Document issued by Tsar Nicholas II in October 1905.
In response to the unrest caused by the Russian Revolution of 1905 and on the advice of his minister Sergey Witte , Nicholas promised to guarantee civil liberties and establish a popularly elected Duma . The manifesto satisfied the moderate revolutionaries, and further unrest was crushed. In 1906 the Fundamental Laws were established to serve as a constitution and to create the Duma. The Duma was in fact given only a limited voice in the government, and the civil rights actually granted were far less substantial than those promised by the manifesto.