State Budgetary Expenditures of the Belarusian Provinces (Belarusian-Lithuanian Region) of the Russian Empire in the 1820s–1850s

The purpose of this article is to analyze the quantitative changes in the dynamics and structure of state budgetary departmental expenditures in the Belarusian provinces (Belarusian-Lithuanian region) of the Russian Empire during the 1820s–1850s. The source base for this publication consists of a set of unpublished financial budgets spanning the decades from 1820 to 1859 for each of the Belarusian-Lithuanian provinces, preserved in the collections of the Russian State Historical Archive in St. Petersburg and the National Historical Archive of Belarus in Minsk. To ensure consistent comparison of numerical data, the article examines quantitative changes in the size and distribution of state budgetary departmental expenditures in the Belarusian provinces from 1820 to 1839, from 1849 to 1859, and for the Belarusian-Li­thuanian region as a whole from 1829 to 1859. In the six Belarusian-Lithuanian provinces of the Russian Empire, within their unchanged territorial boundaries, state budgetary departmental expenditures increased more than threefold over the 30-year period from 1829 to 1859, after adjusting for silver currency. The relative share of funds allocated from the state treasury for the functioning of the administrative and judicial apparatus of the tsarist regime decreased. At the same time, the share of social expenditures increased, especially those aimed at supporting and promoting the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church, which contributed to the formation of a cultural and civilizational unity between the Russian and Belarusian peoples within the framework of a single East Slavic civilization.