THE CONSTITUTION OF 3RD MAY
The Constitution of 3 May 1791 (Polish: Konstytucja 3 maja) was adopted by the Great Sejm (parliament) of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, a dual monarchy comprising Poland and Lithuania.A major cause of the Commonwealth's downfall was the liberum veto ("free veto"), which since 1652 had allowed any Sejm deputy to nullify all the legislation enacted by that Sejm.As a result, deputies bribed by magnates or foreign powers—primarily from the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia and France—or deputies who believed they were living in an unprecedented "Golden Age" paralysed the Commonwealth's government for over a century. The threat of the liberum veto could only be overridden by the establishment of a "confederated sejm", which was immune to the liberum veto. Declaring that a sejm either constituted a "confederation" or belonged to one was a contrivance prominently used by foreign interests in the 18th century to force a legislative outcome.May 3 was restored as an official Polish holiday in April 1990 after the fall of communism.In 2007, May 3 was declared a Lithuanian national holiday. Polish-American pride has been celebrated on the same date, for instance in Chicago, where since 1982 Poles have marked it with festivities and the annual Polish Constitution Day Parade.
ECONOMY: RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIES
The most developed industries in Poland are: coal industry, energy industry, metallurgy industry, engineering industry, automotive industry, and electrical engineering industry. The electricity production is based on more than 90% on coal and lignite, and only 2% on hydropower. Mining and processing mineral resources are also playing an important role. There are above 50 kinds of mines. Some of resources are: coal, brown coal, copper ore, zinc, lead, silver, sulfur, rock salt, rock materials, natural gas, shale gas and petroleum (which is almost completely utilized right now). In Middle Ages Poland was known for mining a lot of amber (Polish word for amber – bursztyn).