The North German Constitution was the constitution of the

North German Confederation The North German Confederation (german: Norddeutscher Bund) was initially a German military alliance established in August 1866 under the leadership of the Kingdom of Prussia, which was transformed in the subsequent year into a confederated st ...

, which existed as a country from 1 July 1867 to 31 December 1870. 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 ...

(1871) was closely based on it. A constituent Reichstag was elected on 12 February 1867. Its only task was to discuss, amend and adopt the proposal for a constitution which had been largely written by Otto von Bismarck, the Prussian minister president and first and only federal chancellor (), the sole minister of the Confederation. The constituent Reichstag was dominated by national liberals and moderate conservatives. The highest body of the country was the Bundesrat (Federal Council). It represented the governments of the North German states.

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 ...

had 17 of 43 votes in the Bundesrat. Decisions were based on a simple majority (Article 7), but Prussia's great size and influence often gave it what amounted to a veto. Under the constitution, the

king of Prussia The monarchs of Prussia were members of the House of Hohenzollern who were the hereditary rulers of the former German state of Prussia from its founding in 1525 as the Duchy of Prussia. The Duchy had evolved out of the Teutonic Order, a Roman C ...

(

William I William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 10 ...

), was the holder of the , de facto the head of state. He installed the chancellor, who was the federal executive. Besides the chancellor, there were no official ministers. The Reichstag was the lower house of parliament, elected by all male north Germans above the age of 25. This was quite extraordinary in those times; Bismarck introduced this in the hope that it would create conservative majorities. The Reichstag and Bundesrat together had legislative powers, making the democratically elected Reichstag an important and powerful body. After the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/1871, the south German states

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden i ...

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

and

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Württ ...

joined the confederation. It was renamed ( German Empire), and the constitution of the confederation, with few changes, became the Constitution of the German Empire.

References

External links

Text of the Constitution
{{Authority control North German Confederation Otto von Bismarck 1867 in law 1867 documents 1867 in politics Historical constitutions of Germany July 1867 events