Question

Write a note on the Frankfurt parliament.

Answer 1

Hint: The Confederation Diet called for a National Parliament to assemble in Frankfurt and drafted a national constitution in March 1848, under the pressure of revolutionary tumult. Its emblem also became the Frankfurt Assembly, formed to create a united German state.

Complete answer:
The Frankfurt Parliament was an all-German National Assembly made up of middle-class professionals, merchants, and wealthy craftsmen from various regions of Germany. The first democratically elected parliament for all of Germany, elected on 1 May 1848, was the Frankfurt Parliament. 800 delegates from all over Germany assembled in a church in Frankfurt on May 18, 1848. Their aim was for all of Germany to draft a constitution. A democrat, Heinrich von Gagern, was elected president.
The session was held in Frankfurt Main's Paulskirche from 18 May 1848 to 31 May 1849. Among the states of the German Confederation, its presence was both part of and the result of the "March Revolution" The assembly created the so-called Frankfurt constitution after lengthy and divisive discussions, which declared a German empire founded on the ideals of parliamentary democracy.
This constitution satisfied the core demands of the Vormärz liberal and nationalist revolutions and established a basis for constitutional rights, all of which were contrary to the Restoration Regime of Metternich. A civil monarchy governed by a hereditary ruler was also proposed by parliament (Kaiser).
When it was proposed to him on the grounds that such a constitution and such an invitation were an abridgment of the interests of the princes of the independent German states, the Prussian King Frederick William IV declined to consider the office of emperor. The other reasons which undermined the Parliament of Frankfurt were:
1. Women were only passive observers gathered in the visitor's gallery.
2. The governing middle classes rejected the demands of the workers and craftsmen, and thereby lost their support.
3. The resistance of the bourgeoisie and the military grew greater, eroding the parliament's social base.

Note: However, significant aspects of the Frankfurt constitution became templates for the 1919 Weimar Constitution and the 1949 Fundamental Legislation for the Federal Republic of Germany in the 20th century.