He undertook the spread of education, the secularization of church lands, the reduction of the religious orders and the clergy, in general, to complete submission to the lay state, the issue of the Patent of Toleration (1781) providing limited guarantee of freedom of worship, and the promotion of unity by the compulsory use of the German language (replacing Latin or in some instances local languages)—everything which from the point of view of 18th-century philosophy, the Age of Enlightenment, appeared "reasonable". He strove for administrative unity with characteristic haste to reach results without preparation. Joseph carried out measures of the emancipation of the peasantry, which his mother had begun, and abolished serfdom in 1781.
He undertook the spread of education the secularization of church lands the reduction of the religious orders and the clergy in general to complete submission to the lay state the issue of the Patent of Toleration (1781) providing limited guarantee of freedom of worship and the promotion of unity by the compulsory use of the German language (replacing Latin or in some instances local languages)—everything which from the point of view of 18th-century philosophy the Age of Enlightenment appeared "reasonable" He strove for administrative unity with characteristic haste to reach results without preparation Joseph carried out measures of the emancipation of the peasantry which his mother had begun and abolished serfdom in 1781