Balthazar Matthias Christensen (25 October 1802 – 21 April 1882) was a
Danish
Danish may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark
People
* A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark
* Culture of Denmark
* Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...
jurist
A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...
and politician representing the
Society of the Friends of Peasants The Society of the Friends of Peasants ( da, Bondevennernes Selskab)
was a liberal Danish political society founded on 5 May 1846 by members of the provincial consultative assemblies Johan Christian Drewsen and Balthazar Christensen, with the inte ...
().
Christensen was born in
Randers
Randers () is a city in Randers Municipality, Central Denmark Region on the Jutland peninsula. It is Denmark's sixth-largest city, with a population of 62,802 (as of 1 January 2022). From 1829 to 1831 he was a government assistant on the
Guinean
Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...
coast, but in 1839 he returned to Denmark, where he founded a law firm in
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
. The same year, he became editor of the newspaper '' Fædrelandet'', but in 1841 he was censured and had to resign. From 1840 to 1843 he was a member of the
Copenhagen City Council
The Copenhagen City Council (Danish: ) is the municipal government of Copenhagen, Denmark, and has its seat at Copenhagen City Hall.
The city council is Copenhagen's highest political authority and sets the framework for the committees' tasks. ...
, the
Frederiksberg
Frederiksberg () is a part of the Capital Region of Denmark. It is formally an independent municipality, Frederiksberg Municipality, separate from Copenhagen Municipality, but both are a part of the City of Copenhagen. It occupies an area of ...
Parish Council and the Copenhagen County Council. In 1846 he was a co-founder of the
Society of the Friends of Peasants The Society of the Friends of Peasants ( da, Bondevennernes Selskab)
was a liberal Danish political society founded on 5 May 1846 by members of the provincial consultative assemblies Johan Christian Drewsen and Balthazar Christensen, with the inte ...
() and was its president from 1848 to 1958.
He was a member of the
Folketing
The Folketing ( da, Folketinget, ; ), also known as the Parliament of Denmark or the Danish Parliament in English, is the unicameral national legislature (parliament) of the Kingdom of Denmark—Denmark proper together with the Faroe Islands ...
for long periods in 1849 to 1882, as well as for a short time in the
Landstinget
Landstinget was the upper house of the Rigsdag (the parliament of Denmark), from 1849 until 1953, when the bicameral system was abolished in favour of unicameralism. Landstinget had powers equal to the Folketing, which made the two houses of par ...
(1853–1866); from 1853–1880 he was State Auditor. As one of the leading figures of Venstre, he contributed to the formation of Carl Edvard Rotwitt's government in 1859. In 1866 he voted against the revised
Constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When ...
and in 1870 joined ('the United Left'). In his later years he had little political influence. From 1864 to 1867 he was a member of the parish council of
Frederiksberg Municipality
Frederiksberg Kommune is a Municipalities of Denmark, municipality (Danish language, Danish, ''Commune (subnational entity), kommune'') on the island of Zealand (Denmark), Zealand (''Sjælland'') in Denmark. Part of the Capital Region of Denmark ...
.
Christensen died in 1882 in Frederiksberg, Denmark, and is buried in Copenhagen.