The Constitution of 3 May 1791 was adopted by the Great Sejm (parliament) of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, a dual monarchy comprising Poland and Lithuania. Drafted over 32 months beginning on 6 October 1788, and formally adopted as the Government Act (Ustawa rzadowa), the document was designed to redress the Commonwealth's political defects. The system of Golden Freedoms, also known as the "Nobles' Democracy", had conferred disproportionate rights on the nobility (szlachta) and over time had corrupted politics. The adoption of the Constitution was preceded by a period of agitation forand gradual introduction ofreforms beginning with the Convocation Sejm of 1764 and the election of Stanislaw August Poniatowski as the Commonwealth's last king.