abstract
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This chapter illustrates senior statesmen's competing visions for the social and economic roles that Armenians should play in the tsarist empire at mid-century. It also studies the shifting opposition and cooperation between the Orthodox and Armenian churches. The chapter uses first viceroy of the Caucasus, Mikhail Vorontsov, and other officials to examine the evolution of Russian perceptions of Armenian political loyalty and inspect the codification of the state's cooperation with the Armenian Church. It discusses how the autocracy continued to struggle to incorporate different sections of its internal Armenian diaspora during the reign of Tsar Nicholas when the state sought to standardize the tax laws and religion-related statutes governing its Armenian subjects. It also clarifies how the encounter between Nicholaevan Russia and Armenians confirmed the argument that imperial states operate as states of exception that vigilantly produce exceptions to their principles and exceptions to their laws.