Mărturii documentare privind modificarea articolului 7 din Constituţie
Documentary Testimonies regarding the Changing of Article 7 in the Constitution

Summary/Abstract: Based on primary sources, the paper analyses the origins, evolution and constitutional consequences of the revision of the article 7 from the Constitution in 1866. The “Jewish issue”, that is the naturalization of the Jewish population from Romania has represented a major challenge for the political and intellectual Romanian elites from the second half of the 19th century. The conditioning of the recognition of state independence by imposing the regulations of the article 44 from the Treaty of Berlin has generating a huge feeling of frustration in the Romanian society. This article clearly specified that religion cannot be an obstacle for achieving the Romanian citizenship. The Romanian solution to the external pressure of the Great Powers and the influential Jewish lobby was in favour of the individual naturalization of the Jewish subjects. The situation of Jewish naturalization between 1879 and 1900 demonstrates the fact that the Romanian citizenship was granted for only 85 Jews. Nevertheless, the number of the demands for naturalization (around 370) proves that Romanian citizenship was desirable not for the entire Jewish population, but only for the upper middle class Jewish bourgeoisie. The statistics reality brings a new perspective on the relations between Romanians and Jews during the second half of the 19th century and on the cultural anti-Semitism that accompanied the modernization of the Romanian society.

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