Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T20:45:26.922Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

German Parliamentarism in 1848: Roll-Call Voting in the Frankfurt Assembly

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 January 2016

Donald J. Mattheisen
Donald J. Mattheisen*
Affiliation:
University of Lowell
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The reputation of the Frankfurt Assembly of 1848 has undergone a partial revision in the last few years. Its members used to be considered political novices from whom one could learn little about how to run a parliament (Huber, 1960: 613 is typical). Ziebura (1963) was perhaps the first to challenge this view. He showed that the Frankfurt Assembly was, in fact, run in a very professional way: It created sophisticated and disciplined political parties, and these parties actually exerted effective control over parliamentary business. They even joined together to form a coalition that gave reliable political support to a German provisional government. Kramer (1968), Boldt (1971), Botzenhart (1977), and Langewiesche (1978) have subsequently documented the skillful organization of these parties and their attempts to control members, to create extraparliamentary connections, and to maintain both a formal government coalition and an organized opposition. Kramer (1968: 175-178) has shown that they were particularly successful in applying party discipline to voting behavior: The results of voting could often be foretold simply from a knowledge of how the parties stood on the question at issue.

Type
Research Note
Information
Social Science History , Volume 5 , Issue 4 , Fall 1981 , pp. 469 - 482
Copyright
Copyright © Social Science History Association 1981 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alexander, T. B. (1967) Sectional Stress and Party Strength. Nashville: Vanderbilt Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Alexander, T. B. and Beringer, R. (1972) The Anatomy of the Confederate Congress. Nashville: Vanderbilt Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Anderson, L. E. (1964) “Variability in the unidimensionality of legislative voting.” J. of Politics 26 (August): 568–585.Google Scholar
Anderson, L. E. M. Watts, W. Jr., and Wilcox, A. R. (1966) Legislative Roll-Call Analysis. Evanston, IL: Northwestern Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Aydelotte, W. O. (1967) “The country gentlemen and the repeal of the Corn Laws.” English Historical Rev. 82 (January): 47–60.Google Scholar
Aydelotte, W. O. (1963) “Voting patterns in the British House of Commons in the 1840s.” Comparative Studies in Society and History 5 (January): 134–163.Google Scholar
Bleich, E. (1848–1849) Verhandlungen der Versammlung zur Vereinbarung der preussischen Staats-Verfassung. 3 vols. Berlin: Decker.Google Scholar
Boldt, W. (1973) “Konstitutionelle Monarchie oder parlamentarische Demokratie.” Historische Zeitschrift 216 (June): 553–622.Google Scholar
Boldt, W. (1971) Die Anfaenge des deutschen Parteiwesens. Paderborn: Schoeningh.Google Scholar
Boldt, W. (1967) Die wuerttembergischen Volksvereine von 1848 bis 1852. Stuttgart: Klett.Google Scholar
Botzenhart, M. (1977) Deutscher Parlamentarismus in der Revolutionszeit 1848-1850. Duesseldorf: Droste.Google Scholar
Botzenhart, M. (1974) “Die Parlamentarismusmodelle der deutschen Parteien 1848/49,” pp. 121–143 in Ritter, G. (ed.) Gesellschaft, Parlament und Regierung. Duesseldorf: Droste.Google Scholar
Bylsma, J. R. (1968) “Political issues and party unity in the House of Commons, 1852–1857: a scalogram analysis.” Ph.D. dissertation, University of Iowa.Google Scholar
Dann, O. (1976) “Die Anfaenge politischer Vereinsbildung in Deutschland,” pp. 197–232 in Engelhardt, U. (ed.) Soziale Bewegung und politische Verfassung. Stuttgart: Klett.Google Scholar
Droz, J. (1963) “Die religioesen Sekten und die Revolution von 1848,” Archiv fuer Sozialgeschichte 3: 109–118.Google Scholar
Eisenmann, G. (1848) Die Parteyen der teutschen Reichsversammlung, Programme, Statuten, und Mitglieder-Verzeichnisse. Wuerzburg: Stahel.Google Scholar
Epstein, L. D. (1967) Political Parties in Western Democracies. New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
Grefe, E.-H. (1974) “Revolution oder Reform? Politik im Vorparlament und im Fuenfzigerausschuss,” pp. 13–28 in Kloetzer, W. et al. (eds.) Ideen und Strukturen der deutschen Revolution 1848. Frankfurt: Frankfurter Verein fuer Geschichte und Landeskunde e.V.Google Scholar
Higonnet, P.L.-R. and Higonnet, T. B. (1967) “Class, corruption, and politics in the French Chamber of Deputies, 1846-1848.” French Historical Studies 5 (Fall): 202–224.Google Scholar
Huber, E. R. (1960) Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte seit 1789, Vol. 2. (2nd ed.). Stuttgart: Kohlhammer.Google Scholar
Kramer, H. (1968) Fraktionsbindungen in den deutschen Volksvertretungen 1819-1849. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot.Google Scholar
Langewiesche, D. (1978) “Die Anfaenge der deutschen Parteien.” Geschichte und Gesellschaft 4 (December): 324–361.Google Scholar
Macrae, D. (1970) Issues and Parties in Legislative Voting. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Macrae, D. (1958) Dimensions of Congressional Voting. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.Google Scholar
Mattheisen, D. J. (1979) “Liberal constitutionalism in the Frankfurt Parliament of 1848: an inquiry based on roll-call analysis.” Central European History 12 (June): 124–142.Google Scholar
Mayer, G. (1969) “Die Anfaenge des politischen Radikalismus im vormaerzlichen Preussen,” pp. 1–106 in Mayer, G., Radikalismus, Sozialismus und buergerliche Demokratie. Frankfurt: Suhrkamp.Google Scholar
Nipperdey, T. (1972) “Verein als soziale Struktur im spaeten 18. und fruehen 19. Jahrhundert,” pp. 1–44 of Nipperdey, T. (ed.) Geschichtswissenschaft und Vereinswesen im 19. Jahrhundert. Goettingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.Google Scholar
O’Boyle, L. (1961) “The Democratic Left in Germany, 1848.” J. of Modern History 33 (December): 374–383. Preussischer Staats-Anzeiger [PS] (1848).Google Scholar
Schrader, R. (1923) “Die Fraktionen der preussischen National-Versammlung von 1848.” Ph.D. dissertation, University of Leipzig.Google Scholar
Schwarz, M. (1965) MdR: Biographisches Handbuch der Reichstage. Hannover: Verlag fuer Literatur und Zeitgeschehen.Google Scholar
Siemann, W. (1976) Die Frankfurter Nationalversammlung 1848/49 zwischen demokratischen Liberalismus und konservativer Reform. Bern: Herbert Lang.Google Scholar
Silbey, J. H. (1967) The Shrine of Party. Pittsburgh: Univ. of Pittsburgh Press.Google Scholar
Swanson, W. R., Goodman, J. S., and Cornwell, E. E. Jr. (1972) “Voting behavior in a nonpartisan legislative setting.” Western Pol. Q. (March): 39–50.Google Scholar
Thomas, R. H. (1951) Liberalism, Nationalism, and the German Intellectuals (1822–1847). Cambridge, England: Cambridge Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Wigard, F. (1848–1849) Stenographischer Bericht ueber die Verhandlungen der deutschen constituirenden Nationalversammlung zu Frankfurt am Main. 9 vols. Leipzig: Breitkopf.Google Scholar
Ziebura, G. (1963) “Anfaenge des deutschen Parlamentarismus,” pp. 185–236 in Ritter, G. and Ziebura, G. (eds.) Faktoren der politischen Entscheidung. Berlin: de Gruyter.Google Scholar