The Enlightenment brought to Europe a never-before-seen influx of reason-centered ideas. These ideas have had an impact on many fields, especially government, as they have led to the rise of a whole series of so-called “enlightened despots”. One of the three major enlightened despots was Catherine the Great of Russia. While Catherine sought to govern according to many Enlightenment ideals, such as justice reform, equal taxation, and equal protection under the law, she nevertheless took steps to secure her absolutist powers: exempting herself from the law, allowing corruption, and maintaining serfdom. no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Enlightened despotism was a form of government in which absolutist monarchs sought educational, social, and legal reforms. Other common reforms were administrative reforms, the establishment of religious tolerance and economic development. In these respects, Catherine the Great certainly fits this description. In his new law code, he prevented the rich from oppressing the poor, defined and protected individual liberty, prohibited torture, outlawed capital punishment, created a trial by jury of peers, established the notion of innocent before being proven guilty and has imposed a fairer tax. code by taxing the nobles, who previously enjoyed exemptions. In that document, Catherine also called for all to be equal before the law. After finalizing the document, he convened a Legislative Commission composed of people from all different social and economic classes with the aim of expressing their thoughts on the country's problems. Regarding the arts and education, Catherine was very active. Under the Enlightenment emphasis on education, she sought to expand educational opportunities for girls and later called for the establishment of free schools. Catherine was also a great lover of the arts, sponsoring many cultural projects, building theaters, corresponding with Voltaire, and collecting works of art in the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. Although many of her actions moved towards more enlightened ideas, she was still an absolute monarch, which meant she was not subject to the law. His despotism was justified in his law code, with his reasoning that the great empire could only be effectively managed by one ruler and that the natural order dictated that some people were destined to rule while others obeyed. Indeed, to show off his powers, he many times brazenly ignored the Senate's rulings and freely confiscated and took land as he pleased. Prince Mikhail Schterbatov claimed that his complete disregard for morality had been passed down to lower levels, including encouraging bids for office positions and randomly assigning military ranks. As an absolutist monarch, Catherine also needed to maintain complete control over her country, which meant she condoned serfdom to gain support from the nobles. Although its law code proclaimed that people were equal before the law, it made an exception for serfs, who owed “to their owners due submission and absolute obedience in all matters.” The serfs could not even petition the crown for claims with the landowners. When Alexander Radishchev passed some working serfs on his way to Moscow, he noticed the particularly cruel conditions to which the serfs were subjected. They had to work six days for the master, leaving themselves free only on holidays and nights, and the farmers..