Russian Empress Catherine II (1762 – 1796)

After visiting the region of Livonia in 1764 Catherine II introduced a reform to bring more democracy to the life of Riga. The secretary of the First Department of the Riga City Council, Neiendal wrote that before the reform ‘Inhabitants of Riga were separated into citizens, non-citizens and foreigners’. Germans of Riga had burgher (citizen) rights but many Latvians did not. On 6 August 1786 the Empress annulled the segregation into citizens and non-citizens. All wealthy town dwellers received the right to elect the Riga local municipality. The new Tsar, Paul I however revoked the reform and brought back the old order