The revolution of 1848 abolished serfdom, which for most people in this district was the biggest single change in a thousand years: a peasant family stopped owing labour to a lord and could own the land it worked. It also swept away the old self-government of the noble county that had run Tekov from this town since 1789. The revolution was also a war, and Tekov county went with the Hungarian insurgents against the emperor. For Slovaks it was a confusing year — the same revolution that freed the villages was fought under a Hungarian national banner that had no place for a Slovak one, which is exactly why a separate Slovak movement grew out of it.Revolúcia roku 1848 zrušila poddanstvo, a to bola pre väčšinu ľudí v tomto okrese najväčšia zmena za tisíc rokov: sedliacka rodina prestala byť povinná robotou pánovi a mohla vlastniť pôdu, ktorú obrábala. Zmietla aj starú stavovskú samosprávu stolice, ktorá Tekov riadila z tohto mesta od roku 1789. Revolúcia bola zároveň vojnou a Tekovská stolica sa postavila na stranu uhorských povstalcov proti cisárovi. Pre Slovákov to bol rozporuplný rok — tá istá revolúcia, ktorá oslobodila dediny, sa viedla pod maďarskou národnou zástavou, v ktorej pre slovenskú nebolo miesto, a práve preto z nej vyrástlo samostatné slovenské hnutie.
