Polaniec Manifesto of 1794

a decree signed by T. Kośsciuszko at a camp near the small town of Polaniec, near San-domierz, on May 7 during the Polish Uprising of 1794. Drawn up with the assistance of H. Kołłą taj, the manifesto granted the peasants personal freedom on condition that they come to terms with the landowners and pay state taxes, and it reduced their corvée, particularly for the duration of the uprising. The manifesto also recognized the peasants’ hereditary right to the land they worked. Although it was an improvement over the constitution of 1791, which the Four-year Sejm (1788–92) had adopted, the manifesto was never carried out because of sabotage by the nobility and the Catholic clergy.