In the second half of the 19th century. In the Russian Empire, large-scale political and socio-economic transformations took place, caused by the defeat in the Crimean War, preparations for the abolition and the abolition of serfdom itself. The presence in the empire of armed subjects - Cossacks - who had a special social, legal and military status, gave its specificity to the so-called Great Reforms. The War Ministry, under the direct control of which were Cossack units and irregular formations, developed a program of reforms in the Cossack troops, providing for the creation of special administrative and legal norms to regulate the class and legal status of the Cossacks in order to change the “nature” of the Cossacks and send, if not all, the Cossacks , then at least some part of them along the path of gradual liberation from class. The first steps towards “citizenship” were taken by the authorities and the Cossacks in the late 1850s and early 1860s. It was at this time that the main actors of Cossack politics appeared, topical issues of the development of the Cossacks and Cossack territories were discussed in the bureaucratic environment and in the public sphere, a specific plan for reforms in the Cossack troops with a civilian focus was developed, etc. The publishing layout was saved in PDF A4 format.