Politics 1750 up to 1800

The state inheritance agreement of 1755 (“Landes­grund­gesetzlicher Erbvergleich”) established the rights and obligations of the knighthood. The basic feudal sovereign customs were elevated to a basic right. That included – with the exception of clearing entire villages – the right of the lords of the manor to clear and expropriate their farmers.

Mecklenburg was not directly involved in the Seven Years‘ War (1757-1763) but troops crossed through the state.

In 1795 journeymen started uprisings in Mecklenburg towns and, in particular, in Rostock and Schwerin. In Rostock and Güstrow the population ransacked shops and warehouses in 1800. The military ended the uprisings.

Troops again pass through the region during the Seven Years' War (1757-1763), turning it into a combat zone. 72,000 Pomeranians fall. Looting causes immeasurable damage. Afterwards the Prussian king introduces a reconstruction programme.

Agrarian and legal reforms are introduced in Prussian Pomerania in 1779, leading lead to a partial relaxation in serfdom. Delegates of the landed gentry in Pomerania accept representative duties from 1780. But their influence is restricted to a local level and to war councils.