Diet of Porvoo

The Diet of Porvoo (Finnish: Porvoon maapäivät, or unhistorically Porvoon valtiopäivät;[a] Swedish: Borgå lantdag;[b] Russian: Боргоский сейм), was the summoned legislative assembly to establish the Grand Duchy of Finland in 1809 and the heir of the powers of the Swedish Riksdag of the Estates.

Finnish historians disagree on whether the Diet of Porvoo was the first meeting of The Estates in the history of Finland or a traditional landtag where the eight easternmost regions of Sweden were transferred under the authority of the Emperor of Russia.

[2] The decision to hold the diet in Porvoo was influenced by the still ongoing Finnish War and that the cities of Turku and Hämeenlinna were located too far away from the border to Russia.

There had been a large fire in Helsinki in the previous year and there were no suitable premises for the diet in the city, neither were there any in Loviisa.

All of the Estates swore their oaths of allegiance, committing themselves to accepting the Emperor as Grand Prince of Finland as the true authority and to keep the constitution and the form of government unchanged.

Alexander I subsequently promised[5] to govern Finland in accordance with its laws and let the Finnish keep their religion and rights.

This was thought to essentially mean that the emperor confirmed the Swedish Instrument of Government from 1772 as the constitution of Finland, although it was also interpreted to simply mean respecting other, "subordinate laws" - existing codes and other statutes.

Suuremmaxi wisseydexi olemma ME tämän Wakutus-Kirjan MEIDÄN omalla kädellämme ala kirjoittaneet.

(WE ALEXANDER I, by the Grace of God, Emperor and Autocrat over the entire country of Russia, Grand Duke in Finland, do hereby make it known: That as WE by the providence of The Highest One have taken the Grand Duchy of Finland under our government, have WE hereby wanted to strengthen and fasten the Christian doctrine and constitutional laws in the country, as well as those liberties and rights as the each estate in the aforementioned Grand Duchy, and all its inhabitants in general, the nobles along with the commoners have thus far enjoyed under the Constitution: We also promise to upkeep all these privileges and statures in their full authority.

The reasons relating to foreign politics and national security were clearly present when the status of Finland changed.

Finland had been conquered to make it into an outpost of Russia and a western protective zone for Saint Petersburg.