Federal Reaction Decision
The federal resolution on measures to maintain public security and order in the German Confederation of 23 August 1851 is called the Federal Reaction Resolution. It was requested by Austria and Prussia . The aim was to abolish the achievements of the revolution of 1848/1849 in all individual German states , above all freedom of the press and democratic suffrage. The states had to change their national law accordingly.
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According to the decision, the German governments should check whether they had passed laws - especially since 1848 - that threatened public safety. These laws should be measured against the basic laws of the Federation ( Federal Act and Vienna Final Act ). If this should encounter obstacles, the Federal Assembly (the Bundestag of the German Confederation ) would reserve the right to intervene. A new committee should report on progress.
The decision also referred to a committee that had been set up during the Dresden Conferences . He should make proposals to "prevent the abuse of freedom of the press". But the states should, according to the resolution, immediately suppress newspapers "which pursue atheist, socialist or communist purposes or those aimed at the overthrow of the monarchy". There should also be appropriate laws in the states for this.
Abolition of the basic rights of the German people
At the same time, the Bundestag made a statement about the fundamental rights of the German people , as the Frankfurt National Assembly had enacted as a Reich law on December 27, 1848. In the Imperial Constitution of March 28, 1849, the basic rights were repeated.
According to a separate resolution of the Bundestag, the fundamental rights could not be considered “legally valid”: “They must therefore be declared as repealed in all federal states.” In some states, provisions of the fundamental rights had been brought into being through state laws, these states had to now put these provisions inoperative again. The benchmark is again the federal laws or federal purposes .
consequences
The Federal Reaction Decision made the Bundestag the supreme control authority for the constitutional conditions in the individual German states. It was directed against the middle states and especially the small states. It was considered revolutionary when the army swore an oath on the constitution; if the state parliament was elected democratically (general, equal); if the state parliament had the full right to decide on the state budget; if the association law allowed political parties; when freedom of the press was not restricted.
The mentioned committee, the reaction committee, was active from October 1851. He examined successively the national constitutions as well as the laws on elections, freedom of the press and associations. The following had to submit to his instructions: Saxony-Coburg, Anhalt, Liechtenstein, Waldeck, Lippe, Hessen-Homburg, Frankfurt am Main, Bremen and Hamburg. In the case of the medium- sized states, intervention was only made in Hanover . In Bremen and Kurhessen even the military marched in to enforce the instructions.
The other states were also forced to adapt, only Bavaria successfully refused to make any changes to its constitutional law. In Saxony the constitution of 1831, in Baden the constitution of 1818, in Württemberg the state of 1819 and in Hanover that of 1840 was restored. The Grand Duke of Hessen-Darmstadt set up a first chamber again and changed the electoral law for the second. Nassau and Sachsen-Altenburg were again given census voting rights instead of democratic ones. Ernst Rudolf Huber : "All the achievements of the revolution were lost."
See also
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- Ernst Rudolf Huber: Documents on German constitutional history. Volume 2: German constitutional documents 1851-1900. 3rd edition, W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart a. a. 1986. No. 1 (No. 1). Federal decision on measures to maintain public safety and order in the German Confederation (Federal Reaction Decision) of 23 August 1851 , p. 1/2.
- Ernst Rudolf Huber: Documents on German constitutional history. Volume 2: German constitutional documents 1851-1900 . 3rd edition, W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart a. a. 1986. No. 2 (No. 2). Federal Decree on the Abolition of the Basic Rights of the German People of 23 August 1851 , p. 2.
supporting documents
- ^ Wolfram Siemann: 1848/49 in Germany and Europe. Event, coping, memory. Schöningh, Paderborn u. a. 2006, pp. 219/220.
- ^ Wolfram Siemann: 1848/49 in Germany and Europe. Event, coping, memory. Schöningh, Paderborn u. a. 2006, pp. 220/221.
- ^ Ernst Rudolf Huber: German constitutional history since 1789. Volume III: Bismarck and the realm . 3rd edition, W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart a. a. 1988, p. 136.