The National Assembly of 1851 ( Icelandic ''Þjóðfundurinn 1851'') was a constitutional convention called to decide the political status of Iceland. The assembly was called in 1848, in the liberal atmosphere following the

Spring of Nations The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europea ...

. But in 1851, when the assembly finally met, the political tide had turned and conservative forces had regained strength. The Danes presented a bill to the assembly which would have made the

Danish Constitution The Constitutional Act of the Realm of Denmark ( da, Danmarks Riges Grundlov), also known as the Constitutional Act of the Kingdom of Denmark, or simply the Constitution ( da, Grundloven, fo, Grundlógin, kl, Tunngaviusumik inatsit), is the c ...

of 1849 valid in Iceland with an exception concerning the legislative power. Iceland was to get six seats in the

Danish Parliament 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 a ...

. The delegates prepared an alternative bill, proposing a constitution for a practically independent Iceland in personal union with the Danish king. Seeing that the delegates would never agree to the Danish bill and believing them to have no authority to discuss the alternative bill, Governor Trampe decided to dissolve the Assembly. At that point

Jón Sigurðsson Jón Sigurðsson (17 June 1811 – 7 December 1879) was the leader of the 19th century Icelandic independence movement. Biography Born at Hrafnseyri, in Arnarfjörður in the Westfjords area of Iceland, he was the son of Þórdís Jónsdótti ...

rose to protest, saying: :And I protest in the name of the King and the people against this procedure, and I reserve for the Assembly the right to complain to the King about this act of illegality. The official record of the meeting goes on to say: "Then the members of the Assembly rose and most of them said as if with one voice:

"We all protest!"

The constitutional status of Iceland was to remain an unresolved issue for decades to come.

References

*Gunnar Karlsson (2000). ''Iceland's 1100 Years: History of a Marginal Society''. Hurst, London. . Pages 209-214. {{Reflist 19th century in Iceland 1851 in Iceland 1851 in politics Constitutional conventions (political meeting)

See also

References