Why Poles Still Celebrate a 1791 Constitution That Only Lasted One Year

Polonia marks 230 years since Europe’s first Constitution: “We are not here wasting our time”

The Polish Constitution of May 3, 1791, the first European Constitution and the world's second after the U.S. Constitution. Public domain painting by Jan Matejko via Wikimedia Commons.

Poles worldwide celebrate a 1791 Constitution that triggered neighboring powers to invade, wiping Poland off the map for 123 years. Two of the constitution’s authors, Ignacy Potocki and Hugo Kołłątaj, called the document “the last will and testament of the expiring Fatherland.”

Why celebrate a constitution that was in effect for just a year?

Why Poles celebrate May 3

There are 38 million Poles in Poland, but the loss of the 1791 Constitution means another 20 million Poles are spread around the world in a diaspora known as Polonia, including 850,000 in my native Michigan.

As they have since the 19th century, more than 400 Polish-Americans gathered at the Archdiocesan Shrine of St. John Paul in Orchard Lake, Michigan, to celebrate Polish Constitution Day with a Mass, music, and talks.

Poles celebrating Constitution Day in Orchard Lake, Michigan's Archdiocesan Shrine of St. John Paul the Great. Photo by Joseph Serwach.

Attorney Richard Walawender, the honorary consul of Poland in Detroit, said…