Stephan Gutzwiller

Gravestone in the cemetery in Liestal

Stephan Gutzwiller (born November 21, 1802 in Therwil ; † August 29, 1875 in Interlaken ) was a Swiss lawyer , politician and main leader of the Baselbieter revolution , which led to the introduction of direct democracy in the canton of Basel-Landschaft and in 1833 to the separation of the cantons .

biography

Stephan Gutzwiller was born in 1802 as the son of farrier Joseph Thomas Gutzwiller in Therwil, which at that time was a French village in the Haut-Rhin department . He felt a strong sympathy for the western neighbor and the French language and customs, literature and historiography. After visiting the Lyceum in Solothurn he began in Wuerzburg the study of theology , changed after two years of jurisprudence . First he studied in Heidelberg and later in Basel, where he graduated with the bar exam in 1827. The young Basel native, enthusiastic about ideas of liberalism , opened his own office on Barfüsserplatz in Basel and was elected a member of parliament by the Grand Council in autumn 1827 . This is how Gutzwiller's political career began and friends and opponents attested him high intelligence, fiery eloquence and burning ambition.

On October 18, 1830, Gutzwiller, the spiritual leader of the rural party, met 39 other citizens of the countryside in Bad Bubendorf , and Stephan Gutzwiller formulated a petition with them for an extension of the people's rights for the rural population. This petition was the prelude to the constitutional dispute and thus to the civil war that followed .

The petition was rejected by the reactionary authority ruled by the city of Basel and the popular movement could no longer be stopped. It rolled over its leader Stephan Gutzwiller and he became what he never wanted to be: a revolutionary . Within three years, the movement led to a result that Gutzwiller wanted to avoid, the separation of the cantons of Basel-Landschaft and Basel-Stadt .

At the beginning of 1831 a provisional government was elected in Liestal and Gutzwiller became its head. The conflict escalated into open revolt and the city government took military action against the insurgents. Gutzwiller was sentenced in absentia to six years ' imprisonment by the Basel criminal court and his active citizenship was revoked for twelve years. But wherever he appeared, he was celebrated as a hero by the people.

On March 17, 1832, 46 municipalities founded the independent canton of Basel-Landschaft and Stephan Gutzwiller became President of the Constitutional Council, then President of the District Administrator and President of the Government Council . After the Battle of the Hülftenschanz sealed on August 26 , the Swiss Federal 1833 Diet the separation of landscape and city.

In 1848 the Swiss Federal Constitution guaranteed what Gutzwiller had fought for 20 years earlier: legal equality and fundamental rights for all citizens.

In the course of the 1840s, Gutzwiller retired from canton politics to work and private life and in 1846 to Arlesheim. He died on August 29, 1875 in Interlaken and, at his own request, was not buried in Therwil, but in the canton capital Liestal.

Offices

• President of the Provisional Government 1831
• President of the Constitutional Council 1832
• President of the government 1832–1833
• Head of the Basel delegation to the partition committee 1833–1835
• District Administrator 1833–41, President 1833 and 1837
• President of the Education Council 1835–1838
• Conference Minister 1832–34, 1836, 1841
• District clerk in Liestal 1834–1837
• Law firm in Liestal 1833–1841
• Agent of the Schweizerhalle saltworks
• Head of the party of order
• Chief Justice 1841–1853 and 1854–1860, President several times
• Council of States 1848–1851
• National Council 1851–1872
• Board of Directors of BL Hypothekenbank 1849–1871
• Board of Directors of Switzerland. Centralbahn 1860–1864 and 1867–1872

literature

• Kaspar Birkhäuser : The Baselbieter politician Stephan Gutzwiller (1802-1875) (= sources and research on the history and regional studies of the canton of Baselland. Vol. 21). Canton Basel-Landschaft, Liestal 1983, ISBN 3-85673-202-0 (dissertation, University of Basel, 1982).

Web links

• Kaspar Birkhäuser : Stephan Gutzwiller. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Stephan Gutzwiller in the personal dictionary of the canton of Basel-Landschaft

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ortmuseum in the field, Reigoldswil: chronology of events.