Restoration and Regeneration in Switzerland

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Swiss Confederation
  • Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft (de)
    Confédération suisse (fr)
    Confederazione Svizzera (it)
1814–1848
meeting of delegates from all the nineteen cantons at Zurich
6 April 1814
7 August 1815
November 1847
12 September 1848
CurrencyDifferent franc for each canton
Konkordatsbatzen from 1825
ISO 3166 codeCH
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Swiss Confederation (Mediation)
Simplon (department)
Mont-Terrible
Léman (department)
Principality of Neuchâtel
Rhäzüns
Republic of Geneva
History of Switzerland#World Wars (1914–1945)

The periods of Restoration and Regeneration in

Catholic cantons in the 1830s, raising the conflict to the point of civil war
by 1847.

Restoration

Reorganization and enlargement of Switzerland during the Congress of Vienna in 1814
Swiss cross
on the reverse) minted in Berne (1826)

When Napoleon's fall appeared imminent, the Act of Mediation was suspended in late December 1813, and lengthy discussions about future constitutions were initiated in all cantons of Switzerland.

The

Zurich to replace the constitution.[3] The Diet remained dead-locked until 12 September when Valais, Neuchatel and Geneva were raised to full members of the Confederation. This increased the number of cantons to 22. The Diet, however, made little progress until the Congress of Vienna.[4]

Charles Pictet de Rochemont

At the

Emperor Alexander I of Russia, campaigned for Vaud's independence from Bern
— though, on the other hand, de La Harpe opposed the creation of a federal state as opposed to a united Swiss republic. In addition, de La Harpe and his friend Henri Monod lobbied Emperor Alexander, who in turn persuaded the other Allied powers opposing Napoleon to recognise Vaudois and Argovian independence, in spite of Bern's attempts to reclaim them as subject lands.

The official delegation had the mission of ensuring the recognition of Swiss neutrality, but their efforts were hampered by a complicated web of cantonal rivalries and diverging agendas, which went to discourage the interest of the great European powers in Swiss affairs. On 20 March, the Congress finalized a declaration on the future status of Switzerland, including the recognition of the territory of the 19 cantons of the Act of Mediation (including financial compensation for those cantons which had lost territory to newly formed ones) and the recognition of Valais, Neuchâtel and Geneva as part of Switzerland, while the Valtellina, Chiavenna and Bormio were detached from the Grisons and made part of the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia.

Recognition of Swiss neutrality was left undecided, and on 20 May, after

Hüningen near Basel was placed under siege by Austrian and Swiss troops and surrendered on 28 August. The Swiss were particularly eager to lay siege to this fortress after its commander General Joseph Barbanègre
opened fire on the city of Basel.

The

exclave
) to Vaud. Most significantly, the Treaty included the recognition of permanent Swiss neutrality by all European powers.

Cantonal constitutions were worked out independently from 1814, in general restoring the late feudal conditions of the 17th and 18th centuries. The Tagsatzung was re-organized by the Federal Treaty (Bundesvertrag) of 7 August 1815.

The Tagsatzung reintroduced the old flag consisting of a white cross on a red field, using it for the seal and coat of arms of the confederation.[1]

End of the Restoration

The Ustertag meets near Zurich on 22 November 1830.

Following the French July Revolution in 1830, a number of large assemblies were held calling for new cantonal constitutions. As each canton had its own constitution, the assemblies in each canton addressed different specifics, but they all had two main issues. First, they called for peacefully adjusting the constitutions by adjusting the way seats in local legislatures and the Tagsatzung were allocated. In particular, they objected to what they saw as the over-representation of the cantonal capital in the government.[5] Secondly, they sought a way to amend the constitution. Very few cantons even had a way to amend or modify the constitutions, and none of them allowed citizen's initiatives to be added.

The first assembly was held near

Zurich. In December there were three assemblies in the Canton of St. Gallen in Wattwil, Altstätten and St. Gallenkappel as well as in Balsthal in Solothurn. The final assembly was held in Münsingen in Bern
in January 1831.

The speeches and articles reporting on the assemblies were widely distributed and became very popular. The crowds were generally well-behaved and orderly. For example, in Wohlenschwil it was reported that they met "in unexpectedly quiet attitude with decency and perfect order".[5] Even in Aargau and St. Gallen, where the crowd marched through the streets of Aarau (Freiämtersturm) and St. Gallen, the protest march was peaceful. Following the assemblies and marches, cantonal governments quickly gave into the demands of the assemblies and amended their constitutions.

Regeneration

The Züriputsch: clashes on Zürich Paradeplatz

This "restored" state of affairs meant that the

Radical Democratic Party of Switzerland embodied these democratic forces. Demands for a new federal constitution with a tighter relationship between the various cantons and rights for the individual citizens arose from the Radical Party of Switzerland and from liberal groups like the group that called itself La Jeune Suisse (Young Switzerland).[6] Indeed, the Radical Party had formed the group called Young Switzerland in the first place with the intent of arousing liberal support for these ideas in all cantons of Switzerland.[6]

The central demands of the liberal groups like Young Switzerland, were for abolition of

free thinking" left-wing "Radical Party", the predecessor of the contemporary Free Democratic Party of Switzerland. When the Radicals rose to power during the 1830s, they imposed restrictions against the Catholic Church in the Aargau in 1841. Lucerne in retaliation re-admitted the Jesuits as teachers at cantonal schools. Provoked by this (the "Jesuit question") armed radicals invaded the canton, the Freischarenzüge of 1844 and 1845, led by Wilhelm Snell, the later Federal Councillors Ulrich Ochsenbein and Jakob Stämpfli. Also participating was Gottfried Keller, but he never participated in combat. The invasion of 1845 ended in a disaster for the Freischärler, 35 of their number being killed. The Radical side again reverted to political means, and the Jesuits were again expelled by decree of the federal Tagsatzung
on 3 September 1847 (a decree only repealed in 1973).

The Catholic

Guillaume-Henri Dufour
resulted in fewer than a hundred casualties on both sides.

After the hostilities ceased, the Catholic side having the disadvantage, Modern Switzerland was formed by the first Federal Constitution.

See also

Part of a series on the
History of Switzerland
Nouvelle carte de la Suisse dans laquelle sont exactement distingues les treize cantons, leurs allies, et leurs sujets.
Early history
Old Swiss Confederacy
Transitional period
Modern history
Timeline
Topical
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Notes and references

  1. ^ a b The Tagsatzung re-introduced the white cross in the red field for the federal coat of arms in 1815. The commission for drafting a federal constitution on 16 May 1814 recommended the adoption of a seal of the Confederacy based on the "field sign of the old Swiss" (ratified on 4 July 1815). Article 41 (of the draft constitution): "Das Siegel der Eidgenossenschaft ist das Feldzeichen der alten Schweizer: ein weißes freistehendes Kreuz im rothen Felde, sammt der Umschrift: Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft."
  2. ^ Charles Seignobos, A Political History of Europe, Since 1814, H. Holt, 1900, p. 259.
  3. ^ Wilhelm Oechsli, History of Switzerland 1499-1914, Cambridge University Press, 2013, p. 365.
  4. ^ "Switzerland/History/Religious divisions" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 26 (11th ed.). 1911.
  5. ^ a b Volkstage in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
  6. ^ a b c d e Frederick Engels, "Civil War in the Valais" contained in Marx & Engels Collected Works: Volume 3 (International Publishers: New York, 1975) p. 526.
  7. ^ a b c Charles Dandliker, History of Nations: Switzerland (P.F. Collier & Son Publishers: New York, 1907) p. 557.

External links

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