Franz Merkel (politician)

Franz Merkel (born March 15, 1754 in Heusenstamm ; † April 12, 1824 there ) was a German economist and member of the state parliament of the first elected state parliament in the Grand Duchy of Hesse .

origin

Franz Merkel was born in Heusenstamm in 1754 as the son of the Catholic innkeeper couple Andreas and Anna Maria Merkel. The Merkel couple were innkeepers at the oldest inn in Heusenstamm, the "Golden Lion". Father Andreas Merkel had secured the monopoly for the production of brandy from the regent Countess Maria-Theresia von Schönborn in 1749. In addition, the Merkel family owned the "economic monopoly" in Heusenstamm until 1848, which secured the family income. Franz Merkel's wife, Margaretha Merkel, died in 1793.

politics

After the reorganization of Germany by the Congress of Vienna in 1815, Heusenstamm belonged to the Grand Duchy of Hesse from 1816. With the Hessian constitution of 1820, the state parliament was constituted in Darmstadt on May 27, 1820, the state estates of the Grand Duchy of Hesse , which at that time still represented a two-chamber system. In the first chamber sat 50 delegates appointed by the Grand Duke, mostly aristocrats and deserving citizens. The second chamber consisted of 44 democratically elected members, including Franz Merkel. Due to the census voting right in use at the time, only male persons aged 25 and over with higher tax revenues were allowed to vote in the state parliament. For these reasons, not even 1000 people in the entire Grand Duchy met the legal requirements to be elected to the state parliament. Franz Merkel was elected to the House of Representatives at the age of 66 in the Starkenburg 1 / Heusenstamm constituency , which at that time extended to Sprendlingen . Merkel was politically active for four years until his death in 1824. Nothing is known about Merkel's political views, as no parties with political programs had been formed at that time.

literature

• Jochen Lengemann : MdL Hessen. 1808-1996. Biographical index (= political and parliamentary history of the state of Hesse. Vol. 14 = publications of the Historical Commission for Hesse. Vol. 48, 7). Elwert, Marburg 1996, ISBN 3-7708-1071-6 , p. 260.
• Minki Pham in Offenbach-Post online , January 14, 2009.
• Klaus-Dieter Rack, Bernd Vielsmeier: Hessian MPs 1820–1933. Biographical evidence for the first and second chambers of the state estates of the Grand Duchy of Hesse 1820–1918 and the state parliament of the People's State of Hesse 1919–1933 (= Political and parliamentary history of the State of Hesse. Vol. 19 = Work of the Hessian Historical Commission. NF Vol. 29) . Hessian Historical Commission, Darmstadt 2008, ISBN 978-3-88443-052-1 , No. 585.
• Hans Georg Ruppel, Birgit Groß: Hessian MPs 1820–1933. Biographical evidence for the estates of the Grand Duchy of Hesse (2nd Chamber) and the Landtag of the People's State of Hesse (= Darmstädter Archivschriften. Vol. 5). Verlag des Historisches Verein für Hessen, Darmstadt 1980, ISBN 3-922316-14-X , p. 185.

Web links

• Merkel, Franz. Hessian biography. (As of March 15, 2020). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).