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During the nineteenth century the liberal ideals were spreading across large parts of mainland Europe, and the Swedish parliament of 1840-41 is sometimes considered to be the first one embossed by the ideology. Liberal ideas such as the prison reform, the poor relief reform and the school reform were all on the agenda. The state was composed of the king and four political orders tasked to represent each respective social group, the peasantry, the town folks, the clergy and the nobility. All of these with different rates of representation and policies. Sweden had also for the last decades experienced an increase in crime, poverty and drunkenness. The before mentioned reforms were all made in an attempt to better the situation and make way for a better future. In this study we will look at the parliamentary debates of two of the four political orders, the peasantry and the clergy for the parliament previously mentioned. Our goal is to find out what the two orders thought about the establishment of the first national grade school, that would mean considerable changes for both parties which is partly why they are specifically chosen for this study. The two sides frequently had their differences and would not often cooperate with one another. Although liberalismen was a big part of the reason the king proposed the changes, we will instead focus mostly on Michel Foucault’s theory of biopower (or biopouvoir in French) and social discipline. What general themes can be found in the debates? What was the purpose of the grade school? And lastly, are there any similarities and differences between the reviewed orders? What we can see at the end of the study is that the two orders have different focuses. While the peasantry mainly focused on implementing a school to steer the younglings in the “right” way, the clergy emphasised a spiritual teaching that would foster the individual.

Introduction: The aim of the present thesis is to determine the line of argument presented by the clergy of the Swedish State Church in the parliamentary debates regarding the forms of census registrations during the years 1723-1812. This discussion resulted in a new form of census registration in 1812, according to which the parish registration was accorded a greater importance than before. As a result of vast tax evasion, demands were put forth by the authorities that the clergy should be compelled to hand over the parish catechetical registries. The clergy was here faced with a conflict of loyalty between the state and their parishes. To structurally examine the line of argument of the clergy may not only clarify how this conflict was met by the clergy, but also serve as an illustration of the relationship between church and state in 18th century Sweden. The effects of the form of census registration of 1812 on the parish catechetical registries are also touched briefly upon.    Method: To fullfill this aim, the parliamentary records of the clergy have been examined and analysed in accordance with the methods of argumentation analysis presented in Vedung (1971). Secondary sources regarding the historical circumstances surrounding the parliamentary debates of 1723-1812 have been utilized as well.           Analysis: In the analysis the individual arguments presented by the clergy have been distinguished according to three levels: description, evaluation and recommended course of action. These levels are furthermore presented schematically, so as to comprehensively illustrate the line of argumentation.   Results: The results of the endeavour show that the representatives of the church and state did not agree as to the legitimate extent of the state’s influence in church matters. The clergy defended the Lutheran idea of separation between church and state power, despite the fact that contemporary canon law asserted an almost unbreakable bond between church and state authority. This is a two years master’s thesis in Archival Science.