On 20 June 1788, adscription was abolished. To celebrate this, Frihedsstøtten (the Freedom Column) was erected and completed in 1797. Several artists collaborated on the final result.

Prior to the Nationality Regulation, it had been discussed whether a person’s native country is the place where he performs the duties of his office or the place where he was born. With the Regulation it was established that persons born inside the monarchy, with few exceptions, had the exclusive right to hold official office. However, the law served not only an exclusive, but also an inclusive purpose. It was meant to strengthen the cohesion of the so-called United Monarchy, which also included Norway, Holstein and the North Atlantic islands. Tyge Rothe (1731-1795), one of the key figures of the Danish Age of Enlightenment referred to nationality as a precious gift, but warned against the risk that exaggerated patriotism might lead to strife among the three large linguistic groups in the state. Rather than divide, nationality should contribute to uniting the people of Holstein, Norway and Denmark in a community of citizens.

community of citizens. The new status as a citizen is clearly linked to the emergence of a new identity as a fellow citizen. Even if the Regulation did not use this concept, the word fellow citizen was frequently used in odes and speeches on festive occasions, following in the wake of the introduction of nationality; for example, Tyge Rothe addressed his audience with the word “fellow citizen” in a speech to the Selskab for Borgerdyd (Society for Civic Virtue) in 1785. One of the then leading national law experts, Professor Andreas Schytte (1726-1777), underlined in his political-theoretical principal work, Staternes indvortes Regiering (the states’ internal governance), from the 1770s that a fellow citizen could not be bound by the dependence ties of the society of the Estates. Fellow citizenship therefore required that these ties were replaced by fellow citizen relations, i.e. free relations. The word fellow citizenship as used by Rothe and Schytte points towards key concepts in democracy such as the general public and civil society.

The emancipation of peasants was also an important element of the long-term strategy of absolute monarchy. According to a regulation of 8 June 1787, the aim was “to abolish any sovereignty on the part of the landowners in relation to his copyhold tenants and make the entire relationship subject to general laws and rules”. A regulation followed in 1788 on the abolition of adscription. At the same time, a new conscription system was introduced, which made military service a personal duty for young men of the peasant class. The key concept of the regulation was personal freedom, as the king promised to “enforce the rights of our dear and true subjects of the peasant class, especially personal freedom”. With words resembling that of a constitution, the absolute monarch even declared personal freedom to be “irrevocable”.

“The people among whom a man lives as a citizen, they are his fatherland. I shall give the meaning of the word: Fatherland means the people and not the land on which they live. Fatherland means the people with whom we as citizens are united, and not those among whom we first saw the light of day.”

TYGE ROTHE: TANKER OM KIERLIGHED TIL FÆDRELANDET (THOUGHTS ON LOVE OF THE FATHERLAND) 1759.

The ideology of citizenship is symbolised in the group of children and the mother in a chair: the mother country welcoming her three children, enjoying equal status in the United Monarchy: Denmark, Norway and Holstein. The artist drew inspiration from a medal made when the law was made public in 1776.

This page is part of the electronic publication "The Danish Democracy Canon"
© The Ministry of Education 2008