Under the influence of Enlightenment ideas, Empress Catherine II conceived the idea of assembling a Legislative Commission to draft reasonable laws for the empire. Deputies were to be sent by different social estates: nobles, townspeople, Cossacks, and free rural inhabitants, as well as representatives of government institutions. Deputies from towns were elected by local residents.

The commission consisted of 564 deputies, of whom 28 represented the government, 161 were from the nobility, 208 from towns (mostly merchants), 54 from the Cossacks, 79 from peasants, and 34 were non-Orthodox. At the first session, the commission elected its marshal (chairman).

From the three candidates presented, Catherine approved General Alexander Bibikov. It was this commission that bestowed upon the empress the title “Great and Wise Mother of the Fatherland.” The deputies mainly focused on discussing new laws and “instructions” from different social groups.

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