The 1876 Ottoman constitution was the empire's first, briefly limiting autocratic rule and marking the start of the First Constitutional Era.
Key Facts
- First effective period
- 1876 to 1878 (First Constitutional Era)
- Second effective period
- 1908 to 1922 (Second Constitutional Era)
- Primary author
- Midhat Pasha, among Young Ottomans
- Sultan during promulgation
- Abdul Hamid II (r. 1876–1909)
- Trigger for amendment
- 31 March Incident and Abdul Hamid's political downfall
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Sultan Abdulaziz's chaotic rule led to his deposition in 1876, creating a political opening. Members of the Young Ottomans, influenced by European constitutional models, argued that limiting autocratic power through formal law would stabilize governance and allow a broader elite to shape imperial policy.
In 1876, members of the Young Ottomans, led principally by Midhat Pasha, drafted the Ottoman Empire's first constitution under the newly enthroned Sultan Abdul Hamid II. The document established a bicameral legislature and placed nominal limits on sultanic authority, inaugurating the First Constitutional Era.
Abdul Hamid II suspended the constitution in 1878, ending the First Constitutional Era after barely two years. It was restored in 1908 following the Young Turk Revolution, and subsequently amended to transfer power away from the sultan and the appointed Senate toward the elected Chamber of Deputies, reshaping imperial governance until the empire's dissolution in 1922.