Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz
| Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz | |
|---|---|
 Portrait by Antoni Brodowski 
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|
| Born |
6 February 1758 Skoki, near Brest, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth |
| Died | 21 May 1841 (aged 83) Paris, France |
| Nationality | Polish |
| Occupation | Poet, playwright, statesman |
Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz (6 February 1758, Skoki, near Brest – 21 May 1841, Paris) was a Polish poet, playwright and statesman. He was a leading advocate for the Constitution of 3 May 1791.
Niemcewicz, scion of a moderately well-to-do Polish noble family, graduated from the Warsaw Corps of Cadets. He subsequently served as aide to Adam Kazimierz Czartoryski and visited France, England and Italy. Niemcewicz served as a deputy to the Great Sejm of 1788–92 and was an active member of the Patriotic Party that pushed through adoption of the historic Constitution of 3 May 1791. He was subsequently a founder of the Friends of the Constitution, formed to support the implementation of that progressive document. After the victory of the Targowica Confederation in 1792 and the consequent overthrow of the May 3 Constitution, Niemcewicz, along with other Patriotic Party members, emigrated to Germany.
During the Kościuszko Uprising (1795), Niemcewicz served as aide to Tadeusz Kościuszko. Both were captured by the Russians at the Battle of Maciejowice (1794) and imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress at St. Petersburg along with Niemcewicz's aide-de-camp named Kuźniewski. In 1796, on the death of Tsaritsa Catherine the Great, they were released by Tsar Paul I and made their way together to the United States, where in 1800 Niemcewicz married Mrs. Livingston Kean, widow of John Kean, a delegate from South Carolina to the Continental Congress.
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