Instrument of Government (1772)
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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 May Constitution of Poland).

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

• Act of Union and Security
• Gustav III
• Constitution of Sweden
• Constitution of Finland
• Alexander I Grand Duke of Finland
• Diet of Porvoo
• Grand Duchy of Finland
• Russification of Finland
• Leo Mechelin
• Pehr Evind Svinhufvud
• Corsican Constitution
• Walhalla-orden

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