Frankfurt Parliament

Frankfurt Parliament, national assembly elected by popular vote during the German revolutionary movement of 1848 that tried and failed to create a unified German state.

On May 18, 1848, about 600 delegates met in Frankfurt to begin drafting a constitution for a unified Germany that would replace the German Confederation that had resulted from the Congress of Vienna in 1815. The deputies, though able, lacked experience. Instead of establishing a central power in Germany, the deputies bickered about the fundamental rights of the German people. Serious differences also arose over questions of how to secure sovereign powers for the central government and whether to consider Austrians a part of the German people. One group of delegates, called the "Small German Party," wanted to exclude Austria altogether, arguing that its diverse population was mostly foreign and non-German. Another group of deputies, called the "Large German Party," demanded Austria's inclusion.

The Frankfurt Assembly failed to complete its work while enthusiasm for the revolution was still at its height. The imperial army of Austria overthrew the revolutionaries in Vienna. The Prussian king followed Austria's example and dismissed the Prussian assembly.

Nevertheless, the assembly continued its work and completed a constitution. The proposed constitution excluded all non-German lands from the proposed German empire and provided for a hereditary emperor, a democratic legislative body, a governmental ministry, and a supreme court. In April 1849 the assembly sent a delegation to Berlin to offer the title of hereditary German emperor to the king of Prussia, Frederick William IV. The Prussian king, fearing war with Austria and Russia, declined the German crown. Radical political groups in Germany tried to impose the constitution through civil war, but were suppressed.

Frederick William IV (1795-1861), king of Prussia (1840-61), who attempted to unite German states under Prussian rule. The son of Frederick William III, he was born in Berlin on October 15, 1795. He gave indications of becoming a liberal monarch by increasing freedom of religion and relieving press censorship on his accession to the throne in 1840. In 1847 he convened the United Diet, which, although limited, was a step toward a popular representative assembly. When revolution broke out in Prussia in March 1848, he at first acceded to the demands of his people, promising a constitution and agreeing to become the leader of a united Germany. In 1849 he refused the imperial crown offered to him by the Frankfurt Parliament, opting instead for a union of German states under Prussian leadership (the Erfurt Union), proposed by his foreign minister, Joseph von Radowitz. Under Austrian pressure, he abandoned this project by the Treaty of Olmütz (November 1850). In the constitution granted the same year, most of the governing power was vested in the king, suffrage was restricted, and membership in the parliament was considerably limited. After suffering two paralytic strokes in 1857, Frederick William became mentally unfit to rule. In 1858 a regency was established under his brother William, who, as William I, succeeded to the throne when Frederick William died on January 2, 1861.