THE EVOLUTION OF UKRAINIAN CONSTITUTIONALISM IN THE 18TH–19TH CENTURIES AS THE FOUNDATION OF THE NATIONAL STATE-BUILDING PROCESS

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the origins and evolutionary processes of Ukrainian political and legal thought, which laid the foundation for the national ideas of constitutionalism. Opinions regarding the beginning of the creation of constitutional acts of Ukraine still remain controversial among scientists, because constitutionalism presupposes the existence of its main act in society - the Constitution - the Basic Law. The period of the 18th century - XIX century most of all in the Ukrainian history of the state and law, it is characterized by the formation of the understanding of the nation, its own identity, and the political and legal push for its own state formation, sovereign autonomy and independence.

During the period of the Hetmanship, the idea of national statehood was formed on the basis of the customs of people's rule, the formation of power structures on the basis of electability and contractual nature. The Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk in 1710 became the first constitution not only of the Ukrainian Cossack-Hetman state, but also on the territory of Europe at that time. Although the word "constitution" is not in the title, this document has fully entered into the historical heritage of the Ukrainian state and law precisely as the Constitution, given its structure and content.

In the 19th century, members of the Cyril and Methodius Society (1845-1847) made attempts to substantiate the national-state concept despite the persecution and prohibition of the Russian authorities. The political views of the society defined the ideal of the state for the Slavic peoples as a federal union of equal republics centered in Ukraine. The three projects of constitutional acts of H. Andruskyi reflect the evolution of the state concept from autonomy to the republican model of state formation of Ukraine, the justification of the concept of equality and human freedoms.

In 1884, M. Drahomanov, in his work The Statute of the "Free Union", outlined the future of Ukraine in the organization of a republican state, the basis of which is popular sovereignty, state and local self-government of communities. The concept of political independence of Ukraine, developed by M. Drahomanov, had a significant impact on the formation of the constitutional and legal ideas of M. Hrushevskyi and other leading figures of the Ukrainian revolution of 1917-1921. Thus, due to the influence of historical, political, social, national-cultural and other factors, it is appropriate to consider Ukrainian constitutionalism as an ideological and political movement aimed at establishing the supremacy of the constitution.