Characteristics of the Kaunas district act of joining the uprising of 1794

The uprising of 1794 demonstrated certain features of general confederation which was typical in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Specifically, when a group of persons or representatives of a certain district established an act which proclaimed certain goals (for example, the rights of nobility, the defence of the beliefs of a certain confession, etc.), the representatives of other districts would also announce an act supporting the aims of the initiators and join them as equal members. The first official document of the rebels became the act of uprising of the citizens of Kraków district (vaivadija) issued in Kraków on the 24th of March. The administrative districts of Poland and Lithuania were officially joining the uprising in the approval of the act. However, due to particular reasons, after the liberation of Vilnius, the rebels of Lithuania declared a separate act of uprising of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania on the 24th of April, 1794. Although the districts of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania bordering with Poland joined the Kraków act, the majority of districts (pavietai) expressed approval to the Vilnius act. Kaunas was one of the first districts (pavietas) which officially joined the uprising. The Kaunas district act of joining the uprising declared on the 30th of April, 1794, unconditionally acknowledged the Vilnius act. Apart from the official part, the Kaunas act listed the actions implemented in support of uprising and presented a program of further moves. Within several days or weeks, the majority of Kaunas district decisions were repeated in the universals of the Supreme National Council of Lithuania and became obligatory for everyone (i.e. the organization of district defence; the election of generalmajor responsible for district defence and the armed forces; the organization of military mail; the establishment of storehouses for the army, etc.). Although it cannot be claimed that the orders of the Supreme National Council of Lithuania were influenced by the example of Kaunas district, the citizens of Kaunas district were active enough to take independent decisions at the beginning of the uprising as evidenced in the Kaunas district act of joining the uprising