Certain Slovak demands were met, however. In the Slovak counties of Hungary, Slovak was allowed for official communication and introduced in lower schools. Jan Kollar, who became a professor at Vienna University, obtained permission to print Slovak newspapers and was appointed a court adviser. Though the changes were modest in scope, they did encourage the effort to found Slovak high schools and cultural institutions. But the period of peace was too short to see any further developments along these lines. Unrest flared up again after the poor performance of the Austrian armies in the war against Sardinia in 1859. Francis Joseph was obliged to remove his interior minister, Alexander Bach. Nationalism raised its head again. After Stur’s death, a younger generation headed by Stefan Marko Daxner (1822-1892) began to make a mark.

Daxner revised the Slovak political program. The following statement by Daxner was typical of those times: “We recognize this state (Hungary) to the same extent it recognizes us.” Daxner wrote the Memorandum of the Slovak Nation (1861), that remained the political program of Slovaks until World War I. The Memorandum requested autonomy for Slovaks within the Hungary.

The articles of association of Matica slovenska

During the time of national activity, Slovaks succeeded in establishing three high schools and Matica slovenska, a national cultural institution in 1863.