(Redirected from Instrument of Government (1772))Sweden's 'Constitution of 1772' took effect through a bloodless
coup d'état carried out by King
Gustav III, establishing a brief
absolute monarchy in Sweden. This was a response to perceived harm wrought upon Sweden by a half-century of
parliamentarism during the country's "
Age of Liberty". The 1772 Constitution, though criticised as
authoritarian, and in 1789 amended in a still more
autocratic direction, was relatively
liberal compared with the constitutions of contemporaneous
European states (with the notable exception of the
Polish Constitution of May 3, 1791).
Effects of War of Finland 1809
In the
Grand Duchy of Finland, created in 1809 from the eastern third of Sweden as part of the
Russian Empire, the amended 1772 Constitution was in force until
July 17,
1919. In Sweden, the loss of Finland resulted in both a new royal dynasty (
Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte being appointed successor to the throne) and a rewriting of the constitution, resulting in a new
Instrument of Government.
See also
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Act of Union and Security
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Gustav III
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Constitution of Sweden
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Constitution of Finland
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Alexander I Grand Duke of Finland
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Diet of Porvoo
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Grand Duchy of Finland
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Russification of Finland
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Leo Mechelin
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Pehr Evind Svinhufvud
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Corsican Constitution