Federal treaty
The federal treaty constituted the international legal basis of the Swiss Confederation of 1815. It came about after interventions by the great powers victorious over Napoleon.
The federal treaty defined a federation of states between 22 independent cantons . During the time of the Restoration , from 1815 to the Federal Constitution of 1848 , it represented the legal basis of Switzerland .
Historical development
With the invasion of anti-French troops in 1813, the mediation act lost its importance and was declared invalid by 10 of the 19 estates that at the same time founded the Federal Assembly in the suburb of Zurich with the aim of founding a new "Federal Association" in the spirit of the old Confederation. 9 old and 5 new locations were involved. From February 1814, a new constitution was discussed, which should replace the mediation act.
At the same time, the reaction was in full swing. The Bernese patriciate seized power in Bern and revoked the sovereignty of Vaud and Aargau again (annexation to Bern). The patricians also took power in the cantons of Solothurn , Friborg and Lucerne in 1814. The Waldstätte Schwyz , Nidwalden and Uri as well as Zug wanted to go back to the time before the Helvetic and convened an opposing statute . In March 1814, Switzerland was on the verge of civil war between reactionary classes led by Bern against moderate classes led by Zurich . At the so-called "Long Diet" from April 6, 1814 to August 31, 1815, the ambassadors of the great European powers confirmed the existence of the new cantons and threatened "forced mediation" if the confederates did not reach an agreement. A new draft constitution was drafted under the influence of Ioannis Kapodistrias , Stratford Canning , Claude Marie Gustave de Damas and August Ernst von Steigentesch . This strengthened the military competence of the federal government, which the reactionary estates vehemently rejected: Only 9½ estates agreed, especially the large Bern was against. When a connection between the reactionary estates in a special union and thus a civil war threatened again, the great powers considered a division of Switzerland, which finally led to an agreement in the Diet and a new treaty. The new federal treaty was passed on September 9, 1814 and came into force on August 7, 1815.
Content of the federal treaty
The federal treaty consisted of 15 articles. It secured the equal freedom of the cantons, civil rights were only mentioned in the so-called ban on subjects. The federal power, which was greatly weakened in comparison to the mediation act, lay with the daily statute, which alternately met in the suburbs of Zurich, Bern and Lucerne. The only competence of the federal government was the common security policy (army). There was also no longer a Swiss Landammann . Territorial conflicts between the cantons should be resolved by an arbitration tribunal of the Congress of Vienna .
An open and unresolved point of contention was the Sonderbund question . This led to the Sonderbund War in 1847 and finally in 1848 to the replacement of the federal treaty by the federal constitution .
See also
Web links
- Federal treaty between the XXII cantons of Switzerland in full
- Renato Morosoli: Federal Treaty . In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .