Peter Ochs (20 August 1752, Nantes,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

– 19 June 1821,

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

, Switzerland) was a Swiss politician who is best known for drawing up the first

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 ...

of the short-lived Helvetic Republic.

Biography

Born in

of a family that claimed roots in the Basel aristocracy, Ochs himself settled in Basel in 1769. In 1776 he obtained a doctorate of laws, became a

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judic ...

and took up politics, making many useful contacts through his marriage.''Histoire de la Suisse'', Éditions Fragnière, Fribourg, Switzerland At the time Switzerland was a confederacy of self-governing cantons held together by a loose military alliance. There was little in terms of actual union and no central government. Like most of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

, Switzerland was deemed feudal in nature since the wealthiest members of society benefited from privileges that others were denied. There was much resentment over this which led to many conspiracies and uprisings, such as that led by Major

Abraham Davel Jean Daniel Abraham Davel (20 October 1670 - 24 April 1723), known as Major Davel, was a Swiss soldier and patriot of Vaud. He was sentenced to death and beheaded for calling for Vaud's independence from the Bern authorities. Early life and m ...

who protested at what he saw as the oppressive treatment that

Berne Bern () or Berne; in other Swiss languages, gsw, Bärn ; frp, Bèrna ; it, Berna ; rm, Berna is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city" (in german: Bundesstadt, link=no, french: ville fédérale ...

meted out to his native

Vaud Vaud ( ; french: (Canton de) Vaud, ; german: (Kanton) Waadt, or ), more formally the canton of Vaud, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of ten districts and its capital city is Lausanne. Its coat of arms b ...

which was then under Berne's control. Upon the outbreak of the

French Revolution of 1789 The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

, Ochs joined the partisans of revolutionary reform. With Frédéric-César de La Harpe, he called for the French to send troops into Switzerland, overthrow the "decayed Confederation" and establish a unified nation. In 1798 the French did just that. Troops moved into Switzerland and, with little resistance, soon took over the whole country. Ochs himself drew up a new constitution, abolishing the Confederacy and establishing a new central government, inspired by the French model. The new regime included a two-chamber legislature in which Ochs served as first president of the Helvetic Senate and, later, as president of the state executive, the Directory. He later fell out with de La Harpe and was forced out of government on 25 June 1799. The Helvetic Republic was abolished by the

Act of Mediation The Act of Mediation () was issued by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the French Republic on 19 February 1803 establishing the Swiss Confederation. The act also abolished the previous Helvetic Republic, which had existed since the invasi ...

in 1803 and Switzerland became a confederacy once again. In Basel Ochs achieved local prominence for his part in devising new governmental and penal codes and reorganizing the city university. ''Peter-Ochs-Strasse'' in

is named for him.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ochs, Peter 1752 births 1821 deaths Swiss politicians 18th-century Swiss people 19th-century Swiss people 18th-century Swiss politicians 19th-century Swiss politicians

Biography

References

Further reading

External links