Frankfurt Parliament

Table of contents

1 Introduction 2 Delibrations 2.1 Civil Rights 2.2 Factions 2.3 Obstruction 2.4 Schleswig-Holstein 2.5 Revolts 2.6 Delibrations about a constitution 2.7 Failure 3 Conclusion

Introduction

German National Assembly founded during the revolutions of 1848, which tried to unite Germany in a democratic way. It had 831 deputies.

The 831 members of the Frankfurt Parliament convened in the Paulus Church, Frankfurt on May 18, 1848, when the Prussian king, Friedrich Wilhelm IV, gave his consent to a German constitution.

Delibrations

Civil Rights

Sessions started in July when civil rights were discussed. An agreement about civil rights was reached in October and promulgated in December. These civil rights would form the main foundation of many democratic constitutions in the individual German states.

Factions

After the discussion about civil rights the Assembly factionalized. On the right side conservative federalists appeared, who advocated a federal state with huge powers for the monarchs. Less right was the political place for constitutional federalists, who advocated a federal state with monarch submitted to constitutions. On the moderate left side parliamentary unitarists appeared, who advocated a centralized state with a monarchy responsible to parliament. On the far left, republican unitarists appeared, who advocated a centralized republic. Different factions, of course, made the work more difficult.

Obstruction

Work was further obstructed by socialist revolts from Marxists, conservative resistance from Austria, Prussia and foreign countries and by a quarrel about Schleswig-Holstein. After difficult debates the deputies chose for the small German solution (Germany under Prussian lead, without Austria).

Schleswig-Holstein

The Danes living in Schleswig wanted to join Denmark as they were threatened by the idea of living in Germany. As a constitution was to be adopted in Denmark an ideal opportunity to put their wished forward arose. They found a listening ear with Frederick VII of Denmark, who forced the annexation of Schleswig by Denmark. The Germans revolted and Prussia intervened on behalf of the German Confederation. An armistice was signed in August 1848 and the Frankfurt Parliament showed its first weaknesses: it had no real power to enforce laws. They had to accept the armistice.

Revolts

In September revolts occurred in Frankfurt and the parliament had to call troops from the German states.

Delibrations about a constitution

In October 1848 delibrations about a constitution started. Results were presented in April 1849. The constitution meant to be a synthesis of tradition (empire, monarchy, federal state) and progress (universal suffrage, house of representatives).

Failure

After the completion of the constitution the deputies presented the crown of Germany to Friedrich Wilhelm IV, King of Prussia. He refused a crown "from the gutter" and caused the Prussian and Austrian deputies to leave the parliament, which was doomed to be disbanded.

Conclusion

The Frankfurt Parliament was the first attempt to create a unified Germany. It was given the room to operate but the parliament was weak as it had no legal power (which was in the hands of the German Confederation). The revolutions on which the parliament was founded were crushed. The refusal of Friedrich Wilhelm IV to accept the crown of Germany gave Prussia and Austria an excuse to withdraw their deputies thus crushing the last hazard of revolution. The great winners were obviously the conservatives.