Frankfurt Constitution

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
"Constitution of the German Reich (1849)" redirects here. For other constitutions of the German Reich, see Constitution of the German Reich (disambiguation).

Chart illustrating the political system of the Constitution for the German Empire, 1849

The Frankfurt Constitution (

Revolutions of 1848, the constitution contained a charter of fundamental rights and a democratic government in the form of a constitutional monarchy. King Frederick William IV of Prussia was designated head of state as "Emperor of the Germans" (Kaiser
der Deutschen), a role he rejected.

The constitution is called by its more common names in order to distinguish it from the Constitution of the German Empire enacted in 1871 and initiated by Otto von Bismarck.

Emergence

The 1849 Constitution was proclaimed by the

First War of Schleswig at sea with the Battle of Heligoland. The fleet's black-red-gold war ensign was one of the first instances of the official use of the modern republican Flag of Germany
.

After long and controversial negotiations, the parliament had passed the complete Imperial Constitution on 27 March 1849. It was carried narrowly, by 267 against 263 votes. The version passed included the creation of a

Directory government under an alternating chair were even less practicable and unable to find broad support, as was the radical left's demand for a republic, modelled on the United States
.

Frankfurt National Assembly

The constitution's text opens with § 1 Sentence 1: "Das deutsche Reich besteht aus dem Gebiete des bisherigen deutschen Bundes." ("The German Empire consists of the area of the hitherto existing German Confederation"). The Frankfurt deputies had to answer the German question, i.e. the debate whether a unified Germany should comprise those Austrian crown lands included in the Confederation's territory or not. As the Habsburg emperors would never renounce any constituent lands of their multinational state, the delegates with the designation of King Frederick William IV opted for a Prussian-led "Lesser German solution" (Kleindeutsche Lösung), though the Constitution explicitly reserved the participation of the Austrian lands.

The German people were to be represented by a bicameral parliament, with a directly elected Volkshaus (House of commons), and a Staatenhaus (House of States) of representatives sent by the individual confederated states. Half of each Staatenhaus delegation was to be appointed by the respective state government, the other by the state parliament. Sections 178 and 179 called, at one and the same time, for public trials, oral criminal proceedings, and jury trials for the "more serious crimes and all political offenses."[2] The introduction of the jury trial was followed by its adoption by the overwhelming majority of German states,[3] and continued with the German Empire Gerichtsverfassungsgesetz (GVG) of 27 January 1877,[4][5] and would last until the Emminger Reform of 4 January 1924 during the Weimar Republic.[6]

See also

References

  1. ^ Verfassung des Deutschen Reichs ("Paulskirchenverfassung") vom 28. März 1849
  2. JSTOR 724014
    .
  3. ^ Casper & Zeisel 1972, p. 137.
  4. ^ Casper & Zeisel 1972, p. 138.
  5. JSTOR 1283584
    .
  6. ^ Casper & Zeisel 1972, p. 135.

Further reading

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Frankfurt_Constitution&oldid=1218315561"