The Ukrainian-language title reads: "Договори і постанови прав і свобод військових між Ясновельможним Його Милості паном Пилипом Орликом, новообраним гетьманом Війська Запорізького, і між генеральними особами, полковниками і тим же Військом Запорізьким з повною згодою з обох сторін" The document is made up of a preamble and 16 articles.
Preamble The preamble briefly discusses Cossack history, their
Khazar and
Roxolani origin mythos, the rise of the
Zaporizhian Sich and its downfall when after under
Bohdan Khmelnytsky it
rebelled against the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and ended up serving
Imperial Russia. According to the introduction, using all available means,
Moscow limited and nullified rights and freedoms of the
Zaporizhian Host and eventually subjugated the free Cossack nation.
Ivan Mazepa's politics and alliance with
Charles XII of Sweden are explained as logical and inevitable, mandated by the need to free the homeland. The independence of the new state from Russia is given as the primary goal of the Bender Constitution.
Articles 1–5 Articles 1–3 dealt with general Ukrainian affairs. They proclaimed the
Eastern Orthodox faith to be the faith of Ukraine, and to further the independence from Moscow, the Kyiv Patriarchate must acquire the direct subordination to the Apostolic Capital of Constantinople. The residence of people proselytizing other faiths, such as
Catholicism,
Islam and
Judaism, must be forbidden. The
Sluch River was designated as the boundary between
Ukraine and
Poland. The articles also recognized the need for an anti-Russian alliance between Ukraine and the
Crimean Khanate.
Articles 4–5 reflected the interests of the
Zaporozhian Cossacks, who constituted the overwhelming majority of the Bender emigration. The Hetman was obligated:
Pylyp Orlyk to expel, with the help of Charles XII, the Russians from Zaporozhian territories to grant the town of
Trakhtemyriv to the Zaporozhians to serve as a hospital, and to disallow non-Zaporozhians to own anything in Zaporozhian territories
Articles 6–16 Articles 6–10 limited the powers of the hetman and established a Cossack parliament, similar to an extended council of officers, which was to meet three times a year. The General Council was to consist not only of the general staff and the regimental colonels, but also of "an outstanding and worthy individual from each regiment."
Articles 11–16 protected the rights of towns, limited the taxation of peasants and poor Cossacks, and restricted the innkeepers.
Charles XII, king of Sweden and "the protector of Ukraine," happened to be in Bender at the time, and confirmed these articles. == Commemoration ==