Second United State Parliament

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Second United State Parliament was a full assembly of the provincial estates of all eight provinces of Prussia, convened by King Friedrich Wilhelm IV in 1848 .

prehistory

In 1847 King Friedrich Wilhelm IV invited the provincial estates to the First United State Parliament to discuss the question of a Prussian constitution . However, it was not possible to reach an agreement on this issue.

The March Revolution in Berlin in 1848 led on March 7th to the formulation of the March demands there, to which under paragraphs 8 and 9 a “General German People's Representation” and the “rapid convocation of the United State Parliament” belonged. The king initially refused to accept the petition . But on March 14th the pressure had become so great and the king had to receive the representatives of the revolutionaries. With regard to the demand for a freely elected parliament , the king declared that he did not want to admit a parliament based on the French model. Instead, he wanted to allow Prussia, as was the case with the First United State Parliament, to represent the people of the Estates, since only such representation was compatible with the “German people”. Instead of having a say in politics, he was still only willing to give the people an advisory role in tax and credit matters. On the same day the patent was issued due to the convening of the United State Parliament . Since the delegates had to travel from all parts of the Reich, the meeting was scheduled for April 27th. But the further events of the revolution called for a faster meeting. On March 15, the news that the revolution had broken out in Austria too reached Berlin. As a result, there were further protests, which led to the first deaths on March 16. On March 17, Friedrich Wilhelm IV agreed to further reform plans by State Minister Ernst von Bodelschwingh . This also included moving the United State Parliament forward. The patent for accelerated convocation of the united state parliament of March 18 stipulated the meeting on Sunday, April 2, 1814.

On the same day the Berlin barricade fight broke out, killing over 200 people (those who fell in March ). As a result, on 29 March 1848 as in March Government , the Government Camphausen-Hansemann called.

The Second United State Parliament

Opening of the second United State Parliament (1848)

On March 25th, the king appointed Adolf Heinrich von Arnim-Boitzenburg to the state commissioner . After his resignation, Ludolf Camphausen was appointed Landtag commissioner on March 31. On the same day, King Ludwig zu Solms-Hohensolms-Lich (again) appointed marshal of the Landtag . While the composition of the United State Parliament and its working method corresponded to the previous Provincial Diets, the King ordered the meetings to be public on March 1st . In the gallery of the hall in the Berlin City Palace , spectators were therefore present for the first time at a Prussian state parliament session when the state parliament commissioner opened the first session on Sunday, April 2, 1848 at a quarter past 12.

In accordance with the customs of the estates parliaments, the state commissioner presented a series of royal proposals . This included in particular the draft electoral law for the future Prussian National Assembly . At the request of Prince Felix von Lichnowsky , the United State Parliament decided on an address to the king that essentially contained the March demands.

Further plenary sessions took place on April 4th, 5th and finally on April 10th. Between the third and fourth session of the Landtag, the Provincial Landtag members met separately by province. The negotiations of the Provincial Parliament of the Poznan Province on April 7th were of particular interest . The majority of the population in Poznan Province were ethnic Poles. The Polish uprising had started in the province . With 26 to 17 votes, the provincial parliament decided that the province should not be part of the German Confederation and therefore no members should be elected from there (see Posen question 1848-1851 ).

Decisions of the Second United State Parliament

The Second United State Parliament passed the Provisional Ordinance on April 4, concerning the abolition of the election tax and its replacement by a direct tax. On April 6th he approved a regulation on some of the foundations of the future Prussian constitution.

The Second United State Parliament decided to convene a constituent national assembly and the corresponding electoral law. At the initiative of Georg von Vincke, the law contained the agreement clause . It stipulated that the National Assembly had to determine the future constitution “by agreement with the crown”, that is, not in its own right, but in accordance with the crown, which had the same rights. Although the counter-revolutionary forces of the royal government initially forced the dissolution of the state parliament on December 5, 1848, they also set up a constitution by the grace of the king . This constitution, which was subsequently changed in numerous points in favor of the monarch, finally came into force on January 31, 1850 and remained so until 1918. Prussia had thus developed into a constitutional monarchy over the long term , in which parliament was quite influential could take on the public.

Members

See also Category: Member of the Second United State Parliament

swell

  • Negotiations of the United (Prussian) Landtag, which was convened on April 2, 1848, compiled by Eduard Bleich, digitized

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Rüdiger Hachtmann: Berlin 1848. A political and social history of the revolution. Dietz, Bonn 1997, p. 129.
  2. ^ Franz Herre: Friedrich Wilhelm IV. The other Prussian king. Katz, Gernsbach 2007, p. 111.
  3. ^ Rüdiger Hachtmann: Berlin 1848. A political and social history of the revolution . JHW Dietz, Bonn 1997, ISBN 3-8012-4083-5 .
  4. ↑ Christopher M. Clark: Prussia. Rise and fall. 1600-1947 . 1st edition. Pantheon, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-570-55060-1 .