupied by townspeople. In trade, specialization was poorly developed, capital circulated slowly, and there were no free funds and credit. In Russia, the demand for industrial products increased, and the development of agriculture and handicrafts made it possible for stable exports. Therefore, trade was conducted with the countries of the East, through Astrakhan. Silks, various fabrics, spices, luxury items were imported, furs, leather, handicrafts were exported. Russian merchants suffered losses as a result of Western competition, especially if the government granted European merchants the right to duty-free trade. Therefore, in 1667, the government adopted the Novotragovy Charter, according to which retail trade by foreigners in Russian cities was prohibited, duty-free wholesale trade was allowed only in border cities, and in inner Russia foreign goods were subject to very high duties, often in the amount of 100% of the cost.

The development of the country's economy was accompanied by major social movements. The 17th century is not accidentally called the “rebellious century”. It was during this period that two peasant “disturbances” took place (the Bolotnikov uprising and the peasant war led by S. Razin), as well as the Solovetsky rebellion and two streltsy uprisings in the last quarter of the 17th century. The history of urban uprisings opens with the "Salt Riot" in 1648 in Moscow. Various segments of the population of the capital took part in it: townspeople, archers, nobles, dissatisfied with the policy of B.I., Morozov (1590-1611), who headed the Russian government. A decree of 7 February 1646 imposed a heavy tax on salt. And salt was the product that people in the 17th century could not get away from. In 1646-1648, salt prices increased 3-4 times. The people began to starve. Everyone was dissatisfied. Expensive salt sold less than the previous treasury suffered significant losses. In 1647 the salt tax was rejected, but it was too late. The reason for the speech was the defeat of the delegation of Muscovites by the archers, who were trying to sell the petition to the tsar at the mercy of the clerks. The uprising began on June 1 and lasted several days. The people smashed the courts of the Moscow boyars and nobles, clerks and wealthy merchants, demanding to extradite the hated officials Pleshcheev, who was in charge of the administration of the capital and the head of the government, boyar Morozov. The Duma clerk Nazariy Chistoy was killed, Leonty Pleshcheev and others were given to be torn to pieces by the crowd. The tsar managed to save only Morozov, urgently sending him into exile at the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery. The Moscow "salt riot" responded with uprisings of 1648-1650 in other cities as well. The most stubborn and prolonged uprisings in 1650 were in Pskov and Novgorod. They were caused by a sharp increase in the price of bread. To stabilize the situation, the authorities convened a Zemsky Sobor, which agreed to prepare a new Code.

On July 25, 1662, the “Copper Bund” took place in Moscow, caused by the protracted Russian-Polish war financial crisis of the Monetary Reform (minting depreciated copper money), led to a sharp drop in the ruble. As a result, the appearance of counterfeit money on the market. At the beginning of 1663, copper money was abolished, frankly motivating this measure with the desire to prevent new bloodshed. As a result of the brutal massacre, several hundred people died, and 18 were publicly hanged.

In 1667, an uprising of Cossacks led by Stepan Razin broke out on the Don.

The introduction of a new code of laws, the "Council Code" of 1649, a cruel investigation of the fugitives, and an increase in taxes for the war aggravated the already tense situation in the state. The wars with Poland and Sweden ruined the bulk of the working strata of the population. In the same years, crop failures, epidemics occurred more than once, the situation of archers, gunners, etc. worsened. Many fled to the outskirts, especially to the Don. In the Cossack regions, it has long been the custom not to extradite fugitives. The bulk of the Cossacks, especially the fugitives, lived poorly, meagerly. The Cossacks were not engaged in agriculture. The salary received from Moscow was not enough. By the mid-1960s, the situation on the Don had deteriorated to the extreme. A large number of fugitives have accumulated here. Hunger has begun. The Cossacks sent an embassy to Moscow with a request to accept them into the royal service, but they were refused. By 1667, the Cossack uprisings had turned into a well-organized movement under the leadership of Razin. A large army of rebels was defeated in 1670 near Simbirsk. At the beginning of 1671, the main centers of the movement were suppressed by the punitive detachments of the authorities.

The social crisis was accompanied by an ideological crisis. An example of the development of a religious struggle into a social one is the "Solovki uprising" (1668-1676). It began with the fact that the brothers of the Solovetsky Monastery flatly refused to accept the corrected liturgical books. The government decided to tame some of the monks by blockading the monastery and confiscating its land holdings. High thick walls, rich food supplies extended the siege of the monastery for several years. Razintsy exiled to Solovki also joined the ranks of the rebels. Only as a result of betrayal, the monastery was captured, out of 500 of its protective 60 remained alive.

Thus, during the seventeenth century, great changes took place in history. They touched all aspects of life. By this time the area Russian state significantly expanded, the population is growing. The feudal-serf system also developed further, with a significant strengthening of feudal land ownership. The ruling class in the 17th century was the feudal landowners, secular and ecclesiastical landowners and estate owners. The development of trade is also of particular importance. In Russia, several large shopping centers were formed, among which Moscow stood out with its huge bargaining. Meanwhile, in the same years, uprisings broke out in the country every now and then, in particular, the rather powerful Moscow uprising of 1662. The largest uprising was the uprising of Stepan Razin, who in 1667 led the peasants to the Volga. On the economic situation Russia was adversely affected by the fact that the country actually did not have free access to the sea, so it continued to lag behind the main Western European countries.

The economic prerequisites for the reforms of the early 18th century were created by the entire course of Russia's development in the 17th century. - the growth of production and the expansion of the range of agricultural products, the success of the craft, the emergence of manufactories, the development of trade and the growth of the economic role of the merchants.

2. Top coups and favoritism in the political life of Russia

The 37-year period of political instability (1725-1762) that followed the death of Peter I was called the “era of palace coups”. During this period, the policy of the state was determined by separate groups of the palace nobility, which actively intervened in resolving the issue of the heir to the throne, fought among themselves for power, thus carrying out palace coups. Also, the decisive force in the palace coups was the guard, a privileged part of the regular army created by Peter (these are the famous Semenovsky and Preobrazhensky regiments, in the 30s two new ones, Izmailovsky and Horse Guards, were added to them). Her participation decided the outcome of the case: on whose side the guard, that group won. The guard was not only a privileged part of the Russian army, it was a representative of the whole class (nobles), from whose midst it was almost exclusively formed and whose interests it represented. The reason for the intervention of individual factions of the palace nobility in political life The country was served by the Charter “on the succession to the throne” issued by Peter I on February 5, 1722, which abolished “both orders of succession to the throne that were in force before, both the will and the conciliar election, replacing both with a personal appointment, the discretion of the reigning sovereign.” Peter I himself did not use this charter. He died on January 28, 1725, without appointing himself a successor. Therefore, immediately after his death, a struggle for power began between representatives of the ruling elite. Also, palace coups testified to the weakness of absolute power under the successors of Peter I, who could not continue the reforms with energy and in the spirit of the initiator and who could govern the state only relying on their close associates. Favoritism flourished during this period. Favorites-temporary workers received unlimited influence on the policy of the state.

The only heir of Peter I in the male line was his grandson - the son of the executed Tsarevich Alexei Peter. Around the grandson were grouped mainly representatives of the well-born feudal aristocracy, now a few boyar families. Among them, the leading role was played by the Golitsyns and Dolgoruky, and some associates of Peter I (Field Marshal Prince B.P. Sheremetev, Field Marshal Nikita Repnin, and others) joined them. But the wife of Peter I, Catherine, claimed the throne. The heirs were also two daughters of Peter - Anna (married to the Holstein prince) and Elizabeth - by that time still a minor. The ambiguity of the general situation contributed a lot to the decree of February 5, 1722, which abolished the old rules of succession to the throne and approved the personal will of the testator into law. The figures of the Petrine era, who were always at war with each other, rallied for a while around the candidacy of Catherine. They were: A.D. Menshikov, P.I. Yaguzhinsky, P.A. Tolstoy, A.V. Makarov, F. Prokopovich, I.I. Buturlin and others. The issue of a successor was resolved by the quick actions of A. Menshikov, who, relying on the guards, carried out the first palace coup in favor of Catherine I (1725-1727) and became an all-powerful temporary worker under her.

In 1727 Catherine I died. The throne, according to her will, passed to the 12-year-old Peter II (1727-1730). Affairs in the state continued to decide the Supreme Privy Council. However, there were rearrangements in it: Menshikov was removed and exiled with his family to the distant West Siberian city of Berezov, and the tutor of Tsarevich Osterman and two princes Dolgoruky and Golitsyn entered the Council. The favorite of Peter II was Ivan Dolgoruky, who had a huge influence on the young emperor.

In January 1730, Peter II dies of smallpox, and the question of a candidate for the throne again arises. The Supreme Privy Council, at the suggestion of D. Golitsyn, chose the niece of Peter I, the daughter of his brother Ivan, the Dowager Duchess of Courland Anna Ioannovna (1730-1740), but limited her power. The throne was offered to Anna by the "supervisors" on certain conditions - conditions, according to which the empress actually became a powerless puppet. The reign of Anna Ioannovna (1730-1740) is usually assessed as a kind of timelessness; the empress herself is characterized as a narrow-minded, uneducated, little interested in state affairs woman who did not trust the Russians, and therefore brought a bunch of foreigners from Mitava and from various "German corners". “The Germans poured into Russia, like rubbish from a holey bag - they stuck around the courtyard, sat down on the throne, climbed into all the profitable places in management,” Klyuchevsky wrote. The guards, protesting against the conditions, demanded that Anna Ioannovna remain the same autocrat as her ancestors. Upon arrival in Moscow, Anna was already aware of the mood of wide circles of the nobility and guards. Therefore, on February 25, 1730, she broke the conditions and "became sovereign." Having become an autocrat, Anna Ioannovna hastened to find support for herself, mainly among foreigners who occupied the highest posts at the court, in the army and in the highest government. A number of Russian surnames also fell into the circle of persons devoted to Anna: relatives of the Saltykovs, P. Yaguzhinsky, A. Cherkassky, A. Volynsky, A. Ushakov. Mittava's favorite of Anna Biron became the de facto ruler of the country. In the system of power that developed under Anna Ioannovna, without Biron, her confidant, a rude and vindictive temporary worker, not a single important decision was made at all.

According to the will of Anna Ioannovna, her great-nephew, Ivan Antonovich of Braunschweig, was appointed her heir. Biron was appointed regent under him. Against the hated Biron, a palace coup was carried out just a few weeks later. The ruler under the minor Ivan Antonovich was proclaimed his mother Anna Leopoldovna. However, there were no changes in policy, all positions continued to remain in the hands of the Germans. On the night of November 25, 1741, the grenadier company of the Preobrazhensky Regiment carried out a palace coup in favor of Elizabeth, the daughter of Peter I (1741-1761). Under Elizabeth, there were no cardinal changes in the composition of the ruling elite of the state apparatus - only the most odious figures were removed. So, Elizabeth appointed A.P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin, who at one time was Biron's right hand and creature. Among the highest Elizabethan dignitaries were also brother A.P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin and N.Yu. Trubetskoy, who by 1740 was the Prosecutor General of the Senate. The observed certain continuity of the highest circle of people who actually exercised control over the key issues of foreign and domestic policy testified to the continuity of this policy itself. Despite the similarity of this coup with similar palace coups in Russia in the 18th century. (apical character, strike force guard), he had a number distinctive features. The striking force of the coup on November 25 was not just the guards, but the lower guards - people from the taxable estates, expressing the patriotic sentiments of the broad sections of the capital's population. The coup had a pronounced anti-German, patriotic character. Wide sections of Russian society, condemning the favoritism of the German temporary workers, turned their sympathies towards Peter's daughter, the Russian heiress. A feature of the palace coup on November 25 was the fact that the Franco-Swedish diplomacy tried to actively interfere in the internal affairs of Russia and, for offering help to Elizabeth in the struggle for the throne, to obtain from her certain political and territorial concessions, which meant a voluntary rejection of the conquests of Peter I.

Elizabeth Petrovna's successor was her nephew Karl-Peter-Ulrich - Duke of Holstein - the son of Elizabeth Petrovna's older sister - Anna, and therefore on the mother's side - the grandson of Peter I. He ascended the throne under the name of Peter III (1761-1762) February 18, 1762 The Manifesto was published on the award of "liberty and freedom to the entire Russian noble nobility", i.e. for exemption from compulsory service. The "Manifesto", which removed the age-old duty from the class, was received with enthusiasm by the nobility. Peter III issued Decrees on the abolition of the Secret Chancellery, on the permission to return to Russia to schismatics who had fled abroad with a prohibition to prosecute for a split. However, soon the policy of Peter III aroused discontent in society, restored the metropolitan society against him. The refusal of Peter III from all conquests during the victorious Seven Years' War with Prussia (1755-1762), which was waged by Elizaveta Petrovna, caused particular dissatisfaction among the officers. A conspiracy to overthrow Peter III matured in the guard. As a result of the latter in the XVIII century. The palace coup, carried out on June 28, 1762, the wife of Peter III, who became Empress Catherine II (1762-1796), was elevated to the Russian throne.

Thus, the palace coups did not entail changes in the political, and even more so the social system of society, and were reduced to the struggle for power of various noble groups pursuing their own, most often selfish interests. At the same time, the specific policy of each of the six monarchs had its own characteristics, sometimes important for the country. In general, socio-economic stabilization and foreign policy successes achieved during the reign of Elizabeth created the conditions for more accelerated development and new breakthroughs in foreign policy that would occur under Catherine II. Historians see the reasons for the palace coups in the decree of Peter I "on changing the order of succession to the throne", in the clash of corporate interests of various groups of the nobility. With a light hand, V.O. Klyuchevsky, many historians estimated the 1720s - 1750s. as a time of weakening of Russian absolutism. N.Ya. Eidelman generally considered palace coups as a kind of reaction of the nobility to a sharp increase in the independence of the state under Peter I and as historical experience showed, he writes, referring to the "unbridled" absolutism of Peter the Great, that such a huge concentration of power is dangerous both for its holder and for the ruling class itself." V.O. Klyuchevsky also associated the onset of political instability after the death of Peter I with the "autocracy" of the latter, who, in particular, decided to break the traditional order of succession to the throne (when the throne passed in a straight male descending line) - by the charter of February 5, 1722, the autocrat was granted the right, to appoint his own successor of his own free will. “Rarely did autocracy punish itself so cruelly as in the person of Peter with this law on February 5,” Klyuchevsky concluded. Peter I did not have time to appoint an heir to himself, the throne, according to Klyuchevsky, turned out to be given "to chance and became his toy": it was not the law that determined who should sit on the throne, but the guard, which at that time was "the dominant force." Thus, the reasons that caused this era of upheavals and temporary workers were rooted, on the one hand, in the state of the royal family, and on the other hand, in the characteristics of the environment that managed affairs.

3. Catherine II

Catherine II was born on April 21, 1729 in the German seaside town of Stettin, died on November 6, 1796 in Tsarskoye Selo (Pushkin). Born Sophia Frederick Augusta of Anhalt-Zerbst, she came from a poor German princely family. Catherine II was a rather complex and certainly outstanding personality. On the one hand, she is a pleasant and loving woman, on the other, a major statesman. From early childhood, she learned a worldly lesson - to cheat and pretend. In 1745, Catherine II adopted the Orthodox faith and was married to the heir to the Russian throne, the future Peter III. Once in Russia as a fifteen-year-old girl, she asked herself two more lessons - to master the Russian language, customs and learn to please. But with all her abilities, the Grand Duchess had a hard time adapting: there were attacks from the Empress (Elizaveta Petrovna) and neglect from her husband (Pyotr Fedorovich). Her pride suffered. Then Catherine turned to literature. Possessing remarkable abilities, will and diligence, she studied the Russian language, read a lot, and acquired extensive knowledge. She read a lot of books: French enlighteners, ancient authors, special works on history and philosophy, works of Russian writers. As a result, Catherine learned the ideas of the enlighteners about the public good as the highest goal. statesman, about the need to educate and educate subjects, about the supremacy of laws in society. In 1754, Catherine had a son (Pavel Petrovich), the future heir to the Russian throne. But the child was taken from the mother to the apartments of the empress. In December 1761, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna died. Peter III came to the throne. Catherine II was distinguished by her great capacity for work, willpower, determination, courage, cunning, hypocrisy, unlimited ambition and vanity, in general, all the features that characterize a “strong woman”. She could suppress her emotions in favor of developed rationalism. She had a special talent - to win the general sympathy. Catherine slowly but surely advanced to the Russian throne, and, as a result, took away power from her husband. Soon after the accession of Peter III, unpopular among the tribal nobility, relying on the guards regiments, she overthrew him.

On June 28, 1762, a manifesto was drawn up on behalf of Catherine, speaking about the reasons for the coup, about the emerging threat to the integrity of the fatherland. 06/29/1762 Peter III signed a manifesto about his abdication. Not only the regiments of the guard, but also the Senate and the Synod readily swore allegiance to the new empress. However, among the opponents of Peter III were influential people who considered it more fair to enthrone the young Paul, and Catherine to allow her son to rule until the age of majority. At the same time, it was proposed to create an Imperial Council that would limit the power of the Empress. This was not included in Catherine's plans. In order to force everyone to recognize the legitimacy of her power, she decided to be crowned in Moscow as soon as possible. The ceremony took place on September 22, 1762 at the Assumption Cathedral in the Kremlin. On this occasion, a rich meal was offered to the people. From the first days of her reign, Catherine wanted to be popular among the broadest masses of the people, she defiantly visited pilgrims, went to worship at holy places.

The reign of Catherine II is called the era of "enlightened absolutism". The meaning of enlightened absolutism lies in the policy of following the ideas of the Enlightenment, expressed in the implementation of reforms that destroyed some of the most outdated feudal institutions (and sometimes took a step towards bourgeois development). The idea of ​​a state with an enlightened monarch, capable of transforming public life on new, reasonable principles, became widespread in the 18th century. The monarchs themselves, in the conditions of the disintegration of feudalism, the maturation of the capitalist way of life, the spread of the ideas of the Enlightenment, were forced to take the path of reforms.

The development and implementation of the principles of enlightened absolutism in Russia acquired the character of an integral state-political reform, during which a new state and legal image of an absolute monarchy was formed. At the same time, social and legal policy was characterized by class delimitation: the nobility, the bourgeoisie and the peasantry. The domestic and foreign policy of the second half of the 18th century, prepared by the events of previous reigns, was marked by important legislative acts, outstanding military events and significant territorial annexations. This is due to the activities of major statesmen and military figures: A.R. Vorontsov, P.A. Rumyantseva, A.G. Orlova, G.A. Potemkina, A.A. Bezborodko, A.V. Suvorov, F.F. Ushakov and others. Catherine II herself actively participated in public life. The thirst for power and glory was an essential motive for her activities. The policy of Catherine II in its class orientation was noble. In the 1960s, Catherine II covered up the noble essence of her policy with liberal phrases (which is typical of enlightened absolutism). The same goal was pursued by her lively relations with Voltaire and the French encyclopedists and generous monetary offerings to them.

Catherine II imagined the tasks of the “enlightened monarch” as follows: “1. It is necessary to educate the nation, which must govern. 2. It is necessary to introduce good order in the state, to support society and force it to comply with the laws. 3. It is necessary to establish a good and accurate police in the state. 4. It is necessary to promote the flowering of the state and make it abundant. 5. It is necessary to make the state formidable in itself and inspire respect for its neighbors.” But in real life, the declarations of the empress often disagreed with deeds.

4. Domestic policy of Catherine II

The main task of domestic policy Catherine II considered the reform of the central government. To this end, the Senate was divided into 6 departments and deprived of legislative initiative. Catherine II concentrated all legislative and part of the executive power in her hands.

In 1762, a manifesto "on the freedom of the nobility" was published, where the nobles were exempted from compulsory military service.

In 1764, secularization of the lands was carried out.

In 1767, the Legislative Commission was working. Catherine II convened a special commission to draw up a code of new laws of the Russian Empire instead of the Council Code of 1649. This law provided for the class structure of Russian society. But in 1768 these commissions were dissolved, no new legislation was adopted.

In 1775, in order to make it easier to govern the state, Catherine II issued the Institution for the Administration of Provinces, which strengthened the local bureaucracy and increased the number of provinces to 50. There were no more than 400 thousand inhabitants per province. Several provinces constituted the vicegerency. Governors and governors were elected by Catherine II herself from Russian nobles. They acted according to her orders. The governor's assistants were the vice-governor, two provincial councilors and the provincial prosecutor. This provincial government was in charge of all affairs. State revenues were in charge of the Treasury Chamber (revenues and expenditures of the treasury, state property, farming, monopolies, etc.). The vice-governor headed the Treasury Chamber. The provincial prosecutor was in charge of all judicial institutions. In the cities, the position of mayor appointed by the government was introduced. The province was divided into counties. Many large villages were turned into county towns. In the county, power belonged to the police captain, who was elected by the assembly of the nobility. Each county town has a court. In the provincial city, the highest court. The accused could bring a complaint to the Senate. To make it easier to pay taxes, a Treasury was opened in each county town. A system of class courts was created: for each class (nobles, townspeople, state peasants) their own special judicial institutions. Some of them introduced the principle of elected judges. The center of gravity in the management moved to the field. There was no need for a number of boards, they were abolished; the Military, Naval, Foreign and Commerce Colleges remained. The system of local government created by the provincial reform of 1775 was preserved until 1864, and the administrative-territorial division introduced by it until the October Revolution. The nobility was recognized as a special main estate. Merchants and philistinism were also recognized as special estates. The nobles were supposed to carry out public service and conduct agriculture, and merchants and philistines were to engage in trade and industry. Some areas used to be governed differently, Catherine II made sure that the new legislation was introduced everywhere.

In 1785, a Letter of Complaint to the nobility was issued. “Charter on the rights of liberties and advantages of the noble Russian nobility” was a set of noble privileges, formalized by the legislative act of Catherine II of 04/21/1785. The freedom of the nobles from compulsory service was confirmed. The complete emancipation of the nobility made sense for several reasons:

1) there was a sufficient number of trained people who were knowledgeable in various matters of military and civil administration;

2) the nobles themselves were aware of the need to serve the state and considered it an honor to shed blood for the fatherland;

3) when the nobles were cut off from the lands all their lives, the farms fell into decay, which adversely affected the country's economy.

Now many of them could manage their own peasants. And the attitude towards the peasants on the part of the owner was much better than on the part of an accidental manager. The landowner was interested in ensuring that his peasants were not ruined. With a letter of grant, the nobility was recognized as the leading class in the state and exempted from paying taxes, they could not be subjected to corporal punishment, only a court of nobility could judge. Only the nobles had the right to own land and serfs, they also owned subsoil in their estates, they could engage in trade and set up factories, their houses were free from standing troops, their estates were not subject to confiscation. The nobility received the right to self-government, constituted a “noble society”, whose body was a noble assembly, convened every three years in the province and district, which elected provincial and district marshals of the nobility, court assessors and police captains who headed the district administration. With this charter, the nobility was encouraged to participate widely in local government. Under Catherine II, the nobles occupied the positions of local executive and judicial authorities. The charter granted to the nobility was supposed to strengthen the position of the nobility and consolidate its privileges. The charter granted to the nobility testified to the desire of Russian absolutism to strengthen its social support in an atmosphere of exacerbation of class contradictions. The nobility turned into the politically dominant class in the state.

04/21/1785 - Along with the Charter to the nobility, the "Charter to the cities" saw the light of day. This legislative act of Catherine II established new elected city institutions, somewhat expanding the circle of voters. The townspeople were divided into six categories according to property and social characteristics: “real city dwellers” real estate owners from the nobility, officials, and clergy; merchants of three guilds; artisans registered in workshops; foreigners and non-residents; "eminent citizens"; “townspeople”, i.e. all other citizens who live in the city by trade or needlework. These ranks according to the Letter of Complaint to the cities received the foundations of self-government, in a certain sense similar to the foundations of the Letter of Complaint to the nobility. Once every three years, a meeting of the “city society” was convened, which included only the most wealthy citizens. The permanent city institution was the "general city council", consisting of the mayor and six vowels. Magistrates were elected judicial institutions in the cities. However, the privileges of the townspeople against the backdrop of permissiveness of the nobility turned out to be imperceptible, the city self-government bodies were tightly controlled by the tsarist administration, and the attempt to lay the foundations of the bourgeois class failed.

Catherine is a traditional figure, despite her negative attitude towards the Russian past, despite, finally, the fact that she introduced new methods of management, new ideas into public circulation. The duality of the traditions that she followed determines the dual attitude of her descendants towards her. If some, not without reason, point out that Catherine's internal activity legitimized the abnormal consequences of the dark epochs of the 18th century, others bow before the greatness of the results of her foreign policy. The historical significance of the activities of Catherine II is determined quite easily on the basis of what was said above about certain aspects of Catherine's policy. Many of her undertakings, outwardly spectacular, conceived on a grand scale, led to a modest result or gave an unexpected and often erroneous result. It can also be said that Catherine simply implemented the changes dictated by the time, continued the policy outlined in previous reigns. Or to recognize in it a paramount historical figure who took the second, after Peter I, step along the path of Europeanization of the country, and the first along the path of reforming it in the liberal-enlightenment spirit.

Bibliography

1. Minenko N.A. History of Russia from ancient times to the second half of the 19th century, - Yekaterinburg: USTU Publishing House, 1995

2. Klyuchevsky V.O. The course of general history, - M .: Nauka, 1994

3. Kobrin V.K. Troubled times - lost opportunities. History of the Fatherland: people, ideas, solutions. -M.: EKSMO, 1991

4. Bushchik L.P. Illustrated history of the USSR. XV-XVII centuries Handbook for teachers and students ped. in-comrade. M., "Enlightenment", 1970.

5. Danilova L.V. Historical conditions for the development of the Russian nationality during the period of formation and strengthening of the centralized state in Russia // Questions of the formation of the Russian nationality and nation. Digest of articles. M.-L., USSR Academy of Sciences, 1958.

6. Druzhinin N.M. Socio-economic conditions for the formation of the Russian bourgeois nation // Questions of the formation of Russian nationality and nation. Digest of articles. M.-L., USSR Academy of Sciences, 1958.

7. Chuntulov V.T. and etc. Economic history USSR: Textbook. for economy universities.-M.,: Higher.

8. Borzakovsky P. “Empress Catherine II the Great”, M.: Panorama, 1991.

9. Brikner A. “History of Catherine II”, M.: Sovremennik, 1991.

10. Zaichkin I.A., Pochkaev I.N. “Russian History: From Catherine the Great to Alexander II” Moscow: Thought, 1994.

11. Pavlenko N. “Catherine the Great” // Motherland. - 1995. - No. 10-11, 1996. - No. 1.6.

12. “Russia and the Romanovs: Russia under the scepter of the Romanovs.” Essays on Russian history from 1613 to 1913. Ed. P.N. Zhukovich. M.: "Russia". Rostov-on-Don: JSC "Tanais", 1992

13. Derevianko A.P. "Russian history: tutorial.” M.: "Russia", 2007.

14. Valishevsky K. Daughter of Peter the Great., Chisinau, 1990.

15. Klyuchevsky V.O. “Russian history. Full course of lectures” 1-3 volumes, 2000.

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Introduction
I. Reforms of Peter I
1.1. Economic transformation
1.2. Church reform
1.3. Changes in the field of culture, science and life
II. Reforms of Catherine II
Conclusion

Introduction
In the reign of Peter the Great, reforms were carried out in all areas of the state life of the country. Many of these transformations go back to the 17th century. The socio-economic transformations of that time served as the prerequisites for Peter's reforms, the task and content of which was the formation of the nobility and bureaucracy of absolutism.
Peter turned Russia into a truly European country (at least, as he understood it) - it is not for nothing that the expression “cut a window to Europe” has become so often used. Milestones on this path were the conquest of access to the Baltic, the construction of a new capital - St. Petersburg, active intervention in European politics.
Peter's activity created all the conditions for a wider acquaintance of Russia with the culture, lifestyle, and technologies of European civilization.
Another important feature of Peter's reforms was that they affected all sectors of society, in contrast to the previous attempts of the Russian rulers. The construction of the fleet, the Northern War, the creation of a new capital - all this became the business of the whole country.
The reforms of Catherine II were also aimed at creating a powerful absolute state. The policy pursued by her in the 1960s and early 1970s was called the policy of enlightened absolutism. This policy brought the moment of transition of public life to a new, more progressive formation.
The time of Catherine II was the time of the awakening of scientific, literary and philosophical interests in Russian society, the time of the birth of the Russian intelligentsia.

I. Reforms of Peter I

Economic transformation
In the Petrine era, the Russian economy, and above all industry, made giant leap. At the same time, the development of the economy in the first quarter of the XVIII century. It followed the path outlined by the previous period. In the Muscovite state of the XVI-XVII centuries. There were large industrial enterprises - the Cannon Yard, the Printing Yard, the arms factories in Tula, the shipyard in Dedinovo, etc. Peter's policy in relation to economic life was characterized by a high degree of command and protectionist methods.
In agriculture, opportunities for improvement were drawn from the further development of fertile lands, the cultivation of industrial crops that provided raw materials for industry, the development of animal husbandry, the advancement of agriculture to the east and south, as well as the more intensive exploitation of the peasants. The increased needs of the state for raw materials for Russian industry led to the widespread use of crops such as flax and hemp. The decree of 1715 encouraged the cultivation of flax and hemp, as well as tobacco, mulberry trees for silkworms. The decree of 1712 ordered the creation of horse breeding farms in the Kazan, Azov and Kyiv provinces, sheep breeding was also encouraged.
In the Petrine era, the country was sharply divided into two zones of feudal economy - the lean North, where the feudal lords transferred their peasants to quitrent, often letting them go to the city and other agricultural areas to earn money, and the fertile South, where the nobles - landowners sought to expand corvee .
The state duties of the peasants also increased. Cities were built by their forces) 40 thousand peasants worked for the construction of St. Petersburg), manufactories, bridges, roads; annual recruiting was carried out, old fees were increased and new ones were introduced. The main goal of Peter's policy all the time was to obtain the largest possible financial and human resources for state needs.
Two censuses were carried out - 1710 and 1718. According to the 1718 census, the "soul" of the male sex became the unit of taxation, regardless of age, from which the soul tax was levied in the amount of 70 kopecks per year (from state peasants 1 rub. 10 kopecks per year). This streamlined the tax policy and sharply raised state revenues.
In industry, there was a sharp reorientation from small peasant and handicraft farms to manufactories. Under Peter, at least 200 new manufactories were founded, he encouraged their creation in every possible way. State policy was also aimed at protecting the young Russian industry from Western European competition by introducing very high customs duties (Customs Charter of 1724).
The Russian manufactory, although it had capitalist features, but the use of mainly the labor of peasants - possession, ascribed, quitrent, etc. - made it a serf enterprise. Depending on whose property they were, manufactories were divided into state, merchant and landowner. In 1721, industrialists were granted the right to buy peasants to secure them to the enterprise (possession peasants).
State state-owned factories used the labor of state peasants, bonded peasants, recruits and free hired craftsmen. They mainly served heavy industry - metallurgy, shipyards, mines. The merchant manufactories, which produced mainly consumer goods, employed both sessional and quitrent peasants, as well as civilian labor. Landlord enterprises were fully provided by the forces of the serfs of the landowner.
Peter's protectionist policy led to the emergence of manufactories in various industries, often appearing in Russia for the first time. The main ones were those who worked for the army and navy: metallurgical, weapons, shipbuilding, cloth, linen, leather, etc. Entrepreneurial activity was encouraged, favorable conditions were created for people who created new manufactories or rented state ones.
There are manufactories in many industries - glass, gunpowder, paper, canvas, paint, sawmill and many others. A huge contribution to the development of the metallurgical industry of the Urals was made by Nikita Demidov, who enjoyed the special favor of the king. The emergence of the foundry industry in Karelia on the basis of the Ural ores, the construction of the Vyshevolotsky Canal, contributed to the development of metallurgy in new areas, brought Russia to one of the first places in the world in this industry. At the beginning of the XVIII century. About 150 thousand poods of cast iron were smelted in Russia, in 1725 - more than 800 thousand poods (from 1722 Russia exported cast iron), and by the end of the 18th century. - more than 2 million pounds.
By the end of the reign of Peter in Russia there was a developed diversified industry with centers in St. Petersburg, Moscow, and the Urals. The largest enterprises were the Admiralty shipyard, Arsenal, St. Petersburg powder factories, metallurgical plants of the Urals, Khamovny yard in Moscow. There was a strengthening of the all-Russian market, the accumulation of capital thanks to the mercantilist policy of the state. Russia supplied competitive goods to world markets: iron, linen, potash, furs, caviar.
Thousands of Russians were trained in Europe in various specialties, and, in turn, foreigners - weapons engineers, metallurgists, locksmiths were hired into the Russian service. Thanks to this, Russia was enriched with the most advanced technologies in Europe.
As a result of Peter's policy in the economic field, a powerful industry was created in an extremely short period of time, capable of fully meeting military and state needs and not dependent on imports in anything.

1.2. Church reform

Peter's church reform played an important role in establishing absolutism. In the second half of the XVII century. The positions of the Russian Orthodox Church were very strong; it retained administrative, financial and judicial autonomy in relation to the royal power. The last patriarchs Joachim (1675-1690) and Adrian (1690-1700) pursued a policy aimed at strengthening these positions.
Church policy of Peter, as well as his policy in other areas of public life. It was aimed primarily at the most efficient use of the church for the needs of the state, and more specifically, at squeezing money out of the church for state programs, primarily for the construction of the fleet. After Peter's journey as part of the great embassy, ​​he is also occupied with the problem of the complete subordination of the church to his authority.
The turn to the new policy took place after the death of Patriarch Hadrian. Peter orders to conduct an audit for the census of the property of the Patriarchal House. Taking advantage of the information about the revealed abuses, Peter cancels the election of a new patriarch, at the same time entrusting Metropolitan Stefan Yavorsky of Ryazan with the post of "locum tenens of the patriarchal throne." In 1701, the Monastery Order was formed - a secular institution for managing the affairs of the church. The church begins to lose its independence from the state, the right to dispose of its property.
Peter, guided by the enlightening idea of ​​the public good, which requires the productive work of all members of society, launches an offensive against monks and monasteries. In 1701, the royal decree limited the number of monks: for permission to be tonsured, now you need to apply to the Monastic order. Subsequently, the king had the idea to use the monasteries as shelters for retired soldiers and beggars. In the decree of 1724, the number of monks in the monastery is directly dependent on the number of people they look after.
The existing relationship between the church and the authorities required a new legal formalization. In 1721, Feofan Prokopovich, a prominent figure in the Petrine era, drafted the Spiritual Regulations, which provides for the destruction of the institution of the patriarchate and the formation of a new body - the Spiritual College, which was soon renamed the "Holy Government Synod", officially equalized in rights with the Senate. Stefan Yavorsky became president, Feodosy Yanovsky and Feofan Prokopovich became vice presidents.
The creation of the Synod was the beginning of the absolutist period of Russian history, since now all power, including church power, was concentrated in the hands of Peter. A contemporary reports that when Russian church leaders tried to protest, Peter pointed them to the Spiritual Regulations and said: “Here is the spiritual patriarch for you, and if you don’t like him, then here you are (throwing a dagger on the table) a damask patriarch.”
The adoption of the Spiritual Regulations actually turned the Russian clergy into state officials, especially since a secular person, the chief prosecutor, was appointed to supervise the Synod.
The reform of the church was carried out in parallel with the tax reform. Records and classification of priests were carried out, and their lower layers were transferred to the capitation salary. According to the consolidated statements of the Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod and Astrakhan provinces (formed as a result of the division of the Kazan province), only 3044 priests out of 8709 (35%) were exempt from tax. A stormy reaction among the priests was caused by the Decree of the Synod of May 17, 1722, in which the clergy were charged with the obligation to violate the secrecy of confession if they had the opportunity to communicate any information important to the state.
As a result of the church reform, the church lost a huge part of its influence and turned into a part of the state apparatus, strictly controlled and managed by secular authorities.

1.3. Changes in the field of culture, science and life.
The process of Europeanization of Russia in the era of Peter the Great is the most controversial part of the Petrine reforms. Even before Perth, the prerequisites for broad Europeanization were created, ties with foreign countries were noticeably strengthened, Western European cultural traditions gradually penetrate into Russia, even barbering goes back to the pre-Petrine era. In 1687, the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy was opened - the first institution of higher education in Russia. Yet Peter's work was revolutionary. V.Ya. Ulanov wrote: “What was new in the formulation of the cultural issue under Peter the Great was that now culture was called upon as a creative force not only in the field of special technology, but also in its broad cultural and everyday manifestations, and not only in application to the chosen society ... but also in relation to the broad masses of the people.
The most important stage in the implementation of the reforms was the visit of Peter as part of the Great Embassy of a number of European countries. Upon his return, Peter sent many young nobles to Europe to study various specialties, mainly to master the marine sciences. The tsar also took care of the development of education in Russia. In 1701, in Moscow, in the Sukharev Tower, the School of Mathematical and Navigational Sciences was opened, headed by a professor at the University of Aberdeen, a Scot Forvarson. One of the teachers of this school was Leonty Magnitsky, the author of "Arithmetic ...". In 1711, an engineering school appeared in Moscow.
Peter sought to overcome as soon as possible the disunity between Russia and Europe that had arisen since the time of the Tatar-Mongol yoke. One of its appearances was a different chronology, and in 1700 Peter transferred Russia to a new calendar - the year 7208 becomes 1700, and the celebration of the New Year is postponed from September 1 to January 1.
In 1703, the first issue of the Vedomosti newspaper, the first Russian newspaper, was published in Moscow; in 1702, the Kunsht troupe was invited to Moscow to create a theater.
There were important changes in the life of the nobility, which remade the Russian nobility “in the image and likeness” of the European one. In 1717, the book “An Honest Mirror of Youth” was published - a kind of textbook of etiquette, and from 1718 there were Assemblies - noble assemblies modeled on European ones.
However, we must not forget that all these transformations came exclusively from above, and therefore were quite painful for both the upper and lower strata of society.
Peter aspired to make Russia a European country in every sense of the word and attached great importance to even the smallest details of the process.

II. Reforms of Catherine II

As a result of the latter in the XVIII century. The palace coup, carried out on June 28, 1762, the wife of Perth III, who became Empress Catherine II (1762-1796), was elevated to the Russian throne.
Catherine II began her reign with the confirmation of the Manifesto on the Liberty of the Nobility and generous gifts to the participants in the coup. Having proclaimed herself the successor of the cause of Peter I, Catherine directed all her efforts to create a powerful absolute state.
In 1763, the Senate reform was carried out in order to streamline the work of the Senate, which had long turned into a bureaucratic institution. The Senate was divided into six departments with clearly defined functions for each of them. In 1763-1764. the secularization of church lands was carried out, which was associated with a reduction (from 881 to 385) in the number of monasteries. Thus, the economic viability of the church was undermined, which from now on became completely dependent on the state. The process of turning the church into a part of the state apparatus begun by Peter I was completed.
The economic base of the state has been significantly strengthened. In 1764, the hetmanship in Ukraine was liquidated, management passed to the new Little Russian Collegium, located in Kyiv and headed by Governor-General P.A. Rumyantsev. This was accompanied by the transfer of the mass of ordinary Cossacks to the position of peasants, serfdom began to spread to Ukraine.
Catherine received the throne illegally and only thanks to the support of noble officers, she sought support in the nobility, realizing the fragility of her position. A whole series of decrees expanded and strengthened the class rights and privileges of the nobility. The Manifesto of 1765 on the implementation of the General Land Survey for the nobility was assigned a monopoly right to own land, it also provided for the sale to the nobles of 5 kopecks. for a tithe of lands and wastelands.
The nobility was assigned super-preferential conditions for promotion to officer ranks, and funds for the upkeep of estates of the nobility increased significantly. educational institutions. At the same time, the decrees of the 60s consolidated the omnipotence of the landowners and the complete lack of rights of the peasants. According to the Decree of 1767, any, even just, complaint of the peasants against the landowners was declared the gravest state crime.
So the landowner's power under Catherine II acquired wider legal boundaries.
Unlike her predecessors, Catherine II was a major and intelligent politician, a clever politician. Being well educated, familiar with the works of the French enlighteners, she understood that it was no longer possible to rule by the old methods. The policy pursued by her in the 60s - early 70s. called the policy of enlightened absolutism. The socio-economic basis of the policy of enlightened absolutism was the development of a new capitalist order that destroyed the old feudal relations.
The policy of enlightened absolutism was a natural stage of state development and, despite the half-heartedness of the reforms carried out, brought the moment of transition of social life closer to a new, more progressive formation.
Within two years, Catherine II drafted a program of new legislation in the form of a mandate for the convened commission to draw up a new Code, since the Code of 1649 was outdated. The "mandate" of Catherine II was the result of her previous reflections on enlightenment literature and a peculiar perception of the ideas of the French and German enlighteners. The “mandate” concerned all the main parts of the state structure, administration, supreme power, the rights and obligations of citizens, estates, and to a greater extent legislation and the court. In Nakaz, the principle of autocratic rule was substantiated: “The Sovereign is autocratic; for no other, as soon as the power united in his person, can act similarly to the space of such a great state ... ”The guarantee against despotism, according to Catherine, was the assertion of the principle of strict legality, as well as the separation of the judiciary from the executive and the continuous transformation associated with it legal proceedings, liquidating obsolete feudal institutions.
The program of economic policy inevitably brought to the fore the peasant question, which was of great importance under the conditions of serfdom. The nobility showed itself as a reactionary force (with the exception of individual deputies), ready to defend the feudal order by any means. Merchants and Cossacks thought about acquiring privileges to own serfs, and not about softening serfdom.
In the 1960s, a number of decrees were issued that dealt a blow to the prevailing system of monopolies. By decree of 1762, calico factories and sugar factories were allowed to open freely. In 1767, the freedom of urban crafts was declared, which was of great importance. Thus, the laws of the 60-70s. created favorable conditions for the growth of peasant industry and its development into capitalist production.
The time of Catherine II was the time of the awakening of scientific, literary and philosophical interests in Russian society, the time of the birth of the Russian intelligentsia. And although it covered only a small part of the population, it was an important step forward. In the reign of Catherine, the first Russian charitable institutions also appeared. Catherine's time is the heyday of Russian culture, this is the time of A.P. Sumarokova, D.I. Fonvizina, G.I. Derzhavin, N.I. Novikova, A.N. Radishcheva, D.G. Levitsky, F.S. Rokotova, etc.
In November 1796, Catherine passed away. Her son Pavel (1796-1801) reigned on the throne. Under Paul I, a course was established to strengthen absolutism, maximize the centralization of the state apparatus, and strengthen the personal power of the monarch.

Conclusion
The main result of the set of Peter's reforms was the establishment of absolutism in Russia, the crown of which was the change in 1721 of the title of the Russian monarch - Perth declared himself emperor, and the country began to be called Russian Empire. Thus, what Peter was going for all the years of his reign was formalized - the creation of a state with a harmonious system of government, strong army and the navy, a powerful economy that influences international politics. As a result of Peter's reforms, the state was not bound by anything and could use any means to achieve its goals. As a result, Peter came to his ideal state structure - a warship, where everything and everyone is subject to the will of one person - the captain, and managed to bring this ship out of the swamp into the stormy waters of the ocean, bypassing all the reefs and shoals.
The role of Peter the Great in the history of Russia can hardly be overestimated. No matter how one relates to the methods and style of carrying out transformations, one cannot but admit that Peter the Great is one of the most famous figures in world history.
All the reforms of Catherine II were also aimed at creating a powerful absolutist state. The policy pursued by her was called "the policy of enlightened absolutism."
On the one hand, Catherine proclaimed the progressive truths of enlightenment philosophy (especially in the chapters on legal proceedings and economics), on the other hand, she confirmed the inviolability of the autocratic-serf system. While strengthening absolutism, it preserved autocracy, introducing only adjustments (greater freedom of economic life, some foundations of the bourgeois legal order, the idea of ​​the need for enlightenment), which contributed to the development of the capitalist way of life.
The undoubted merit of Catherine was the introduction of widespread public education.

Bibliography.
1. Soloviev S.M. On the history of the new Russia. - M.: Enlightenment, 1993
2. Anisimov E.V. Time of Peter's reforms. - L .: Lenizdat, 1989
3. Anisimov E.V., Kamensky A.B. Russia in the 18th - the first half of the 19th century: History. Document. - M.: MIROS, 1994
4. Pavlenko N.I. Peter the Great. - M.: Thought, 1990

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England in the second half of the 17th century

Plan. 1. The period of the Cromwellian Republic. 2. Cromwell's protectorate and the restoration of the Stuarts. 3. "Glorious Revolution" and its results.

Period of the Cromwellian Republic

After the revolution, the situation of the common people did not improve. The confiscated lands of the king, his supporters and his bishops were sold in large plots. Only 9% of these lands fell into the hands of wealthy peasants, the rest were bought up by the urban bourgeoisie and the new nobility. The peasants did not receive land and were not exempted from dues.

The civil war led to the decline of economic life in the country: economic ties between the counties were interrupted, this was especially hard on London, the center of industry and trade. Difficulties in marketing cloth led to mass unemployment. Therefore, part of the population was not satisfied with the reforms of the parliament. Protest movements broke out across the country.

The Diggers, led by Gerard Wistanley, called on the poor to occupy the wastelands and farm freely, based on the principle that every person has a right to land. How do you think the levellers and diggers substantiated their views? (They proceeded that God created people equal and property and legal differences must be overcome.) ?

Everywhere diggers were dispersed, arrested, severely beaten; destroyed their crops, destroyed their huts, maimed their livestock. Why do you think? The propertied classes saw in these peaceful workers the most dangerous enemies of bourgeois property. ?

Having suppressed the movement of the Diggers in England, Cromwell went in August 1649 at the head of an army to suppress the Irish uprising, but in essence to reconquer the "Green Island". Of the one and a half million population in Ireland, a little more than half remained. The ensuing mass confiscations of the lands of the rebels transferred 2/3 of the Irish territory into the hands of the English owners.

In Scotland, on February 5, 1649, the son of Charles I was proclaimed King Charles II. Cromwell with his army went there and by September 1651 the Scottish army was completely destroyed, the king fled and soon crossed over to the continent.

Cromwell understood that the army was the main pillar of power. Therefore, heavy taxes were entirely preserved in the country in order to maintain a standing army, the number of which in the 50s had already reached 60 thousand people.

England was ravaged by crop failures, a drop in production, a reduction in trade, and unemployment. The new owners of the land infringed upon the rights of the peasants. The country needed legal reform and a constitution.

Cromwell's protectorate and the restoration of the Stuarts

A conflict was brewing between Cromwell and Parliament. In 1653 Cromwell disbanded the Long Parliament and established a regime of personal dictatorship, assuming the title of Lord Protector for Life. A new constitution was adopted in the country - "Instrument of Management", according to it, Cromwell received the highest power for life. The protector commanded the armed forces, was in charge of foreign policy, had the right to veto, etc. The protectorate was essentially a military dictatorship. Protectorate - a form of government, when the head of the republic was the Lord Protector for life.

The country was divided into 11 districts, each of which was headed by a major general subordinate to Cromwell. The Lord Protector forbade public festivals, theatrical performances, work on Sundays. - Why do you think? (Oliver Cromwell was a convinced puritan, and, in his opinion, various amusements were contrary to Christian principles.) ?

September 3, 1658 Cromwell died, and power passed to his son Richard, but in May 1659 Richard leaves his post. The British political elite did not want a new dictator. Why do you think? (Military dictatorship was not the goal of the English Revolution. In addition, Cromwell's regime did not have serious support in society: he was condemned by royalists, Catholics, and moderate Puritans. The Lord Protector relied solely on the army.) ?

In 1660, a bicameral parliament was again convened, mostly from Presbyterians. The rich were afraid of a "new turmoil", they needed legitimate power. In this environment, a conspiracy in favor of the "legitimate dynasty" of the Stuarts was becoming more and more mature.

General Monk entered into direct negotiations with the son of the executed king, the emigrant king Charles II, on the conditions for the restoration (restoration) of the monarchy. On April 25, 1660, the new Parliament approved the return of the Stuarts; a month later, Charles II solemnly entered London. General Monck Charles II

England during the Stuart Restoration

Charles became king under certain conditions. He confirmed the rights won by the new nobility and bourgeoisie. He was deprived of royal lands, but was assigned an annual allowance. The king did not have the right to create a standing army. Do you think his power was absolute? But he rarely convened parliament, patronized Catholics, re-established the position of bishop, and began persecution of active participants in the revolution. Charles II?

Whigs - a party to which the bourgeoisie and gentry belonged, who defended the rights of parliament and advocated reforms. The Tories are a party to which large landlords and clergy belonged, who advocated the preservation of traditions. In the 70s. two political parties began to form.

"Glorious Revolution" and its results

After the death of Charles II, his brother James II took the throne. He did everything to reduce the role of parliament and establish Catholicism. This caused outrage in the English public. In 1688 The Glorious Revolution took place, as a result of which James II was overthrown from the throne, and the ruler of Holland, William III of Orange, and his wife Mary Stuart, daughter of James II, were proclaimed king and queen. James II

At the same time, William and Mary accepted the crown on special conditions. They recognized the Bill of Rights, according to which the powers of the king and parliament were demarcated. The Bill of Rights also guaranteed freedom of religion throughout the kingdom. The "Bill of Rights" (bill - bill) finally laid the foundation for a new form of statehood - a constitutional monarchy. William III of Orange

The affirmation of the principle "the king reigns, but does not rule" meant that all the most important issues would be decided in a parliament consisting of representatives of the bourgeois parties. The party that wins the majority of seats in the House of Commons forms the government headed by the Prime Minister.

The form of government in England is a parliamentary monarchy Legislative power Executive power Parliament House of Lords House of Commons King Government Prime Minister Elections based on property qualification What is the name of the form of government that developed in England after the revolution?

After the death of William III and his wife, the throne passed to the daughter of James II, Anna Stewart (1702-1714). During her reign in 1707, a union was concluded between England and Scotland. The Scottish Parliament was dissolved, and representatives of this region sat from that moment on in the English Parliament. Anna Stuart (1702-1714)

The main stages of the bourgeois revolution in England.

Questions to reinforce: 1. Why did the new owners decide to restore the Stuarts? 2. What made it necessary to finally remove the Stuarts from power? What did they interfere with and what threatened their rule? 3. What was the difference between the events of 1688-1689. from the events of 1642-1649. ? Why are they called "glorious revolution"? 4. What is the essence of the parliamentary monarchy regime? What form of government exists in England today? 5. What is the reason for the durability of the two-party system? ?

Following are the causes of the revolution in England. Enter the wrong answer. The dissatisfaction of Parliament with the desire of the Stuarts to rule alone. Dissatisfaction of Parliament with the economic policy of the Stuarts. Embezzlement and bribery in the royal court. Translation of the Bible into English and conducting services in this language.

With a “yes” or “no” sign, mark whether you agree with these judgments: 1 2 3 4 5 The revolution in England destroyed absolutism. The English Revolution established a parliamentary monarchy in the country. After the revolution, capitalism began to develop in the country. The English Parliament became unicameral. Catholicism became the state religion in the country. yes yes yes no no

Glossary of terms and dates: 1688 - coup d'état in England, overthrow of the Stuart dynasty. 1689 - adoption of the "Bill of Rights" - the beginning of a parliamentary monarchy in England. RESTORATION - restoration. PROTECTOR - patron, protector.

Homework: prepare for testing on the topic "English Revolution of the 17th century."

17-18 - the system of colonialism is formed. Spain/Portugal are the old colonial powers, England/France/Holland are the new ones, there is a struggle between all corners of the globe. According to Ado's textbook, the colonial policy of this time was associated with the process of "primitive accumulation of capital" and the development of manufacturing capitalism in Western Europe. The formation of the world capitalist market, the accumulation of wealth in the colonies, the development of manufacturing production there, the merciless exploitation of the colonies, the colonies are considered as a factor that helped the development of the countries of Europe and the industrial revolution, etc. All this is not entirely true. The attitude towards colonies in European countries is far from being economic, but mixed - the medieval principle “a state is strong if it has colonies” is preserved. So far, the colonies (except for North America, but here the question of the colony) are treated only as the territories of the state and a particularly developed colonial-exploiting system has not been observed. The first war, as a result of which provisions on colonies appeared in the peace treaty, was the War of the Spanish Succession, the first major colonial war was the Spanish-Portuguese War of 1735-37. The main international events take place in Europe - in the colonies of some there are no serious settlements yet, especially in Asia. Why are colonies not thought of as an economic category? The texts prove it. international treaties. Even as a result of the War of the Spanish Succession, the colonies were given little status. And after the Seven Years' War - the same thing (despite the extensive conquests in the colonial sphere of England). To some extent, the Egyptian campaign of Napoleon can be considered the first attempt at a colonial war - but, again, conditionally.

So what does Ado write? He writes about the direct robbery of the colonies, direct coercion (slavery and serfdom), the spread of the slave trade, markets and sources of raw materials, and opportunities for non-equivalent (in favor of the mother countries) trade. He considers the creation of monopoly campaigns to be a characteristic feature. Gradually, this policy became obsolete - as objectionable to the bourgeoisie. The colonial rivalry between the old and new colonial powers and within these groupings is intensifying. Ado raises the idea of ​​a world capitalist market.

Spanish-Portuguese colonial system of the 17th-18th centuries. Ado speaks of the "feudal" nature of the appropriation of wealth - they were selected and spent on "great power policy." There were major differences between the Portuguese and Spanish systems. On the territory of Brazil at the time of the Portuguese colonization (mid-16th century), there was almost no settled agricultural population. Indian tribes were quickly pushed inland or exterminated. The Portuguese began to use imported labor in the form of black slaves from Africa. Plus, in Brazil there is a huge role of commercial capital.

The Spanish colonies - Mexico, Peru, Ecuador - are a different system. Agricultural societies (albeit at an early level) were here. Colonizing these spaces, the Spaniards adapted, for example, Indian agricultural communities in these regions for colonization. The labor service of community members was used in favor of the state. Some taxes and duties were retained, the elders of the communities - caciques - became "conductors of colonial policy." The Spanish "feudal tax collection" system of administration was introduced. The result is a synthesis of Spanish elements and elements of the local population. English/French colonization in America is a migrant character. Plantation economy, Negro slaves. Spanish colonization - noble accumulation, which did not contribute to the accumulation of "initial capital" in Spain itself. Precious metals from the New World actively participated in the process of their exchange for industrial goods and "turned into capital" in England and Holland, leaving Spain. In those areas where the indigenous population had been exterminated since the beginning of colonization, the system of exploitation of the Spaniards was reminiscent of the Portuguese system. Cuba, north of South America. The organizer of production on the plantations is "commercial capital", the use of slave labor.

Dutch colonial system. Its formation was determined by the needs of "initial accumulation" and the formation of capitalist relations in England, France and Holland. East India and West India companies. Cape Colony (1652, West Africa), Sunda, Moluccas, Java, Malacca (1641), Ceylon (1658), New Amsterdam (now New York, 1622), 1634 - the island of Curacao. 1667 - the island of Suriname. The system of harsh exploitation of the indigenous population. "Serf exploitation of the local peasantry", its control with the help of local feudal lords.

Anglo-Dutch rivalry. England began a systematic seizure of the colonies from 1665 - it seized Jamaica from Spain. The beginning of the state colonial policy. 1696 Administration for the administration of the West Indies. Use of the slave labor system. 1652-54 - the first Anglo-Dutch war, the reason - the Navigation Act of 1651 (directed against the Dutch intermediary trade). Holland was defeated, the act recognized and paid the monetary costs. The second Anglo-Dutch war - 1664-67, Holland transferred New Amsterdam to England, the British abandoned naval bases in the Moluccas. The third Anglo-Dutch war - 1672-74, France entered it. 1688-97 - a new Anglo-Dutch war. By the beginning of the 18th century, the Dutch colonial system breaks down - Anglo-French rivalry comes to the fore.

French colonial system and Anglo-French rivalry. Henry IV and Richelieu laid the foundations of the French colonial system. The development of Canada - Quebec, 1608, Montreal, 1642. 1682 - Louisiana, 1718 - New Orleans. Islands in the West Indies. Senegal. Since 1701 - Pondicherry in India. After the War of the Spanish Succession, France ceded Acadia (Nova Scotia), Newfoundland and Asiento to England (see MO tickets - the right to import slaves into South America). Under the terms of the Peace of Paris in 1763, England received Florida, part of Honduras, the islands of Tobago, San Vincent, Grenada, and Dominica. England gradually won. The Anglo-Dutch War of 1780-84, Holland lost its position as a great colonial and maritime power. Under the terms of the Peace of Paris in 1783, England annexed part of the Dutch colonies in India, in 1795, captured Ceylon.

And at the same time - a very great progress in agronomic science, see physiocrats and cameralists

On the issue of capitalism and agriculture - in Braudel's "Games of Exchange" France also appears

An important point - absolute power is not the subject of the "classical" theory of absolutism! See ticket number 9 for more information. Bodin also did not speak of the absolute power of the monarch in the sense in which it is most commonly understood. Absolutism was a much more complex system.

Here it is necessary to understand - such a division is logical, but not entirely competent. The myth of absolutism was evidently in operation even then. According to Henshall, England and France did not fundamentally differ in anything serious, and the “parliamentary sign of England” is, in fact, a myth.

But here it is not a fact - see Henshall. He does not consider the monarchy of the last Bourbons enlightened-absolutist. And in general refutes this thesis itself.

According to Henshall, this process was connected with the fact that they stopped convening the States General, they were considered cumbersome and ineffective, and consultations moved to a lower - provincial-state - level.

Than, according to a number of historians, he signed his own death warrant. The monarchy still failed to reform, and public opinion also became opposed to the powers of the monarch. The unfinished reform shook the foundations of royal power.

And here there is some discrepancy between the lectures and Henshall - Henshall, on the contrary, believes that the States General tried to solve the problems of the old order, and not break it.

In historiography, the point of view is now more and more popular that “exploitation” was not so difficult, and plantation farming was far from unprofitable.

Ado here also mentions taxes as a significant source, but there is a certain issue with them - part of the US population generally wanted to remove them or significantly reduce them, since the issue of tax dependence on the mother country was very painful for the colonies in North America.