Schleswig-Holstein State Assembly

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The Schleswig-Holstein State Assembly was the legislature in the short-lived state of Schleswig-Holstein between 1848 and 1851.

history

prehistory

The Duchy of Holstein and the Duchy of Schleswig belonged to the Danish state in the middle of the 19th century . While the German-speaking Holstein was also part of the German Confederation (the Danish king, as Duke of Holstein, was one of the German federal princes), the mixed German-Danish-Frisian-speaking Schleswig was a Danish imperial fief (the Danish king ruled in Schleswig both as duke and thus as feudal recipient as well as king and thus as liege lord).

In both duchies there were assemblies of estates, which, however, only represented a fraction of the population due to a high census suffrage : for Schleswig this was the Schleswig estates assembly , for Holstein the Holstein estates assembly . With the general state constitution of 1855, the two assemblies of estates also sent delegates to the Danish Imperial Council .

United Assembly of Estates

Provisional government of Schleswig-Holstein 1848

The March Revolution of 1848 also reached Schleswig and Holstein and there led to the Schleswig-Holstein uprising , in which the German National Liberals in the duchies demanded liberal reforms and the inclusion of a united Schleswig-Holstein in the German Confederation. The Danish king was to remain head of state as joint duke, but the government and constitution were to be renewed in a liberal sense. The Danish National Liberals corresponded to the German National Liberals in their demands for liberal reforms, but opposed the German demands on the national question about the Duchy of Schleswig.

The German-minded members of the two estates finally met on March 18, 1848 in Rendsburg as a united estates . At the same time an (illegal) people's assembly was held. The meeting of the United Estates was also illegal. On the one hand, they did not have the right to assemble themselves and, on the other hand, they only had an advisory role. The Danish-speaking members of the Schleswig Chamber did not take part in the event.

The Rendsburg Assembly decided to send a five-person delegation to Copenhagen to present the Assembly's demands to the Danish King. After the latter had rejected the demands on March 22nd, a provisional government was formed in Kiel on March 24th (the March government, so to speak ).

Provisional Schleswig-Holstein State Assembly

On April 3, 1848, the united estates met for the first joint meeting in Rendsburg and formed a provisional Schleswig-Holstein state assembly . Since the united estates did not emerge from general democratic elections, negotiations on a new electoral law were held in the estates . On July 13, 1848, the estates passed the new electoral law.

Constituent Schleswig-Holstein State Assembly

President of the State Parliament, Advocat Bargum

The parliament consisted of a chamber with 120 deputies who were elected in 60 constituencies. 28 constituencies were in Schleswig and 32 in Holstein. Each constituency basically elected two MPs. Exceptions were the constituency of Altona with 4 and the constituencies of Fehmarn and Arroe with one MP each. On average, each constituency had around 3,000 eligible voters. The election took place as a direct election. All men aged 21 and over were eligible to vote. Only men who had lost their civil rights or lived on the poor had no right to vote. Men aged 25 and over had the right to vote.

The elections for the constituent Schleswig-Holstein State Assembly took place on July 27th and 28th. The turnout was low at around 15%. In the rural constituencies it was significantly lower than in the urban ones. This was due to the fact that there was only one polling station per constituency and that traveling to the countryside was therefore time-consuming. The choice fell during harvest time, which was an additional problem for the farmers (who were by far the largest number of voters in the countryside).

The election was boycotted by the Danish residents. As a result, the elections in the predominantly Danish constituencies of Christiansfeld, Eken, Sonderburg and Insel Aero were completely canceled. In the other electoral districts with a Danish majority population, the election was a farce: in some cases no candidates were found, the German minority did not dare to vote for fear of reprisals. As a result, only 110 were elected instead of 120 members.

Mostly moderately liberal candidates prevailed. The radical democratic left formed the opposition.

The list of the Kieler Correspondenz-Blatt dated August 5 names 96 elected members. 34 of them have so far belonged to the meeting of the estates, 28 were active or former civil servants. In addition, the assembly consisted of 19 lawyers, 11 preachers, 5 professors, 5 teachers, 5 merchants, 5 landowners, 4 doctors, 2 craftsmen, 1 literary figure (Dr. Karl Lorentzen ), 2 candidates of theology, 1 boatman, 17 landowners (6th Large landowners, 9 small landowners, 6 tenants).

For the elected representatives, see the list of members of the constituent Schleswig-Holstein state assembly .

After the elections, the members of the new regional assembly met on August 15, 1848 for the constituent session. The lawyer Ludolf Conrad Hannibal Bargum was elected President of the State Parliament. Deputy was the liberal Justus Olshausen , the second vice-president was the conservative Count Reventlow-Jersbek .

The most important task of the parliament was the drafting of the constitutional state law for the duchies of Schleswig-Holstein .

The Schleswig-Holstein State Assembly

In June / July 1850, the first (and last) state assembly after the constitution was passed was elected. The election and work of the Landtag was regulated in Articles 77 to 99 of the Basic Law. The electoral law of October 20, 1848 regulated the details of the election.

The parliament now consisted of a chamber with 100 members. 50 MPs were directly and immediately elected in 50 constituencies. It was basically a single constituency. Only constituencies 23 and 24 (the city of Altona) elected two MPs together.

For the elected representatives, see the list of representatives of the Schleswig-Holstein State Assembly (1850-1851) .

The constitutive session took place on September 9, 1850. Ludolf Conrad Hannibal Bargum remained president.

On January 11, 1851, the state assembly dissolved itself after the Schleswig-Holstein uprising had finally failed. She previously agreed to the Olomouc puncture . The Schleswig and Holstein assemblies of estates were re-elected and formed the representative assembly until Schleswig-Holstein became a Prussian province in 1866 and the provincial parliament for Schleswig-Holstein was formed.

Seat

The seat of the state assembly was initially Schleswig and later Kiel, where the assembly met in Kiel Castle .

literature

  • Manfred Jessen-Klingenberg : The Schleswig-Holstein state assembly and the constitutional law of September 15, 1848. In: Göttrik Wewer (Hrsg.): Democracy in Schleswig-Holstein: historical aspects and current issues. (= Altenholzer writings. Volume 5). Leske and Budrich, Opladen 1998, ISBN 3-8100-2028-1 , pp. 93-106.
  • The basic state laws of 1848/49 in Schleswig-Holstein and Lauenburg. (= Publications of the Schleswig-Holstein State Archives. 63). Schleswig 1998, ISBN 3-931292-55-X , pp. 17-24.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Election law for the assembly to be appointed to establish the Schleswig-Holstein state constitution. In: Schleswig-Holstein advertisements. July 24, 1848, p. 233 ff.
  2. ^ Dolf Sternberger, Bernhard Vogel, Dieter Nohlen: The election of parliaments and other state organs. Volume 1 / Half Volume 1, Europe. 1969, DNB 458564583 , p. 203 (online)
  3. ^ Basic State Law for the Duchies of Schleswig-Holstein
  4. ↑ page 380