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 1849, was an unsuccessful attempt to create a unified

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 **Ge ...

nation state A nation state is a political unit where the state and nation are congruent. It is a more precise concept than "country", since a country does not need to have a predominant ethnic group. A nation, in the sense of a common ethnicity, may i ...

in the successor states of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 ...

organised in the

German Confederation The German Confederation (german: Deutscher Bund, ) was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe. It was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as a replacement of the former Holy Roman Empire, w ...

. Adopted and proclaimed by 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 ...

after the

Revolutions of 1848 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 ...

, the

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 entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

contained a charter of

fundamental rights Fundamental rights are a group of rights that have been recognized by a high degree of protection from encroachment. These rights are specifically identified in a constitution, or have been found under due process of law. The United Nations' Susta ...

and a democratic government in the form of a

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 dif ...

. King Frederick William IV of Prussia was designated

head of state A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and l ...

as "Emperor of the

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

" ('' 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 The Constitution of the German Empire (german: Verfassung des Deutschen Reiches) was the basic law of the German Empire of 1871-1918, from 16 April 1871, coming into effect on 4 May 1871. German historians often refer to it as Bismarck's imper ...

enacted in 1871 and initiated by Otto von Bismarck.

Emergence

The 1849 Constitution was proclaimed by the

, during its meeting in the

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 ...

church on 27 March 1849, and came in effect on 28 March, when it was published in the ''Reichs-Gesetz-Blatt 1849'', pp. 101–147. Thus, a united German Empire, as successor to the German Confederation, had been founded ''de jure''. ''De facto'', however, most Princes on German soil were not willing to give up sovereignty and resisted it, so it did not succeed on land, with the German Confederation being restored a year later. On the other hand, this first and democratic German Empire, with its small

Reichsflotte The ''Reichsflotte'' (, ''Imperial Fleet'') was the first navy for all of Germany, established by the revolutionary German Empire to provide a naval force in the First Schleswig War against Denmark. The decision was made on 14 June 1848 by the F ...

(''Imperial Fleet'') founded a year earlier, fought 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 The national flag of Germany is a tricolour consisting of three equal horizontal bands displaying the national colours of Germany: black, red, and gold (german: Schwarz-Rot-Gold). The flag was first sighted in 1848 in the German Confederat ...

. 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 hereditary emperor (''Erbkaisertum''), which had been favoured mainly by the ''erbkaiserliche'' group around Gagern, with the reluctant support of the Westendhall group around

Heinrich Simon August Heinrich Simon (29 October 180516 August 1860) was a German democratic politician. External links * at the Swiss Literary Archives * * * August Heinrich Simon in thSimonsection of the Meyers Konversations-Lexikon from 1880 Simon Papers ...

. On the first reading, such a solution had been dismissed. The change of mind came about because all alternative suggestions, such as an elective monarchy, or 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 The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

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 The "German question" was a debate in the 19th century, especially during the Revolutions of 1848, over the best way to achieve a unification of all or most lands inhabited by Germans. From 1815 to 1866, about 37 independent German-speaking sta ...

, i.e. the debate whether a unified Germany should comprise those

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

crown lands included in the Confederation's territory or not. As the Habsburg emperors would never renounce any constituent lands of their

multinational state A multinational state or a multinational union is a sovereign entity that comprises two or more nations or states. This contrasts with a nation state, where a single nation accounts for the bulk of the population. Depending on the definition of ...

, the delegates with the designation of King Frederick William IV opted for a

Prussian 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 e ...

-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 trial Public trial or open trial is a trial that is open to the public, as opposed to a secret trial. It should not be confused with a show trial. United States The Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution establishes the right of the accus ...

s, oral criminal proceedings, and

jury trial A jury trial, or trial by jury, is a legal proceeding in which a jury makes a decision or findings of fact. It is distinguished from a bench trial in which a judge or panel of judges makes all decisions. Jury trials are used in a significan ...

s for the "more serious crimes and all political offenses." The introduction of the jury trial was followed by its adoption by the overwhelming majority of German states, and continued with the German Empire ''Gerichtsverfassungsgesetz'' (GVG) of 27 January 1877, and would last until the

Emminger Reform The Emminger Decree or Emminger Reform (german: Emminger Verordnung, ''Lex Emminger'', or '; formally the ') was an emergency decree in the democratic Weimar Republic by Justice Minister Erich Emminger ( BVP) on 4 January 1924 that among other thing ...

of 4 January 1924 during the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is ...

References

External links

Originaltext der Verfassung des Deutschen Reichs ("Paulskirchenverfassung") vom 28. März 1849 (auf documentArchiv.de)

Verfassung des Deutschen Reiches ("Paulskirchen-Verfassung") vom 28.03.1849 in Volltext
{{Authority control 1849 in Germany Frankfurt Parliament German revolutions of 1848–1849 1849 in politics 1849 in law 1849 documents Historical constitutions of Germany

Emergence

See also

References

Further reading

External links