Great Petition

{{Short description|1899 petition in Finland protesting the Russian Empire's policy of Russification}}

{{About|a Finnish petition|the sculpture in Melbourne, Australia|Great Petition (sculpture)}}

{{Multiple issues|

{{Cleanup translation|Finnish|type=check|listed=nolist|date=October 2020}}

{{expand Finnish|date=June 2023|topic=hist}}

}}

File:Karl Emil Ståhlberg - Nylands Nation gathering names for the Great Petition.jpg gathering names for the Great Petition in 1899 (Eugen Schauman fourth from the right)]]

The Great Petition ({{langx|fi|Suuri adressi}}, {{langx|sv|Stora adressen}}) was a document produced in the Grand Duchy of Finland in 1899, during the first period of the Russification of Finland. It petitioned the Grand Duke of Finland, Tsar Nicholas II to reconsider his February Manifesto issued earlier in the same year. University students went from village to village to collect more than half a million signatures, roughly one fifth of the Finnish population at the time, within eleven days.{{cite web |last1=Suomela |first1=Antti |title=Suuri adressi |url=https://www.karhiniemi.fi/1_24_suuri-adressi.html |website=Karhiniemen Kyläseura Oy |access-date=28 June 2020}}{{cite web |title=Suuri adressi |url=https://agricolaverkko.fi/vintti/julkaisut/historiakone/vuosi.php?vuosi=1899&teema=3&sivu=2238 |website=Agricola-verkko |access-date=28 June 2020}}{{cite web |title=Suuri adressi |url=https://peda.net/pieksamaki/peruskoulut/hiekanp%C3%A4%C3%A4n-koulu/jopot/jopo-8-9k2/oppiaineet/h/e78yh/epookki-7-ops-16/spjr/svjsv/suuri-adressi |website=Peda Pieksamäki |access-date=28 June 2020}}

When the delegation, consisting of 500 men all around Finland, delivering the petition arrived in St Petersburg, the tsar declined to see it. Thus, it failed to have any effect.