Cossack roots of our independence: we think about the past for the future of the future

Abstract

The presented article raises the problem of Ukrainian statehood, which is always relevant and emphasized on the eve of the 30th anniversary, in the context of its initial — Cossack — segment. The article is devoted to the history of state formation, initiated and generated by the Zaporozhian (Sich) and Ukrainian urban (Hetmanate) Cossacks. The author's classification of the Cossack period of national history according to such features as chronology of liberation struggles, character of confrontation and struggle, attributive registration of statehood (in particular, institutionalization of branches of state power and their documentary fixation in legislative (constitutional) acts is noted in the work. The author captures the stages of Cossack statehood (Christian republic-protostate, monarchical hetman state, autonomous Hetmanate as part of tsarist Russia), arguing the obvious regression in its development. Avoiding the possible politicization of the scientific problem, the author deliberately chose retrocontent as the primary source for this study, namely, the works of the most authoritative, without exaggeration, legendary Ukrainian historians of the end of the XIX — first third of the last century, such as: M. Hrushevsky, M. Drahomanov, B. Grinchenko, G. Khotkevych, L. Tsehelsky, G. Kovalenko (Hetmanets), P. Klepatsky, V. Riznychenko and others. The latter cannot be suspected of "treacherous" sentiments, although they cite harsh critical maxims, presenting the past and its participants comprehensively and objectively, while not hiding their personal feelings. An interesting circumstance of their mutual view is the extremely negative attitude towards I. Mazepa, a figure glorified in modern Ukraine, who became the foundation of the education of Ukrainian society. The highlight of the study is the citation of the "Constitution of Kostya Gordienko", older than the legal document of P. Orlyk and quoted in the work of L. Tsegelsky "Russia-Ukraine and Moscow-Russia".