careers and turned to the Council of the Tanzimat, of which Mehmed Emin Aali was chairman and Fuad was a member. Tanzimat period Member of the Council of the Tanzimat Fuad Pasha was an important reformer during the Tanzimat period. The goal of the program was to, “promote reform, fend off the powers and forestall rebellion”. The Council of the Tanzimat was established to codify the actions enacted by the Tanzimat reforms. These reforms were designed to centralize power through “modernization [and] centralization” to “increase revenue [and] prevent fragmentation”. It was enacted on November 3, 1839 through an imperial decree given by Mustafa Reşid Pasa called the “Rose Chamber Edict.” This period demonstrated the Empire's increased efforts towards Westernization and acceptance by the Concert of Europe, as well, as Western schools were opened to train bureaucrats for future governmental positions. Councils of State, Justice, and Education were all established, as well as provincial councils to represent all religious and social groups residing in the Empire. Fuad hoped that the Tanzimat reforms would, “find salvation for the empire by creating among its peoples the bond of equal citizenship based on Ottoman nationality”. He realized the importance of change and saw it as a necessary evolution that the Ottoman Empire needed to make. However, in his efforts to create an image of a modern Ottoman Empire, Fuad Pasha believed that by giving non-Muslim subjects of the Empire equal rights via the Millet system would “dull their nationalist and separatist tendencies.” He, along with the other three reformers, believed that in order to save the empire, a sense of “Ottomanism” needed to be created. The goal was to create an “Ottoman” nation and unify the Jews, Christians, and Muslims into an Ottoman nationality. The Council of the Tanzimat took complete charge of preparing legislation, and because both Fuad and Ali wanted immediate progress, the Council was made separate from the ministries and the chairman was “given direct access to the sultan,” which represented increasing efforts towards centralization. The old Supreme Council, however, still remained an influential factor as its existence and functions, though de jure limited to judicial matters, caused much confusion. Chairman of the Council of the Tanzimat In 1856, Fuat was given the task of reforming the financial and provincial problems that plagued the Empire and was thus named chairman of the Council of the Tanzimat. These stemmed from “a shortage