Editing Ignacy Potocki (section)

===Political career===
As a member (1772–1791) of Poland's [[Commission of National Education]] (''{{Lang|pl|Komisja Edukacji Narodowej}}'') – the world's first ministry of education – he was the initiator of and presided over the [[Society for Elementary Textbooks]] (''{{Lang|pl|Towarzystwo do Ksiąg Elementarnych}}'', founded in 1775).<ref name="psb1"/><ref name="Bauer64"/> He presided over the renovation of the [[Załuski's Library]] (in 1774).<ref name="psb1"/> He was involved in the development of numerous projects, such as the history curriculum.<ref name="psb2"/> In 1781 he reviewed and endorsed [[Hugo Kołłątaj]]'s work at the [[Cracow Academy]].<ref name="psb2"/> His involvement with the educational projects earned him a nickname ''bakałarz'' (holder of [[baccalarius]] degree, teacher).<ref name="psb2"/> His involvement with the educational reforms lessened only during the era of the [[Great Sejm]] (1788–1792), when he became increasingly involved with the wider reform program.<ref name="psb2"/>

[[File:Ignacy Potocki.PNG|thumb|left|Ignacy Potocki by [[Anna Rajecka]]]]
On 29 May 1773 he received [[offices in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth|the office of Great Clerk (Writer) of Lithuania]], a relatively low-ranked position that was seen by some as below the magnates of the [[Potocki family]].<ref name="psb2"/> He participated in the [[Partition Sejm]] of 1773, where he sat on several commissions.<ref name="psb2"/> Seeing himself in opposition to the king, he refused a seat on the [[Permanent Council]] that he was offered in March 1774.<ref name="psb2"/> The king tried to appease him with the [[Order of Saint Stanislaus]] on 14 July that year, but that failed to bring Potocki to his side.<ref name="psb2"/> Instead, Potocki became, for the next decade and half, one of his chief political critics and opponents; in 1776 he went to Moscow to argue, unsuccessfully, for limiting the power of king and the Russian ambassador, [[Otto Magnus von Stackelberg (ambassador)|Otto Magnus von Stackelberg]].<ref name="psb3"/> Later that year, his election to the [[Sejm]] was disputed, and the king and Stackelberg managed to block his election.<ref name="psb3"/> In 1778 however, the growing rift between the king and Stackelberg allowed him to take, through political maneuvering, the chairmanship of the Permanent Council [[Marshal of the Sejm]].<ref name="psb3"/> That year he also became a Knight of the [[Order of the White Eagle (Poland)|Order of the White Eagle]].<ref name="psb3"/>

In 1779 Potocki joined the [[freemasonry]], and by 1780 he advanced to the head of a freemasonry lodge.<ref name="psb3"/> He became ''de facto'' head of the "[[Familia (Polish political party)|Familia]]", and of anti-royal opposition (succeeding its previous leader, [[Stanisław Lubomirski (1722–1782)|Stanisław Lubomirski]], upon his death in 1783).<ref name=Bauer64/> That year also saw the sudden death of his wife.<ref name="psb3"/> During a trip to Italy and France, in absentia, the influence of the Familia resulted in his appointment to the office of the [[Court Marshal of Lithuania]].<ref name="psb4"/> He continued to oppose various royal projects at the Sejms of 1784 and 1786.<ref name="psb4"/> In 1785 he lost some face for his involvement in the [[Dogrumowa affair]], in which the king was falsely accused of an instigation of a poisoning attempt.<ref name="psb4"/>

Disappointed with Russia's lack of support for any serious reforms in Poland, he shifted to favoring an alliance with the [[Kingdom of Prussia]] instead.<ref name="psb4"/> Although this resulted in the split of the anti-royalist opposition, he was seen as the leader of opposition (the [[Patriotic Party]]) when the Great Sejm begun in 1788.<ref name="psb5"/> After some initial political manevrouving, the issues of a closer relation with Prussia (that would eventually grow into the [[Polish-Prussian alliance]]) and a major reform of the government, both with which he was closely involved, begun accelerating in 1789.<ref name="psb6"/> At first supportive more of a [[republicanism|republican]] form of a government, political reality (such as royal faction victory at the elections of 1790) resulted in his acceptance of a more [[constitutional monarchy]] approach.<ref name="psb8"/><ref name="psb7"/> In 1790, through the mediation of [[Scipione Piattoli]], the king and Potocki begun drifting closer together, working on a draft document that would eventually become the 3 May 1791 constitution.<ref name="psb8"/><ref name="psb7"/> Alongside Poniatowski, Kołłątaj and Piattoli, he is seen as one of the major authors of that document.<ref name="psb9"/> He supported the quasi-coup d'état in which the constitution was passed on 3 May 1791.<ref name="psb9"/>

On 17 May 1791, he resigned his position in the Commission of National Education to take an appointment (Minister of Police) in the newly created government, the [[Guard of Laws]].<ref name="psb9"/> From March 1792 he also held the position of Minister of War.<ref name="psb9"/> During the [[War in the Defence of the Constitution]] in 1792, he went on an unsuccessful diplomatic mission to Berlin to request assistance from the Prussian government.<ref name="psb10"/> On 4 July 1792, a sudden depression made him resign his ministerial positions.<ref name="psb10"/> A vocal opponent of the [[Targowica Confederation]] and likely an author of an anonymous anti-Targowica brochure, he was specifically requested by the Russian government to not be involved in the negotiations; he also refused to join the Targowica Confederation, even after Poniatowski's accession to it.<ref name="psb11"/>