After the
death of Charles XII in 1718, the four
estates, wanted to be sure that the Royal
autocracy should never return. In 1719-20 new
constitution was written to prevent this from
happening. The council of the realm controlled
what the King did in order him from having too
much power.
The Diet that met
every three years controlled the council so
that they did not have too much power either.
The Diet consisted of
the four estates. The nobility, the clergy and
the burghers represented 3 % of the
population. The Peasants that owned their own
land represented 48 %. Almost half of the
population were not represented in the four
estates. That worked on other peoples land,
the manufactory labourers in the towns and
many other groups. |
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The council of the
realm was lead by Arvid Horn. He wanted Sweden
to have a peace policy towards other countries
and especially towards Russia. But during the
1730´s younger politicians wanted Sweden to
be more aggressive against Russia. This group
formed by young and powerful men formed a
party called The Hat-party.
The peace policy was
maintained by the so called
"night-caps". At the Diet 1738 Arvid
Horn was dismissed as leader of the council
and the Hats got the power. They wanted
revenge after Charles XII´s losses and
started a war against Russia in 1741.
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