page_title: Slovak Uprising of 1848–49
section_title: Slovaks before 1848
hierarchical_section_title: Slovak Uprising of 1848–49 / Background / Slovaks before 1848
caption_attribution_description: English: Michal Miloslav Hodža, Slovak priest Slovenčina: Michal Miloslav Hodža, slovenský kňaz
context_page_description: The Slovak Uprising, Slovak Volunteer Campaigns or Slovak Revolt was an uprising of Slovaks in Western parts of Upper Hungary with the aim of equalizing Slovaks, democratizing political life and achieving social justice within the 1848–49 revolutions in the Habsburg Monarchy. It lasted from September 1848 to November 1849. In October 1848, Slovak leaders replaced their original Hungaro-federal program by Austro-federal, called for the separation of a Slovak district from the Kingdom of Hungary and for the formation of a new autonomous district within the framework of the Habsburg Monarchy.
context_section_description: Slovaks were not prominently placed in this first wave of revolution to reach Hungarian controlled lands. On 26–28 August 1844, a meeting between both Catholic and Protestant confessions of Slovaks met along with other factions in Liptószentmiklós (today: Liptovský Mikuláš). This town in the Žilina Region was the base of Slovak nationalist Michal Miloslav Hodža, uncle of future Czechoslovak politician Milan Hodza. The meeting, though with fewer than wished Catholic participation, formed a non-sectarian association called the Tatrín in order to unite all Slovak groups in one national bloc. Catholics later became more involved in 1847 with their acceptance of Ľudovít Štúr's standardization of the Slovak language. 
  In addition to the uniting of Slovaks in one national bloc, there were other factors leading to the rise in Slovak consciousness before 1848. In 1845, governmental authorities permitted the printing of Slovak language newspapers for the first time. The first one was Ľudovít Štúr's The Slovak National News which printed its first issue on 1 August 1845. This was quickly followed by Jozef Miloslav Hurban's Slovak Views on the Sciences, Arts and Literature which did not have as much success as Štúr's paper. Beyond the printed word, representatives of the Slovak National Movement worked among average Slovaks promoting education, Sunday schools, libraries, amateur theatre, temperance societies and other social functions. In agriculture, Samuel Jurkovič founded a credit cooperative in the village of Sobotište, called the Farmer's Association, which was the first of its kind in Europe.
  In November 1847 Ľudovít Štúr, the member of the Hungarian Diet for Zvolen, spoke before his colleagues in Bratislava. In his speech to the Diet, Štúr summed up his six-point platform involving problematic political and economic issues. His points were:
  To proclaim through the Diet the legal, universal and permanent abolishment of serfdom, achieved through a buy-out of feudal contracts with state funds at minimum expense to commoners.
  To abolish the patrimonial court and free commoners from noble control.
  To allow commoners to represent their own interests via membership in County government and the Diet.
  To free privileged towns from county jurisdiction and reorganize the administration of royally chartered towns on the principal of representation by strengthening their voting rights in the Diet.
  To abolish the privilege of nobility and make all persons equal before the courts, abolish tax exemption for nobility and inheritance, ensure commoners the right to serve in public office and ensure freedom of the press.
  To reorganize the education system in a way to best serve the needs of the people and to ensure a better livelihood for teachers.
  Along with these points, of which several even met the praise of Kossuth, Štúr raised the issues about the use of the Slovak language in government and the enforcement of Magyar interference in many parts of Slovak life, including religion.
caption: Michal Miloslav Hodža
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