The Age of Enlightenment brought to Europe an influx of ideas centered on reason never seen before. These ideas impacted many areas, including government, as they led to a whole host of so-called “enlightened despots.” One of the three main enlightened despots was Catherine the Great of Russia. While Catherine sought to rule according to many Enlightenment ideals, such as justice reform, tax equality, and equal protection under the law, she nonetheless took steps to secure her absolutist powers: exempting herself from the law, authorize corruption and maintain serfdom. no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on 'Why violent video games should not be banned'?Get the original essayEnlightened despotism was a form of government in which absolutist monarchs sought to reform education, society, and the law. Other common reforms were administrative reforms, the establishment of religious tolerance, and economic development. In these respects, Catherine the Great certainly fits this description. In its new legal code, it prevented the rich from oppressing the poor, defined and protected individual liberty, prohibited torture, prohibited capital punishment, created trial by jury composed of peers, instituted the notion of innocent before 'be found guilty and imposed a fairer tax. code by taxing the nobles, who previously benefited from exemptions. In it, Catherine also calls for all to be equal before the law. After finalizing the document, she convened a legislative committee composed of people from all different social and economic classes with the aim of expressing their thoughts on the country's problems. On the subjects of arts and education, Catherine was very active. Under the Enlightenment's emphasis on education, she sought to expand educational opportunities for girls and later called for the creation of free schools. Catherine was also a great lover of the arts, sponsoring many cultural projects, building theaters, corresponding with Voltaire, and collecting art at the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. Although many actions moved toward more enlightened ideas, she remained an absolute monarch, which meant she was not subject to the law. His despotism was justified in his legal code, with his reasoning that the great empire could only be ruled effectively by a single ruler and that the natural order dictated that some people were meant to rule while others obeyed. Indeed, to show off her powers, she often blatantly ignored the decisions of the Senate and freely confiscated and took land as she pleased. Prince Mikhail Schterbatov argued that his complete disregard for morality trickled down to lower levels, including encouraging applications for leadership positions and randomly assigning military ranks. As an absolutist monarch, Catherine also had to maintain complete control over her country, which meant she tolerated serfdom to gain the support of the nobles. Although its law code proclaimed that people were equal before the law, it made an exception for serfs, who owed "to their owners proper submission and absolute obedience in all matters." The serfs could not even send complaints to the landowners to the crown. When Alexander Radishchev came across serfs working on their way to Moscow, he noted the particularly cruel conditions to which the serfs were subjected. They had to work six days..