On March 17, 1921, the Legislative Sejm passed its greatest work - the March Constitution - the first modern constitution of the Republic of Poland, placing power in the hands of the Nation.
The Constitution introduced democracy and social justice, and a bicameral Parliament representing the sovereign, the People, who exercised power through organs built in accordance with the Montesquian concept of the tripartite division of power.
Citizens were guaranteed equality before the law, inviolability of private property, protection of life, liberty, secrecy of correspondence, and no censorship. The constitution introduced parliamentary democracy with free selection of political parties and representatives to parliament, as well as suffrage for women.
- In the Legislative Sejm sat deputies with different views and political experience. However, they were united by the conviction that the Republic of Poland is the highest value. The conviction that freedom is a prerequisite for the existence of a democratic state. And its guarantor - the Sejm - said Marshal KuchcinskiAccording to him, the impressive achievements of the Legislative Sejm: 571 laws, allowed for the administrative unification of the country, economic reconstruction and development of social life.
The first session of the Legislative Sejm took place on February 10, 1919, in the building of the former Alexandria-Mary Institute for the Education of Ladies in Wiejska Street in Warsaw. The session was opened with a speech by the Provisional Head of State, Józef Piłsudski. The function of the Speaker of the Legislative Sejm was held by Wojciech Trąmpczyński.
The March Constitution crowned the years of Poles' struggle for independence. The freedom regained after 123 years created the possibility of defining the regime of the reborn state. After the adoption of the March Constitution, deputies, together with Jozef Pilsudski, thanked God for it in St. John's Cathedral in Warsaw.
A year earlier, on January 11, 1920, Marshal Trąmpczyński In the same place he lit a candle given to Poland by Pope Pius IX with the message that it should be lit in free Warsaw.
In June 2018, President Andrzej Duda, in the presence of Speaker of the Sejm Marek Kuchciński, lit the Independence Candle at the Temple of Divine Providence.
Photo: Pawel Kula/ KS
