The Casino faction (in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

''Casino-Fraktion'' or simply ''Casino'') was a moderate liberal faction within the

Frankfurt Parliament The Frankfurt Parliament (german: Frankfurter Nationalversammlung, literally ''Frankfurt National Assembly'') was the first freely elected parliament for all German states, including the German-populated areas of Austria-Hungary, elected on 1 Ma ...

formed on June 25, 1848. Like most of the factions in the parliament, its name was a reference to the usual meeting place of its members in

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian dialects, Hessian: , "Franks, Frank ford (crossing), ford on the Main (river), Main"), is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as o ...

. Casino was the largest and most influential faction at

Paulskirche St Paul's Church (german: Paulskirche) is a former Protestant church in Frankfurt, Germany, used as a national assembly hall. Its important political symbolism dates back to 1848 when the Frankfurt Parliament convened there, the first publicl ...

. Its members were for the most part national liberals. Casino was a faction of moderate left-wingers or liberals,Martin Kitchen
''A History of Modern Germany: 1800 to the Present''
2nd ed. Chichester, West Sussex/Malden, Massachusetts: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012, . or right-centrists. Its members were overwhelmingly drawn from the intelligentsia of

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

and the rest of Northern Germany, and the group's political positions were closer to those of the

right wing Right-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that view certain social orders and Social stratification, hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this pos ...

in the Prussian assembly than to the center-right there, whose positions corresponded to those of center-left factions at Frankfurt. With approximately 130 members, it was the largest faction. Members of the group and their publications had played major roles in preparing for and organizing the meeting of the parliament, for example in publicity in the '' Deutsche Zeitung'', a liberal newspaper that came to be the organ of the faction, and participation in the Heppenheim Meeting, the Heidelberg Assembly, and the ''Vorparlament'', the preliminary assembly that met in the Paulskirche from March 31 to April 3, 1848. They also had a decisive influence on the work of the parliament, especially the

Frankfurt Constitution The Frankfurt Constitution (german: Frankfurter Reichsverfassung, FRV) or Constitution of St. Paul's Church (''Paulskirchenverfassung''), officially named the Constitution of the German Empire (''Verfassung des Deutschen Reiches'') of 28 March 18 ...

that it produced. The majority of the Casino members joined with the Westendhall faction to form the coalition of ''Erbkaiserliche'' ( hereditary imperialists) that met in the concert hall of the Gasthof zum Weidenbusch and pushed through the specification of

constitutional monarchy A constitutional monarchy, parliamentary monarchy, or democratic monarchy is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in decision making. Constitutional monarchies di ...

as the preferred political form of the sought-after national state. Casino also influenced the eventual adoption of a more restricted franchise than advocated by the republican groups. Members included a large number of prominent politicians:

Heinrich von Gagern Heinrich Wilhelm August Freiherr von Gagern (20 August 179922 May 1880) was a statesman who argued for the unification of Germany. Early career The third son of Hans Christoph Ernst, Baron von Gagern, a liberal statesman from Nassau, Heinrich ...

and

Eduard von Simson Martin Sigismund Eduard von Simson (10 November 1810 – 2 May 1899) was a German jurist and distinguished liberal politician of the Kingdom of Prussia and German Empire, who served as President of the Frankfurt Parliament as well as the first Pr ...

, both of whom served as President of the assembly,

Friedrich Daniel Bassermann Friedrich Daniel Bassermann (24 February 1811 in Mannheim – 29 July 1855) was a German liberal politician who is best known for calling for a pan-German Parliament at the Frankfurt Parliament. He emphasized the value of a national self-este ...

, chairman of the committee that wrote the constitution, and other liberals and right-wing liberals such as

Hans Adolf Erdmann von Auerswald Hans Adolf Erdmann von Auerswald (1792 – September 18, 1848) was a Prussian general and politician. Biography Auerswald was born in Faulen, West Prussia where the family possessed the estates of Plauth and Tromnau. He entered the Prussia ...

Hermann von Beckerath Hermann von Beckerath (13 December 1801 in Krefeld – 12 May 1870 also in Krefeld) was a banker and Prussian statesman. Biography He was born at Krefeld, in Rhenish Prussia. His youth was spent in learning the business of banking, after which h ...

Friedrich Christoph Dahlmann Friedrich Christoph Dahlmann (13 May 1785, Wismar5 December 1860, Bonn) was a German historian and politician. Biography He came of an old Hanseatic family of Wismar, then controlled by Sweden. His father, who was burgomaster of the town ...

Johann Gustav Droysen Johann Gustav Bernhard Droysen (; ; 6 July 180819 June 1884) was a German historian. His history of Alexander the Great was the first work representing a new school of German historical thought that idealized power held by so-called "great" men. ...

Georg Gottfried Gervinus Georg Gottfried Gervinus (20 May 1805 – 18 March 1871) was a German literary and political historian. Biography Gervinus was born in Darmstadt. He was educated at the gymnasium of the town, and intended for a commercial career, but in 1825 he b ...

Friedrich von Raumer Friedrich Ludwig Georg von Raumer (14 May 1781 – 14 June 1873) was a German historian. He was the first scientific historian to popularise history in German. He travelled extensively and served in German legislative bodies. Biography He was bo ...

, August Hergenhahn,

Felix Lichnowsky Felix (von) Lichnowsky, ''fully'' Felix Maria Vincenz Andreas ''Fürst'' von Lichnowsky, ''Graf'' von Werdenberg ( es, link=no, Félix Lichnowsky; 5 April 1814 – 19 September 1848) was a son of the historian Eduard Lichnowsky who had wr ...

Karl Mathy Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Mathy (March 17, 1807 – February 3, 1868), was a Badensian statesman. He was born at Mannheim. He studied law and politics at Heidelberg, and entered the Baden government department of finance in 1829. His sympathy w ...

Gustav von Mevissen Gustav Mevissen, after 1884 known as Gustav von Mevissen, (20 May 1815 – 13 August 1899), was a German businessman and politician. Mevissen was born in Dülken, Rhine Province The Rhine Province (german: Rheinprovinz), also known as Rhen ...

Alexander von Soiron Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

Georg Waitz Georg Waitz (9 October 1813 – 24 May 1886) was a German medieval historian and politician. Waitz is often spoken of as the leading disciple of Leopold von Ranke, though perhaps he had more affinity with Georg Heinrich Pertz or Friedrich Christo ...

, and

Carl Theodor Welcker Carl Theodor Georg Philipp Welcker (* 29 March 1790, in Oberofleiden – 10 March 1869, in Neuenheim bei Heidelberg) was a German legal scholar, law professor, politician, and journalist. Biography Education and early career He studie ...

. In September 1848, the Landsberg faction split off from Casino; its members advocated a more prominent role for the national assembly. Following the resignation of the Austrian deputy

Anton von Schmerling Anton Ritter von Schmerling (23 August 180523 May 1893) was an Austrian statesman. Life Von Schmerling was born in Vienna, where his father held a high position on the judicial side of the civil service. After studying law at Vienna, in 1829 Sch ...

on December 21, 1848, the Casino members who preferred a "

Greater Germany Pan-Germanism (german: Pangermanismus or '), also occasionally known as Pan-Germanicism, is a pan-nationalist political idea. Pan-Germanists originally sought to unify all the German-speaking people – and possibly also Germanic-speaking ...

" including Austria likewise split off under the leadership of

Karl Jürgens Karl may refer to: People * Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne * Karl Marx, German philosopher and political writer * Karl of Austria, last Austr ...

and formed the more conservative Pariser Hof. Jacob Grimm was nominally a member of the Casino faction, but after the September 5, 1848, vote spearheaded by Dahlmann rescinding the Malmö ceasefire between Prussia and Denmark, took a leave of absence and then resigned as a deputy. Unlike most of the factions, the Casino's meeting place was not an inn or cafe, but a self-improvement and networking club.Robert Beachy and Ralph Roth, ''Who Ran the Cities?: City Elites and Urban Power Structures in Europe and North America, 1750–1940'', Historical urban studies series, Aldershot, Hampshire/Burlington, Vermont: Ashgate, 2007,
pp. 150, 151

References

{{Authority control Frankfurt Parliament Political parties established in 1848 1848 establishments in Germany Defunct political parties in Germany Political parties with year of disestablishment missing