Undersecretary of State 1848/1849

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The right-wing liberal Karl Mathy from Baden was one of the first undersecretaries to be appointed on August 5, 1848.

Undersecretary of state was a position in the German central power in 1848/1849. A Reich Minister could be assigned one or two Undersecretaries who acted as deputies of the Reich Minister. The Reichsverweser first appointed undersecretaries on August 5, 1848, when he completed his three-man government team.

A main motive for the establishment of under-secretaries was the better representation of the different political camps in the Reich Assembly . The Central Authority Act of June 28, 1848, just as little mentions the Undersecretaries, as does the Frankfurt Constitution of March 28, 1849.

In the German Empire (1867 / 1871–1918) there were no ministers as the Chancellor alone was responsible; the highest authorities were headed by state secretaries . In the Federal Republic of Germany (since 1949) the state secretaries have the function that in other countries corresponds to a deputy minister, comparable to the undersecretaries of central power.

Reason for establishment

Friedrich Daniel Bassermann , liberal politician and Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of the Interior

A small cabinet with a few ministers would have been sufficient for the tasks of the central authority. However, in order to better represent the parliamentary groups of the National Assembly and the more important German states in the cabinet, under-secretaries were appointed in addition to the ministers. As a result, quite a number of people took part in the meetings of the entire Reich Ministry (the government), Robert von Mohl later recalled , which did not simplify the deliberations. Another problem was that the undersecretaries (like the ministers) were mostly members of the National Assembly and spent a lot of time there because of their parliamentary positions.

Undersecretary of State in the Interior Ministry Friedrich Bassermann suspected another reason for the establishment of Undersecretaries: a large cabinet could not be overturned or replaced as easily as a small one. In any case, it became apparent in September 1848 that no successor could be found for the resigned Leiningen cabinet and that the cabinet was reinstated essentially unchanged.

Powers

An undersecretary of state was allowed to take part in the internal meetings of the entire Reich Ministry without restrictions and to have a say; in this sense he was a member of the Cabinet. He could also represent his minister in the National Assembly and answer parliamentary questions; In doing so he relieved the minister considerably, since numerous motions made the presence of a member of the government necessary: ​​by intervening in the debate, the member of the government tried to prevent the acceptance of motions that would have made the work of the government more difficult. However, an undersecretary of state was not allowed to speak to the Reich Administrator independently and did not take part in the Ministerial Council , the twice-weekly meeting of the ministers with the Reich Administrator.

A right to vote for the undersecretaries in cabinet meetings was in dispute. Originally, the right to vote was part of an agreement between the right and left centers ; According to coalition negotiations, the latter was supposed to compensate for the fact that the left center did not occupy a ministerial post. Prime Minister Leiningen and Justice Minister Heckscher protested that the seven undersecretaries could then overrule the six ministers, even though only the ministers had political responsibility . Thereupon the left center received a minister (Justice Minister Mohl), and the undersecretaries were left without voting rights. However, there were internal agreements that no decisions should be made in the Ministerial Council that had not been dealt with by the cabinet with the assistance of the Undersecretaries of State.

In some ministries the Undersecretaries headed their own areas. For example, Undersecretary Christian Widenmann dealt with legislation in the Ministry of Justice. However, their areas of activity were not always clearly delimited from those of the minister, which could again limit the effectiveness of their work.

See also

supporting documents

  1. ^ Ralf Heikaus: The first months of the provisional central authority for Germany (July to December 1848). Dissertation Frankfurt am Main, Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main [a. a.] 1997, p. 87.
  2. ^ Ralf Heikaus: The first months of the provisional central authority for Germany (July to December 1848). Dissertation Frankfurt am Main, Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main [a. a.] 1997, p. 89.
  3. ^ Ralf Heikaus: The first months of the provisional central authority for Germany (July to December 1848). Dissertation Frankfurt am Main, Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main [a. a.] 1997, pp. 86, 89.
  4. ^ Ralf Heikaus: The first months of the provisional central authority for Germany (July to December 1848). Dissertation Frankfurt am Main, Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main [a. a.] 1997, pp. 83/84.
  5. ^ Ralf Heikaus: The first months of the provisional central authority for Germany (July to December 1848). Dissertation Frankfurt am Main, Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main [a. a.] 1997, p. 86/87, fn. 190.
  6. ^ Ralf Heikaus: The first months of the provisional central authority for Germany (July to December 1848). Dissertation Frankfurt am Main, Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main [a. a.] 1997, pp. 87/88.