Abolition of the Cossack system in Sloboda Ukraine

From the time of Peter I, the Moscovite government began to interfere more and more in the internal life of the Sloboda regiments and limit their autonomy.

Long before the liquidation of the Sloboda regiments, the Cossack sergeant was integrated into the political body of Imperial Russia.

The vast expanse of sparsely populated steppes of the former Wild Steppe with land tenure, imperial resettlement permits and assistance in settling the southern borders of Russia led to the fact that over time "Sloboda colonels and elders forgot about their homeland," "became completely indifferent to the people's interests."

"[4] All this took place against the background of the lack of clear legal regulation of small landholdings, even on the eve of the reforms of the regimental-hundreds system in 1765.

[5] Shcherbinin's commission was aimed at streamlining the fiscal system, investigating land cases, finding out the causes of the plight of the people.

The result was the manifesto of Catherine II of July 28, 1765 "On the establishment of a decent civil system in the Sloboda regiments and the stay of the provincial and provincial chancellery", according to which the Kharkov Governorate was founded with five provinces in place of regiments and administrative center in Kharkov.

Military citizens and burghers (except for proprietors and those who evaded service) by and large served in the territorial hussar regiments of the permanent staff.

At the beginning of the war, the regiments expanded to wartime staff, and in its continuation, if necessary, received reinforcements from the peaceful province from those who had undergone training in the past as part of marching squadrons.

In addition to them, 22 more "ensign", i.e., foremen's children, were accepted, who voluntarily expressed a desire to enter the hussars and were intended to fill the positions of sergeant-majors, non-commissioned officers and corporals in squadrons.

This fixation of landowners on a national basis is understandable, because it depended on the geographical proximity of Ostrogozhsk to the central provinces of Russia.

The largest tax was on privileged state military citizens (so changed the Cossacks and their assistants), who had the right to drive and sell in the permitted settlements "wine" – 90-95 kopecks a year.

Зберігалися пільги (не всі), даровані слобожанам Петром І. Найголовніше — у військових поселеннях, слободах, містечках, містах (крім кількох) дозволялося винокуріння.

Також приблизно двом третинам населення губернії був дозволений видобуток солі, за якою їздили на Тор.

«Непривілейовані» змушені були купляти казенне вино у «привілейованих», а також казенну сіль, на яку була державна монополія.

But in fact the colonels and centurions had power in their territories not only military, it was finally abolished in 1780 with the reorganization of the provinces and commissions in the county.

In 1766 the existing administrative division was abolished and the entire territory of the Sloboda Cossacks was transformed into a new Kharkov Governorate with its center in Kharkiv.

Upon learning of this, Colonel of the Izium Regiment Fedor Krasnokutsky in 1764 tried to raise the Sloboda sergeant to a mass protest against the intentions of the Russian authorities.

Each of the officers was afraid of losing the acquired wealth, positions and hoped to find a warm place in the new structures.

Expressions of discontent and protest also took place during the elections to the Commission for the Drafting of the New Code of 1767: some orders (particularly in the Sumy region) called for the restoration of the Cossacks.

In this regard, these Cossacks began to run away from service, they were caught, beaten with whips and returned to the regiments.