By 1861, estimates are that about 52 million people in Russia were serfs out of a population of 74 million. Lords allotted their serfs a piece of land on which to live and work off their obligations. These allotments also were supposed to provide for the serfs' subsistence. Serfs either paid their obligation in labor on their lord's land (barshchina), or they paid in money or dues (obrok). By 1861, 71 % of serfs owed barshchina, and the rest owed a combination of obrok and barshchina.

The legal status of serfs was much the same as the status of slaves in America. Serfs however were different from slaves because serfs were owned by the land and slaves were not. Lords could sell their serfs with or without their land, thus separating families. They could deprive serfs of their land allotment by forcing them to be hou

The second major reason for reform of serfdom was Alexander's fear of peasant revolts. The condition of the Russian serf declined throughout the course of the 19th century. Their land allotments were either too small to provide subsistence, or else produced such poor harvests that mass starvation was a normal occurrence. The lords were supposed to provide for their serfs during poor harvest seasons, but many ignored this responsibility.

Peasant uprisings in the middle of the nineteenth century occurred frequently. Exact figures are uncertain because of poor recording practices, but the tension was apparent in communications between various lords and the Tsar. The chief of Russian police wrote to the Tsar Nicholas I in 1839 about reform, "it is better to begin gradually, carefully, than to wait for it to begin from below, from the people. But that this is essential and that the serf class is a powder mine -- all are agreed on this." Two years later he wrote again to the Tsar about the serf uprisings, "the idea of freedom smoulders in them ceaselessly. These dark thoughts among the serfs ripen continuously and bode ill." (Hosking, pg349)

Although Nicholas I believed in the necessity for reform, it was his son Alexander II who brought about the drafting of the Emancipation Manifesto. Alexander asked the Russian nobility to submit proposals for emancipation to local committees. The issues were complex. How would the freed serfs support themselves and free their families? Would they be given land? How would the lords be compensated for the loss of their labor force? In the final draft of the Emancipation Manifesto, Alexander II sought to balance the interests of the serfs with those of the nobles.

The first major reason motivating Alexander II to emancipate the serfs were Russ

Some topics in this essay:
Europe Alexander's, Western Europe, Emancipation Manifesto, Alexander II, Duke Finland, America Serfs, Tsar Nicholas, Ottoman Empire, Siberia Serfdom, Code Punishments, alexander ii, emancipation manifesto, emancipation manifesto alexander, european powers, payments peasants, supposed provide, receive land, serfs land, wrote tsar, crimean war, peasant revolts,