1803 Decree on free cultivators

215 years ago, on March 4, 1803, the Russian Emperor Alexander I issued a decree, according to which landowners received the right to free serfs with the obligatory allocation of land to them. The liberated (“free cultivators”) either paid a ransom, or were obliged to perform their duties, or received freedom free of charge - this depended on the desire of the landowner. Before the death of Alexander I in 1825, only 47,000 serfs, or less than 0.5% of their total number, were freed by the decree on free cultivators.