Frederick's Reforms: Law, Religion and the Potato

Frederick II's domestic reforms gave substance to his enlightened reputation. Days after his accession in 1740 he restricted judicial torture, and he later abolished it almost entirely. He declared that in his lands 'everyone must be saved in his own fashion', welcoming religious refugees and allowing Catholics, Protestants and others to coexist, partly because immigrants strengthened the economy. He relaxed some censorship, though he tolerated criticism of religion far more than of his own policies.

He promoted agriculture, encouraging peasants to grow potatoes, drained marshes such as the Oderbruch to create farmland and settled colonists there; he commissioned a general legal code, completed after his death as the General State Laws of 1794. But Frederick relied heavily on the Junker nobility to staff his army and administration, and he left the serfdom of peasants on noble estates largely intact. His reforms strengthened the state's efficiency and resources as much as subjects' liberty.