Scandinavia's Experiments: Struensee and Gustav III

Northern Europe saw some of the most dramatic experiments in enlightened government. In Sweden, during the parliamentary 'Age of Liberty', the Riksdag passed the Freedom of the Press Act of 1766, which abolished pre-publication censorship and gave the public access to official documents.

In Denmark, Johann Friedrich Struensee, a German doctor to the mentally ill King Christian VII, gained control of government in 1770 and, in about sixteen months, issued a flood of decrees abolishing censorship, reducing torture, cutting court spending and reforming administration. His rule, including his affair with Queen Caroline Matilda, outraged the nobility; he was arrested in a palace coup in January 1772 and executed that April.

In Sweden, King Gustav III seized power from the Riksdag in a 1772 coup, abolished torture and promoted culture, founding the Swedish Academy in 1786, but he also expanded royal power. He was assassinated in 1792. These cases show how fragile reform was when it depended on a single powerful figure.