Federal resolution on the transfer of the competences of the Bundestag to the Reichsverweser

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Dome hall of the Thurn- und Taxis'schen Palais in Frankfurt , photo taken around 1900. The palace was the seat of the Federal Assembly, also known as the Bundestag, until 1848 and then again from 1849/1851. The Bundestag delegates met here on July 10, 1848 for their (provisionally) last meeting. Shortly afterwards, the imperial administrator took over the palace.

The federal resolution on the transfer of the competences of the Bundestag to the Reichsverweser of July 12, 1848 was a resolution of the Bundestag envoy of the German Confederation . Shortly before that, on June 28, 1848, the Frankfurt National Assembly had set up a provisional central power and immediately afterwards elected Johann of Austria as Reich Administrator. The Bundestag, the representation of the German individual states, hurried to sanction the election retrospectively and declared with the federal resolution of July 12th that its own previous activities had ended.

Only after the crackdown on the revolution in 1849 and the failure of the Prussian union policy did the Bundestag come together again in full strength in the summer of 1851. With the Federal Reaction Resolution of August 23, 1851, the German states reaffirmed that they wanted to undo the liberal achievements of the revolution.

occurrence

Provisional central power

Archduke Johann of Austria, imperial administrator from July 1848 to December 1849

In the course of the revolution of 1848 , the Bundestag had ordered through a federal electoral law that the individual states organize elections to a national assembly. The Bundestag also tried to set up a directory as the federal executive. That never happened, because the National Assembly met on May 18, 1848.

This then took the initiative into their own hands and created a provisional constitutional order for a transitional period. Instead of a board of directors, i.e. an organ consisting of several people, the President of the National Assembly, Heinrich von Gagern , proposed an individual. On June 28, the National Assembly passed the Reich Law on the introduction of a provisional central authority . The law spoke of the fact that “the existence of the Bundestag” would cease when the central power came into effect. One day later she elected Archduke Johann of Austria , uncle of the Austrian emperor, as imperial administrator, a kind of temporary substitute monarch. The Reichsverweser then put together a Reich government (Reich Ministry).

Reaction of the governments in Germany

The governments of the individual German states did not dare to oppose this choice. The German public would have been outraged, and the governments had to expect that the National Assembly would then have set up a republic with a president. On the day of the election, the governments hurried to let the imperial administrator know that they had declared themselves in favor of it before the election. With this communication to the Reich Administrator, the governments recognized the validity of the central authority. After all, the Reich Administrator was elected on the basis of the Central Power Act. There was no doubt about this among those involved.

Before accepting the imperial title, Johann obtained the permission of his imperial nephew and mentioned in his inaugural address that he wanted the approval of the German governments. As a result, however, he always derived his legitimacy from the election by the National Assembly. During his trip from Vienna to Frankfurt the governments, despite their reluctance, confirmed the election and the central authority (Hanover and Saxony only later).

Bundestag resolution

In order to keep the form, the Bundestag delegates agreed on July 10th on a draft resolution for an official address to the Reichsverweser two days later. At the same time, the authorities that were subordinate to the Bundestag, such as the commanders of the federal fortresses , were to be informed about the resolved dissolution of the Bundestag . The end of the Bundestag and the binding legal position of the central authority meant “subsequent, unrestricted recognition by the governments”. The delegates from the Bundestag became representatives of the individual states with the central authority.

According to Ralf Heikaus, the German Confederation itself was not dissolved :

“But only a few contemporaries were aware of the legal continued existence of the German Confederation at the time, since it ceased to exist for the vast majority of the population in Germany with the termination of the activities of the old, hated Bundestag. Under these circumstances, a resurrection or even a resurgence of the rule of the Bundestag committee bound by instructions was considered completely unimaginable for everyone. "

Despite this dissolution, the Bundestag reassembled in full in the summer of 1851 after Austria had tried to do so since mid-1849. In between were the efforts of Prussia to form an Erfurt Union . After the autumn crisis of 1850 , Prussia had to give up its union plans for good.

Theoretically, the Bundestag could only delegate the powers of the German Confederation, which were primarily limited to foreign and defense policy. For the transformation of the confederation into a federal state , according to Ulrich Huber , the individual states should have participated in accordance with their respective constitution. The establishment of a provisional constitutional order through the Central Power Act was therefore a revolutionary act by the National Assembly. However, the Bundestag recognized the provisional constitutional order. According to Huber, this is where the substantial core of the Bundestag resolution can be seen. In addition, none of the governments distanced themselves from the decision, so the provisional constitutional order and thus the central authority was based on an agreement between the National Assembly and governments.

content

The Bundestag envoy Anton Ritter von Schmerling , Reich Minister from July 15, 1848

The resolution is addressed directly to the “Kaiserl. Highness “Johann, the“ Reichsverweser ”chosen by the National Assembly. The address was given by Anton von Schmerling , the presidential envoy, that is, the Austrian parliamentary envoy, the old presidential power in the German Confederation. The address refers to the central authority, which was created “according to the wishes of the German people”, “to provide for the general security and welfare of the German federal state”.

Then the address lists the powers of the Bundestag according to the constitution of the German Confederation . This includes, among other things, maintaining the "security and independence of our fatherland" and relations with other countries. The Bundestag delegates these powers to the central authority on behalf of the governments. The governments "happily offer to cooperate in all directives of the central authority which are supposed to establish and consolidate Germany's external and internal power". At the end of the speech it is said that the Bundestag sees its "previous activities as ended".

See also

source

  • Ernst Rudolf Huber : Documents on German constitutional history. Volume 1: German constitutional documents 1803-1850. 3rd edition, W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart a. a. 1978 (1961). No. 86 (No. 83). Federal decree on the transfer of the competences of the Bundestag to the Reichsverweser of July 12, 1848. pp. 341/342.

Web links

supporting documents

  1. ↑ Manfred Botzenhart: German Parliamentarism in the Revolutionary Period 1848–1850. Droste, Düsseldorf 1977, pp. 165/166.
  2. ^ Ralf Heikaus: The first months of the provisional central authority for Germany (July to December 1848). Diss. Frankfurt am Main, Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main a. a. 1997, pp. 40/41.
  3. ^ Ralf Heikaus: The first months of the provisional central authority for Germany (July to December 1848). Diss. Frankfurt am Main, Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main a. a. 1997, pp. 42-44.
  4. ^ Ralf Heikaus: The first months of the provisional central authority for Germany (July to December 1848). Diss. Frankfurt am Main, Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main a. a. 1997, pp. 45-47.
  5. ^ Ralf Heikaus: The first months of the provisional central authority for Germany (July to December 1848). Diss. Frankfurt am Main, Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main a. a. 1997, pp. 48/49.
  6. ^ Ernst Rudolf Huber: Documents on German constitutional history. Volume 1: German constitutional documents 1803-1850. 3rd edition W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart u. a. 1978 (1961). No. 92 (No. 86). Circular letter from the Reich Administrator on the position of the state plenipotentiaries in the Reich Central Authority of August 30, 1848. P. 346/347.
  7. ^ Ralf Heikaus: The first months of the provisional central authority for Germany (July to December 1848). Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main a. a., 1997 p. 48 (Dissertation Frankfurt am Main).
  8. ^ Wolfram Siemann: 1848/49 in Germany and Europe. Event, coping, memory. Schöningh, Paderborn u. a. 2006, p. 219.
  9. ↑ Ulrich Huber: The Reich law on the introduction of a general exchange order for Germany from November 26, 1848. In: JuristenZeitung. 33rd Volume, No. 23/24 (December 8, 1978), pp. 785-791, here pp. 789f.