The Frankfurt Parliament is the name of the German National Assembly founded during the Revolutions of 1848 that tried to unite Germany in a democratic way. Meeting in the city of Frankfurt am Main, the assembly was attended by 831 deputies. The National Assembly is the name of either a legislature, or the lower house of a bicameral legislature in some countries. ... // Preliminaries Germany at the time of the Revolutions of 1848 was a collection of over 30 states loosely bound together in the German Confederation after the Congress of Vienna in 1815. ... Chamber of Deputies is the name given to a legislative body, which may either be the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or the name of a unicameral one. ...

The members of the Frankfurt Parliament convened in the St. Paul's Church, Frankfurt on May 18, 1848, when the Prussian king, Friedrich Wilhelm IV, influenced by the 1848 revolutions, gave support to a National Assembly to discuss German unification. The Paulskirche seen from the Maintower The Paulskirche is a church in Frankfurt am Main with important political symbolism in Germany. ... Main Station Frankfurt Frankfurt International Airport For other uses, see Frankfurt (disambiguation). ... May 18 is the 138th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (139th in leap years). ... 1848 (MDCCCXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Coat of Arms of the Kingdom of Prussia, 1701-1918 Prussia (German: ; Latin: Borussia, Prutenia; Lithuanian: ; Polish: ; Old Prussian: Prūsa) was, most recently, a historic state originating in East Prussia, an area which for centuries had substantial influence on German and European history. ... King Frederick William IV of Prussia (October 15, 1795 - January 2, 1861), the eldest son and successor of Frederick William III of Prussia, reigned as King of Prussia from 1840 to 1861. ...

The Frankfurt Parliament convened in Frankfurt's Paulskirche.

Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1000x743, 216 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Germany Revolutions of 1848 in the German states Frankfurt Parliament Großdeutschland Germania (painting) Portal:Germany/Anniversaries/March... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1000x743, 216 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Germany Revolutions of 1848 in the German states Frankfurt Parliament Großdeutschland Germania (painting) Portal:Germany/Anniversaries/March...

Deliberations

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. Civil rights or positive rights are those legal rights retained by citizens and protected by the government. ... The following List of German Confederation member states shows those states that in 1815 were part of the German Confederation, which lasted, with some changes in the member states, until 1866. ...

Factions

After the discussion about civil rights the Assembly factionalized along liberal-versus-conservative lines, as well as between monarchists and republicans.

• On the far right side appeared the conservative federalists, who advocated a federal state with huge powers for the monarchs.
• Not as far to the right were the constitutional federalists, who advocated a federal state with the monarch submitting to constitutions.
• On the moderate left side appeared the parliamentary unitarists, who advocated a centralized state with a monarchy responsible to parliament.
• On the far left, appeared the republican unitarists, who advocated a centralized republic.

The existence of so many factions, of course, made the work far more difficult. In politics, right-wing, the political right, or simply the right, are terms which refer, with no particular precision, to the segment of the political spectrum in opposition to left-wing politics. ... This article deals with conservatism as a political philosophy. ... The term federalist refers to a proponent of one of several different ideologies, depending on the locale or subject matter. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Left-Right politics. ...

Obstruction

Work was further obstructed by , 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 (Kleindeutschland: Germany under Prussian lead, without Austria). Coat of Arms of the Kingdom of Prussia, 1701-1918 Prussia (German: ; Latin: Borussia, Prutenia; Lithuanian: ; Polish: ; Old Prussian: PrÅ«sa) was, most recently, a historic state originating in East Prussia, an area which for centuries had substantial influence on German and European history. ... Schleswig-Holstein is the northernmost of the 16 Bundesländer in Germany. ...

Schleswig-Holstein

At the same time as the events in Frankfurt, a Danish constitutional convention had assembled in Copenhagen, and the question of extending the draft constitution to Schleswig quickly arose, since Schleswig's population was mostly Danish and felt threatened by the prospect of becoming a small minority in a new Germany. The new king was not unsympathetic to such a policy but was afraid of its possible consequences. This crisis let to a German revolt in both Schleswig and Holstein, prompting the Frankfurt Parliament to approve the intervention of Prussia to protect its member state Holstein. On April 9, 1848 the Prussian government authorised its army to intervene in Schleswig as well.^[1] Copenhagen (IPA: , rhyming with pagan (the way the Danes themselves pronounce the name of the capital in English), or , with a as in spa; Danish   IPA: ) is the capital of Denmark and the countrys largest city (metropolitan population 1,211,542 (2006)), at present made up of 16 municipalities. ... The region of Schleswig (former English name: Sleswick, Danish: Sønderjylland or Slesvig, Low German: Sleswig, North Frisian: Slaswik or Sleesweg) covers the area about 60 km north and 70 km south of the border between Germany and Denmark. ... King Frederick VII Frederick VII (October 6, 1808 - November 15, 1863) was the last king of Denmark to rule as an absolute monarch. ... Coat of Arms of the Kingdom of Prussia, 1701-1918 Prussia (German: ; Latin: Borussia, Prutenia; Lithuanian: ; Polish: ; Old Prussian: PrÅ«sa) was, most recently, a historic state originating in East Prussia, an area which for centuries had substantial influence on German and European history. ... April 9 is the 99th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (100th in leap years). ... 1848 (MDCCCXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

A following Prussian-Danish armistice in August 1848 was negotiated without the consent of the Frankfurt Parliament, thus underlining a major serious weakness; it controlled no military forces of its own. The German-Danish war continued until 1851. The First war of Schleswig (1848 – 1850), known in Denmark as the Three Years War (Treårskrigen), was a military conflict in southern Denmark, contesting the issue of who should control the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. ...

Revolts

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

Deliberations about a constitution

In October 1848 delibrations about a constitution started. Results were presented in April 1849. The constitution was meant to be a synthesis of tradition (empire, monarchy, federal state) and progress (universal suffrage, house of representatives). 1849 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ...

Failure

Kaiserdeputation: Friedrich Wilhelm IV. is offered the title of German Emperor and refuses it

After the completion of the constitution the deputies presented the crown of Little Germany to Friedrich Wilhelm IV, King of Prussia. He refused what he called a crown "from the gutter" and caused the Prussian and Austrian deputies to leave the parliament, which was doomed to be disbanded. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1269x915, 289 KB) Kaiserdeputation on April, 3rd, 1849 in Berlin, offering the title of German Emperor to de:Friedrich Wilhelm IV. (Preußen). ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1269x915, 289 KB) Kaiserdeputation on April, 3rd, 1849 in Berlin, offering the title of German Emperor to de:Friedrich Wilhelm IV. (Preußen). ...

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). Furthermore the public's strong support of the monarchy prevented a permanent backing of the revolutionary forces. The rich people sided with the political leadership and the aristocracy. The cleft between the interests of the rich people, and those of the lower classes was too wide to be bridged by a compromise agreement. The revolutionaries also lacked uniformity in terms of demands. The military and bureaucrats remained loyal to the leading classes while the assembly did not have its own military troops. Instead of representing the entire public, the parliament only reflected intellectuals. They needed so much time to finish the constitution that when they were ready the monarchy had fortified already. The revolutions on which the parliament was founded were crushed. The refusal of Friedrich Wilhelm IV to accept the "crown from the gutter" (Germany) gave Prussia and Austria an excuse to withdraw their deputies, thus crushing the last hazard of revolution. The great winners were the conservatives.

Presidents of the National Assembly

• Friedrich Lang [Alterspräsident] (18 May 1848 - 19 May 1848)
• Heinrich von Gagern (19 May 1848 - 16 December 1848)
• Eduard Simson (18 December 1848 - 11 May 1849)
• Jacob Ludwig Theodor Reh (12 May 1849 - 30 May 1849)
• Friedrich Wilhelm Löwe (6 June 1849 - 18 June 1849)

Heinrich Wilhelm August, Freiherr von Gagern (August 20, 1799 - May 22, 1880) statesman who argued for the unification of Germany. ...

See also

• The Revolutions of 1848 in the German states
• German history
• Politics of Germany
• Bundestag

// Preliminaries Germany at the time of the Revolutions of 1848 was a collection of over 30 states loosely bound together in the German Confederation after the Congress of Vienna in 1815. ... The history of Germany is, in places, extremely complicated and depends much on how one defines Germany. ... Politics of Germany takes place in a framework of a federal parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Federal Chancellor is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. ... The Bundestag (Federal Diet) is the parliament of Germany. ...

Further reading

• Frankfurt Parliament by Frank Eyck, 1969 ISBN 0-312-30345-9
• A Year of Revolutions: Fanny Lewald's Recollections of 1848 translated, edited, and annotated by Hanna Ballin Lewis, 1997. ISBN 1-57181-099-4

References

External links

• Article from the Neue Rheinische Zeitung No. 150 on the Frankfurt Parliament, by Karl Marx
• Shrine of German Democracy is Platform of President's Talk - article from the New York Times, June 26, 1963.
• Essay--Revolutions of 1848