The Supreme Privy Council was created after the death of Peter the Great. Catherine's accession to the throne made it necessary to organize it in order to clarify the state of affairs: the empress was not able to manage the activities of the Russian government.
Background
The establishment of the Supreme Privy Council, as many believed, was supposed to "calm the offended feelings" of the old nobility, removed from the management of unborn figures. At the same time, it was not the form that had to change, but the nature and essence of the supreme power, because, having retained its titles, it turned into a state institution.
Many historians are of the opinion that the main flaw of the system of power created by the great Peter was the impossibility of combining the nature of executive power with the collegial principle, and therefore the Supreme Privy Council was founded.
It turned out that the emergence of this supreme advisory body was not so much the result of a confrontation of political interests, but a necessity associated with filling a gap in the inferior Petrine system ontop management level. The results of the short activity of the Council were not very significant, since it had to act immediately after a tense and active era, when one reform succeeded another, and strong excitement was felt in all spheres of public life.
Reason for creation
The creation of the Supreme Privy Council was intended to sort out the complex tasks of the Petrine reforms that remained unresolved. His activities clearly showed what exactly of Catherine's inheritance stood the test of time, and what should be reorganized. Most consistently, the Supreme Council adhered to the line chosen by Peter in the policy concerning industry, although on the whole the general trend of its activity can be described as reconciling the interests of the people with the interests of the army, refusing extensive military campaigns and not accepting any reforms in relation to the Russian army. At the same time, this institution responded in its activities to those needs and cases that required an immediate solution.
Members of the Supreme Privy Council
February 1726 was the date of establishment of this highest deliberative state institution. His Serene Highness Prince, General Field Marshal Menshikov, State Chancellor Golovkin, General Apraksin, Count Tolstoy, Baron Osterman and Prince Golitsyn were appointed as its members. A month later, the Duke of Holstein, Catherine's son-in-law, the most trusted person of the Empress, was included in its composition. From the very beginningthe members of this supreme body were exclusively the followers of Peter, but soon Menshikov, who was in exile under Peter the Second, ousted Tolstoy. After some time, Apraksin died, and the Duke of Holstein stopped attending meetings altogether. Of the originally appointed members of the Supreme Privy Council, only three representatives remained in its ranks - Osterman, Golitsyn and Golovkin. The composition of this deliberative supreme body has changed a lot. Gradually, power passed into the hands of powerful princely families - the Golitsyns and Dolgoruky.
Activities
The Privy Council, by order of the Empress, was also subordinated to the Senate, which at first was reduced to the point that they decided to send him decrees from the previously equal Synod with him. Under Menshikov, the newly created body tried to consolidate the power of the government for itself. The ministers, as its members were called, together with the senators swore allegiance to the empress. It was strictly forbidden to execute decrees that were not signed by the Empress and her brainchild, which was the Supreme Privy Council.
According to the testament of Catherine the Great, it was precisely this body that, during the infancy of Peter II, was given power equivalent to the power of the sovereign. However, the Privy Council did not have the right to make changes only in the order of succession to the throne.
Changing the form of government
From the first moment of the establishment of this organization, many abroad predicted the possibility of attempts to change the form of government in Russia. And they were right. When Peter II died, and it happened on the night of 19January 1730, despite the will of Catherine, her descendants were removed from the throne. The pretext was the youth and frivolity of Elizabeth, the youngest heiress of Peter, and the infancy of their grandson, the son of Anna Petrovna. The question of the election of the Russian monarch was decided by the influential voice of Prince Golitsyn, who stated that attention should be paid to the senior line of the Petrine family, and therefore proposed the candidacy of Anna Ioannovna. The daughter of Ivan Alekseevich, who had been living in Courland for nineteen years, suited everyone, since she had no favorites in Russia. She seemed manageable and obedient, with no inclination to despotism. In addition, such a decision was due to Golitsyn's rejection of Peter's reforms. This narrowly individual tendency was joined by the long-awaited plan of the "supreme leaders" to change the form of government, which, naturally, was easier to do under the rule of the childless Anna.
Condition
Taking advantage of the situation, the "supreme leaders", having decided to limit somewhat autocratic power, demanded that Anna sign certain conditions, the so-called "Conditions". According to them, it was the Supreme Privy Council that should have had real power, and the role of the sovereign was reduced to only representative functions. This form of government was new for Russia.
At the end of January 1730, the new empress signed the “Conditions” presented to her. From now on, without the approval of the Supreme Council, she could not start wars, conclude peace treaties, introduce new taxes or impose taxes. Not in herSpending the treasury at one’s own discretion, promotion to ranks higher than the rank of colonel, salaries of estates, depriving nobles of life or property without trial, and most importantly, the appointment of an heir to the throne.
Struggle to revise "Conditions"
Anna Ioannovna, having entered the Mother See, went to the Assumption Cathedral, where the highest state officials and troops swore allegiance to the empress. The oath, new in form, was deprived of some of the former expressions that meant autocracy, and it did not mention the rights that were endowed with the Supreme Secret Organ. In the meantime, the struggle between the two parties - the "supreme leaders" and supporters of the autocracy - intensified. P. Yaguzhinsky, A. Kantemir, Feofan Prokopovich and A. Osterman played an active role in the ranks of the latter. They were supported by broad layers of the nobility, who wanted to revise the "Conditions". Discontent was primarily due to the strengthening of a narrow circle of members of the Privy Council. In addition, in the conditions, most of the representatives of the gentry, as the nobility was called at that time, saw the intention to establish an oligarchy in Russia and the desire to assign two surnames - Dolgoruky and Golitsyn - the right to elect a monarch and change the form of government.
Cancellation of "Conditions"
In February 1730, a large group of representatives of the nobility, according to some reports, up to eight hundred people, came to the palace to give Anna Ioannovna a petition. Among them were quite a lot of guards officers. In the petition empress expressedan urgent request, together with the nobility, to once again revise the form of government in order to make it pleasing to the entire Russian people. Anna, by virtue of her character, hesitated somewhat, but her older sister, Ekaterina Ioannovna, forced her to sign the petition. In it, the nobles asked to accept full autocracy and destroy the points of the "Conditions".
Anna, on new terms, secured the approval of the bewildered "supreme leaders": they had no choice but to nod their heads in agreement. According to a contemporary, they had no other choice, because at the slightest opposition or disapproval, the guardsmen would pounce on them. Anna publicly tore up not only the "Conditions" with pleasure, but also her own letter of acceptance of their points.
An inglorious end to Council members
On March 1, 1730, on the terms of full-fledged autocracy, the people once again took the oath to the Empress. And just three days later, the Manifesto of March 4 abolished the Supreme Privy Council.
The fates of its former members were different. Prince Golitsyn was dismissed, and after some time he died. His brother, as well as three of the four Dolgorukovs, were executed during Anna's reign. The repression spared only one of them - Vasily Vladimirovich, who, under Elizabeth Petrovna, was acquitted, returned from exile and, moreover, appointed head of the military collegium.
Osterman during the reign of Empress Anna Ioannovna was in the most important government post. Moreover, in 1740-1741 he briefly becamethe de facto ruler of the country, but as a result of another palace coup, he was defeated and was exiled to Berezov.
