His attitudes towards Catholics and Jews were very selective and thus in some cases oppressive, while in others relatively tolerant. While Frederick was largely non-practicing and tolerated all faiths in his realm, Protestantism became the favored religion and Catholics were not chosen for higher state positions.The resulting program created 60,000 hectares (150,000 acres) of new farmland, but also eliminated vast swaths of natural habitat. Frederick was keenly interested in land use, especially draining swamps and opening new farmland for colonizers who would increase the kingdom’s food supply.In 1763, he issued a decree for the first Prussian general school law based on the principles developed by Johann Julius Hecker. Frederick laid the basic foundations of what would eventually became a Prussian primary education system. At the time, Prussia’s education system was seen as one of the best in Europe.However, he did not reform the existing social order. He also reformed the currency system and thus stabilized prices. He also allowed freedom of speech, the press, and literature, and abolished most uses of judicial torture. Frederick gave his state a modern bureaucracy, reformed the judicial system, and made it possible for men not of noble stock to become judges and senior bureaucrats.He also followed Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky’s recommendations in the field of toll levies and import restrictions and protected Prussian industries with high tariffs and minimal restrictions on domestic trade. Frederick organized a system of indirect taxation, which provided the state with more revenue than direct taxation.During his reign, the effects of the Seven Years’ War and the gaining of Silesia greatly changed the economy. Frederick the Great helped transform Prussia from a European backwater to an economically strong and politically reformed state.

Foundations of western civilization ii