Who writes the rules in 1879?

February 1879. Representatives in Tarnovo prepare a basic law: rules of government. Their meeting is called a Constituent Assembly. It opens on 10 February in the calendar then used. Antim I chairs it. Ottoman officials once worked here, in the konak.

The new state is a principality, headed by a prince. The Berlin treaty says it should govern itself. For now, Russian administration continues temporarily. The state still recognises the sultan, ruler of the Ottoman Empire, and owes him tribute, a payment. This is not full independence.

Imagine the elected representatives passing a law. Should another group examine it again? In Tarnovo, deputies discuss a Senate, a second chamber of parliament. A chamber means a separate assembly within it.

They disagree. Petko Slaveykov opposes a Senate. Yakov Gerov supports his objection. Gerov fears that a Senate could join the prince against the people’s representatives. This is his concern, not proof of what would necessarily happen.

The Senate proposal is rejected. Parliament keeps one chamber.

Primary school must be free, and children must attend. The press is free: censorship, checking in advance what may be printed, is forbidden. There is an exception for certain Orthodox religious books. They need church approval.

Bulgarian subjects are people with citizenship of the principality. They are equal before the law. Buying and selling human beings is forbidden. An enslaved person becomes free upon entering Bulgarian territory.

These are written rules. The text alone does not prove that every rule was always followed.

The day after adoption, another assembly elects Alexander of Battenberg as prince. The date is 17 April old style, or 29 April 1879 new style. He is the new principality’s first prince. The painting shows him later, in 1881. It does not show election day.

First the rules are adopted, then the man who will head the state is chosen. The constitution defines his future powers: what he will be allowed to do as prince.