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106-520: In the course of the 1848 Revolution , King Frederick William IV of Prussia and his Minister President Gottfried Ludolf Camphausen had agreed to call for the general election of a national assembly in all Prussian provinces . The Prussian National Assembly however was dismissed by royal decree of 5 December 1848 and the King imposed the 1848 Constitution of Prussia . It contained a catalog of fundamental rights that included freedom of religion, speech and

212-546: A preferendum when the choices given allow the voters to weight their support for a policy. In Switzerland , for example, multiple choice referendums are common. Two multiple choice referendums were held in Sweden , in 1957 and in 1980, in which voters were offered three options. In 1977, a referendum held in Australia to determine a new national anthem was held, in which voters had four choices. In 1992, New Zealand held

318-530: A modern state in 1848 . Italy ranks second with 78 national referendums : 72 popular referendums (51 of which were proposed by the Radical Party ), 4 constitutional referendums, one institutional referendum and one advisory referendum . A referendum usually offers the electorate a straight choice between accepting or rejecting a proposal. However some referendums give voters multiple choices, and some use transferable voting. This has also been called

424-432: A 'referendum' is often said to be a vote to change the federal constitution and 'plebiscite' a vote which does not affect the federal constitution. However, this is erroneous as not all federal referendums have been on constitutional matters (such as the 1916 Australian conscription referendum ), and state votes that likewise do not affect either the federal or state constitution are frequently said to be referendums (such as

530-523: A Latin gerund, referendum has no plural). The Latin plural gerundive 'referenda', meaning 'things to be referred', necessarily connotes a plurality of issues. It is closely related to agenda , "those matters which must be driven forward", from ago , to impel or drive forwards; and memorandum , "that matter which must be remembered", from memoro , to call to mind, corrigenda , from rego , to rule, make straight, those things which must be made straight (corrected), etc. The term 'plebiscite' has

636-506: A Latin word and attempting to apply to it the rules of Latin grammar) is unsupportable according to the rules of both Latin and English grammar. The use of "referenda" as a plural form is posited hypothetically as either a gerund or a gerundive by the Oxford English Dictionary , which rules out such usage in both cases as follows: Referendums is logically preferable as a plural form meaning 'ballots on one issue' (as

742-522: A Republic. Activism for liberal reforms spread through many of the German states , each of which had distinct revolutions. They were also inspired by the street demonstrations in Paris, France, led by workers and artisans which took place through 22 to 24 February, 1848, and resulted in the abdication of King Louis-Philippe of France and his exile to Britain. In France the revolution of 1848 became known as

848-470: A fight. Our main position was to be on the first floor, led, up to by four stone staircases, each of which was allotted to a company. Our firearms, which had been placed in hiding already, were taken out again, and we began to block up the entrances to the staircases. Unfortunately we had no ammunition! This lack was in some degree made good by such officers as were sportsmen and had some powder and shot to distribute, so that firing might have been done by each of

954-411: A five-option referendum on their electoral system. In 1982, Guam had a referendum that used six options, with an additional blank option for those wishing to (campaign and) vote for their own seventh option. A multiple choice referendum poses the question of how the result is to be determined. They may be set up so that if no single option receives the support of an absolute majority (more than half) of

1060-591: A generally similar meaning in modern usage and comes from the Latin plebiscita , which originally meant a decree of the Concilium Plebis (Plebeian Council), the popular assembly of the Roman Republic . Today, a referendum can also often be referred to as a plebiscite, but in some countries the two terms are used differently to refer to votes with differing types of legal consequences. In Australia,

1166-684: A journalist who was the leader of the Baden democrats. The arrests caused outrage and a rise in protests. A full-scale uprising broke out on 12 April 1848. The Bavarian government suppressed the revolutionary forces led by Friedrich Hecker with the aid of Prussian troops at the Battle on the Scheideck on 20 April 1848, ending what became known as the Hecker Uprising . In May 1849, a resurgence of revolutionary activity occurred in Baden. As this

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1272-649: A large street demonstration in Vienna, and it was covered by the press across the German-speaking states. Following the important, but relatively minor, demonstrations against Lola Montez in Bavaria on 9 February 1848 (see below), the first major revolt of 1848 in German lands occurred in Vienna on 13 March 1848. The demonstrating students in Vienna had been restive and were encouraged by a sermon of Anton Füster ,

1378-510: A liberal priest, on Sunday, 12 March 1848, in their university chapel. The student demonstrators demanded a constitution and a constituent assembly elected by universal male suffrage. Emperor Ferdinand and his chief advisor Metternich directed troops to crush the demonstration. When demonstrators moved to the streets near the Hofburg , the troops fired on the demonstrating students, killing several of them. The new working class of Vienna joined

1484-586: A military corps by August Willich , a former Prussian military officer. He was also a member of the Communist League and supported revolutionary change in Germany. The newly formed Willich Corps combined with other revolutionary groups to form an army of about 30,000 strong; it fought to resist the highly trained Prussian troops. Engels fought with the Willich Corps for their entire campaign in

1590-409: A motivated minority of voters. Referendums may require a turnout threshold (also called a participation quorum) in order for the referendum to be considered legally valid. In a participation quorum a majority of those voting must approve of the referendum, and a certain percentage of population must have voted in order for the results to be approved. The usage of participation quorums in referendums

1696-858: A rebellion in formerly Polish territories now ruled by Prussia, were liberated and paraded through the city to the acclaim of the people. The 254 persons killed during the riots were laid out on catafalques on the Gendarmenmarkt . Some 40,000 people accompanied these fallen demonstrators to their burial place at Friedrichshain. A Constituent National Assembly was elected from various German states in late April and early May 1848 and gathered in St. Paul's Church in Frankfurt am Main on 18 May 1848. The deputies consisted of 122 government officials, 95 judges, 81 lawyers, 103 teachers, 17 manufacturers and wholesale dealers, 15 physicians, and 40 landowners. A majority of

1802-409: A referendum are more likely to be driven by transient whims than by careful deliberation, or that they are not sufficiently informed to make decisions on complicated or technical issues. Also, voters might be swayed by propaganda , strong personalities, intimidation, and expensive advertising campaigns. James Madison argued that direct democracy is the " tyranny of the majority ". Some opposition to

1908-473: A referendum. Therefore avoid referendums. Therefore don't raise questions which require them, such as the big versus the little states. Some critics of the referendum attack the use of closed questions. A difficulty called the separability problem can plague a referendum on two or more issues. If one issue is in fact, or in perception, related to another on the ballot, the imposed simultaneous voting of first preference on each issue can result in an outcome which

2014-539: A separate vote on each of the multiple options as well as an additional decision about which of the multiple options should be preferred. In the Swedish case, in both referendums the 'winning' option was chosen by the Single Member Plurality ("first past the post") system. In other words, the winning option was deemed to be that supported by a plurality , rather than an absolute majority, of voters. In

2120-534: A very awkward predicament; all connection with the outer world was cut off, and the Franz Regiment, which had been quartered next door to us, had been moved away, so we had to decide for ourselves what to do. General von Below was a feeble old man, Lieut.-Colonel Richter and our company commanders were all elderly—most of them had taken part in the War of Liberation —and some of them were no good as officers, so it

2226-571: A year later, on 19 May 1849, the Prussian authorities closed down the newspaper because of its support for constitutional reforms. In late 1848, Marx and Engels intended to meet with Karl Ludwig Johann D'Ester , then serving as a member of the provisional government in Baden and the Palatinate. He was a physician, democrat and socialist who had been a member of the Cologne community chapter of

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2332-459: Is "fit for" doing. Its use as a noun in English is not considered a strictly grammatical usage of a foreign word but is rather a newly coined English noun, which follows English grammatical usage, not Latin grammatical usage. This determines the form of the plural in English, which according to English grammar should be "referendums". The use of "referenda" as a plural form in English (treating it as

2438-469: Is a direct vote by the electorate (rather than their representatives ) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either binding (resulting in the adoption of a new policy ) or advisory (functioning like a large-scale opinion poll ). 'Referendum' is the gerundive form of the Latin verb referre , literally "to carry back" (from the verb ferre , "to bear, bring, carry" plus

2544-508: Is a class of referendum required to be voted on if certain conditions are met or for certain government actions to be taken. They do not require any signatures from the public. In areas that use referendums a mandatory referendum is commonly used as a legally required step for ratification for constitutional changes, ratifying international treaties and joining international organizations, and certain types of public spending. Typical types of mandatory referendums include: An optional referendum

2650-408: Is a class of referendums that is put to the vote as a result of a demand. This may come from the executive branch, legislative branch, or a request from the people (often after meeting a signature requirement). Types of optional referendums include: From a political-philosophical perspective, referendums are an expression of direct democracy , but today, most referendums need to be understood within

2756-468: Is argued as the reason why, since World War II , there has been no provision in Germany for the holding of referendums at the federal level. In recent years, referendums have been used strategically by several European governments trying to pursue political and electoral goals. In 1995, John Bruton considered that All governments are unpopular. Given the chance, people would vote against them in

2862-463: Is controversial, as higher requirements have been shown to reduced turnout and voter participation. With high participation quorums, the opposition of a referendum has an interest in abstaining from the vote instead of participating, in order to invalidate the referendum results through low turnout. This is a form of the no-show paradox . All others who are not voting for other reasons, including those with no opinion, are effectively also voting against

2968-661: Is displeasing to most. Several commentators have noted that the use of citizens' initiatives to amend constitutions has so tied the government to a jumble of popular demands as to render the government unworkable. A 2009 article in The Economist argued that this had restricted the ability of the California state government to tax the people and pass the budget, and called for an entirely new Californian constitution. A similar problem also arises when elected governments accumulate excessive debts. That can severely reduce

3074-550: The Marschallbrücke . The outbreak began at different parts of the city at two o'clock in the afternoon of the 18th, our attention being called to it by the circumstance that shots were fired at the sentinels in front of the Franz Regiment's barracks, which adjoined those of the Cadet Corps. The report went that the Cadet Corps, that breeding place of reaction, was to be up rooted [sic]! This put our superior officers in

3180-550: The (Prussian) Customs Union . After news broke of revolutionary victories in February 1848 in Paris, uprisings occurred throughout Europe, including Austria and the German states. Baden was the first state in Germany to have popular unrest, despite Baden being one of the most liberal states in Germany. After the news of the February Days in Paris reached Baden, there were several unorganized instances of peasants burning

3286-416: The 2009 Western Australian daylight saving referendum ). Historically, they are used by Australians interchangeably and a plebiscite was considered another name for a referendum. In Ireland, 'plebiscite' referred to the vote to adopt its constitution, but a subsequent vote to amend the constitution is called a 'referendum', as is a poll of the electorate on a non-constitutional bill. The name and use of

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3392-830: The Bundestag is still generally referred to as the Reichstag . The seat of the Prussian House of Lords on Leipziger Straße was inaugurated in 1904. Both buildings were built back-to-back according to plans designed by Friedrich Schulze , they intercommunicate via a common restaurant wing. Upon the Nazi Machtergreifung , the Herrenhaus building served as an annex of the neighbouring Ministry of Aviation and Hermann Göring 's Preußenhaus foundation. After World War II it housed several departments of

3498-583: The February Revolution . The revolutions spread from France across Europe; demonstrations against the government erupted soon thereafter in both Austria and Germany, beginning with large protests on 13 March 1848, in Vienna . This resulted in the resignation of Prince von Metternich as chief minister to Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria , and his going into exile in Britain. Because of the date of

3604-572: The Frankfurt Parliament . Karl Mathy , a right-center journalist, was among those elected as deputy to the Frankfurt National Assembly. Disorder fomented by republican agitators continued in Baden. Fearing greater riots, the Baden government began to increase the size of its army and to seek assistance from neighboring states. The Baden government sought to suppress the revolts by arresting Joseph Fickler ,

3710-732: The Frankfurter Gate , amidst the same kind of continuous but unsystematic fighting which the Guards also had encountered. Early in the morning of the 19th—it may have been about 4 o'clock, the shooting had been followed by silence throughout the city—we were given the alarm and had to don our cloaks and fall in with our guns and march to the Schloss (the Royal Palace in Berlin) , by order of General von Prittwitz. We set out just as day

3816-615: The Imperial Diet into a Constituent Assembly to be elected by the people. Other concessions were less substantial, and generally addressed the reorganizing and unification of Germany. Ferdinand returned to Vienna from Innsbruck on 12 August 1848. Soon after his return, the working-class populace hit the streets again on 21 August to protest high unemployment and the government's decree to reduce wages. On 23 August 1848, Austrian troops opened fire on unarmed demonstrators and shot several. In late September 1848, Emperor Ferdinand, who

3922-631: The Kingdom of Bavaria ) were separated only by the Rhine. The uprising in Baden and the Palatinate took place largely in the Rhine Valley along their mutual border, and are considered aspects of the same movement. In May 1849, the Grand Duke was forced to leave Karlsruhe, Baden and seek help from Prussia. Provisional governments were declared in both the Palatinate and Baden. In Baden conditions for

4028-766: The Martin Gropius Bau . During the German Revolution of 1918–19 the Reichsrätekongress (national Workers' and Soldiers' Council ) held its assemblies here from 16 to 20 December 1918. On 1 January 1919, the Communist Party of Germany was founded here. Since 1993 the building has been the seat of the Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin : colloquially it is still named Preußischer Landtag just as the nearby building accommodating

4134-538: The Tiergarten , leaving one person dead and many injured. On 18 March, a large demonstration occurred. After two shots were fired, fearing that some of the 20,000 soldiers would be used against them, demonstrators erected barricades, and a battle ensued until troops were ordered 13 hours later to retreat, leaving hundreds dead. Afterwards, Frederick William attempted to reassure the public that he would proceed with reorganizing his government. The King also approved arming

4240-535: The 'referendum' is thought to have originated in the Swiss canton of Graubünden as early as the 16th century. After a reduction in the number of referendums in the Mid-twentieth century, the referendum as a political tool has been increasing in popularity since the 1970s. This increase has been attributed to dealignment of the public with political parties, as specific policy issues became more important to

4346-555: The ( East ) German Academy of Sciences and since 29 September 2000 is the seat of the German Bundesrat . Political Party:     SPD     NSDAP 52°30′29″N 13°22′55″E  /  52.50806°N 13.38194°E  / 52.50806; 13.38194 Revolutions of 1848 in the German states Rebellion quelled [REDACTED] German Confederation The German revolutions of 1848–1849 (German: Deutsche Revolution 1848/1849 ),

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4452-574: The 1977 Australian referendum, the winner was chosen by the system of preferential instant-runoff voting (IRV). Polls in Newfoundland (1949) and Guam (1982), for example, were counted under a form of the two-round system , and an unusual form of TRS was used in the 1992 New Zealand poll. Although California has not held multiple-choice referendums in the Swiss or Swedish sense (in which only one of several counter-propositions can be victorious, and

4558-583: The Assembly were liberals. It became known as the "professors' parliament", as many of its members were academics in addition to their other responsibilities. The one working-class member was Polish and, like colleagues from the Tyrol , not taken seriously. Starting on 18 May 1848, the Frankfurt Assembly worked to find ways to unite the various German states and to write a constitution. The Assembly

4664-522: The Castle cellars. After a wait of two hours or so we were given orders to march back to Potsdam . On 21 March, the King proceeded through the streets of Berlin to attend a mass funeral at the Friedrichshain cemetery for the civilian victims of the uprising. He and his ministers and generals wore the revolutionary tricolor of black, red, and gold. Polish prisoners, who had been jailed for planning

4770-777: The Communist League. D'Ester had been elected as a deputy to the Prussian National Assembly in 1848. D'Ester had been elected to the Central committee of the German Democrats, together with Reichenbach and Hexamer , at the Second Democratic Congress held in Berlin from 26 October through 30 October 1848. Because of his commitments to the provisional government, D'Ester was unable to attend an important meeting in Paris on behalf of

4876-537: The German Central Committee. He wanted to provide Marx with the mandate to attend the meeting in his place. Marx and Engels met with D'Ester in the town of Kaiserslautern . Marx obtained the mandate and headed off to Paris. Engels remained in the Palatinate, where in 1849 he joined citizens at the barricades of Elberfeld in the Rhineland, preparing to fight the Prussian troops expected to attack

4982-532: The House of Representatives led by the newly established German Progress Party gradually developed into a serious political actor, culminating in a constitutional conflict in 1861: William I, who had just acceded to the Prussian throne, and his war minister Albrecht von Roon requested approval for an increment of the military budget, which the deputies refused. Roon urged the king to appoint Otto von Bismarck as Minister President . Bismarck acted on an alleged gap in

5088-692: The Minister President, at a peak of his power after the Battle of Königgrätz , reached the passage of the Indemnity Act ( Indemnitätsgesetz ) subsequently legalising his budget management. The balloting led to the split-off of the National Liberal Party which became a loyal supporter of Bismarck's policies. During the German Revolution of 1918–19 the new Prussian government of Majority Social Democrats (MSPD) and Independent Social Democrats (USPD) under Paul Hirsch had

5194-515: The Palatinate. The provisional government first appointed Joseph Martin Reichard , a lawyer, democrat and deputy in the Frankfurt Assembly, as the head of the military department in the Palatinate. The first Commander in Chief of the military forces of the Palatinate was Daniel Fenner von Fenneberg , a former Austrian officer who commanded the national guard in Vienna during the 1848 uprising. He

5300-514: The Palatinate. The Prussians defeated this revolutionary army at the Battle of Rinnthal , and the survivors of Willich's Corps crossed over the frontier into the safety of Switzerland. Engels did not reach Switzerland until 25 July 1849. He sent word of his survival to Marx and friends and comrades in London, England. A refugee in Switzerland, Engels began to write about his experiences during

5406-623: The Rhine River. It was not collected on the Palatinate side, but Brentano's government collected it on the Baden side. Due to the continued lack of coordination, Mieroslawski lost battles in Waghausle and Ubstadt in Baden. He and his troops were forced to retreat across the mountains of southern Baden, where they fought a last battle against the Prussians in the town of Murg , on the frontier between Baden and Switzerland . Mieroslawski and

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5512-472: The Vienna demonstrations, the protests throughout Germany are usually called the March Revolution (German: Märzrevolution ). Afraid of suffering the same fate as Louis-Philippe of France, some of the German monarchs acquiesced to the demands of the revolutionaries, at least temporarily. In the south and west, large popular assemblies and mass demonstrations took place. They demanded freedom of

5618-790: The artillery and providing services in the ordnance shops was Lieutenant Colonel Freidrich Anneke . He was a member of the Communist League and one of the founders of the Cologne Workers Association in 1848, editor of the Neue Kölnische Zeitung and a member of the Rhenish District Committee of Democrats. Democrats of the Palatinate and across Germany considered the Baden-Palatinate insurrection to be part of

5724-482: The basis of the Saxon government until 1918. The Revolution of 1848 brought more popular reforms in the government of Saxony. In 1849, many Saxon residents emigrated to the United States, including Michael Machemehl . They landed in Galveston, Texas , and created what became the German Texan community. In mid-century, some lived in cities, but many developed substantial farms to the west in Texas. Plebiscite A referendum , plebiscite , or ballot measure

5830-402: The bicameral legislature abolished. A constitutional convention ( Preußische Landesversamlung ) was elected on 26 January 1919, after the introduction of equal franchise for all men and women. After the failed Kapp Putsch of 1920, the assembly confirmed the first cabinet of Minister-president Otto Braun and finally adopted the new Prussian constitution on 30 November. The Preußischer Landtag

5936-401: The citizens. In his memoirs, Field Marshal Alfred von Waldersee , who in March 1848 was a sixteen-year-old student at the Royal Prussian Cadet Corps, gave a vivid description of the revolutionary events in Berlin: Those March days of 1848 left the most lasting impression on us young soldiers. From the so-called Spielhof alongside the Spree we could see the erection of the barricades on

6042-472: The cold morning air. It was very pleasant for us, therefore, when we were taken, troop by troop, into the kitchen, and given coffee. There was now a lively va-et-vient of mounted aides-de-camp , and others in the Castle Yard. The streets through which we had passed, and the open places outside the Schloss, had, of course, been empty. Now we saw many waggons [sic] and bodies of troops bivouacking . Prisoners were being brought in every now and again and taken into

6148-402: The companies; percussion-caps we secured from the Franz Regiment's barracks. However, things were not to become serious, for a battalion of the 1st Regiment of Guards pushed forward to the Marschallbrücke and averted all possibility of danger for us. The noise of the fighting died down now a little, only to revive again in the evening. The Leibregiment advanced to the Alexanderplatz from

6254-426: The constitution ( Lückentheorie ) and openly sidestepped any power of the purse of the Prussian representatives, saying that "not by speeches and votes of the majority are the great questions of the time decided (...) but by iron and blood ." The assembly raised a blistering protest and over the following years Bismarck's cabinet had to govern without a government budget passed by the legislature. In September 1866

6360-426: The context of representative democracy . They tend to be used quite selectively, covering issues such as changes in voting systems, where currently elected officials may not have the legitimacy or inclination to implement such changes. Since the end of the 18th century, hundreds of national referendums have been organised in the world; almost 600 national votes have been held in Switzerland since its inauguration as

6466-459: The continuing revolutionary upsurge in Germany spurred the provisional parliament to action; they passed a resolution calling for an All-German National Assembly to be formed. On 8 April 1848, a law allowing universal suffrage and an indirect (two-stage) voting system was agreed to by the assembly. A new National Assembly was selected, and on 18 May 1848, 809 delegates (585 of whom were elected) were seated at St. Paul's Church in Frankfurt to convene

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6572-519: The effective margin for later governments. Both these problems can be moderated by a combination of other measures as Referendums occur occasionally rather than periodically as elections are and they don’t offer the same kind of formal opposition. Because referendums affect for a longer term than legislative deliberation, a turnout and supermajority requirement is necessary to maintain principles of majoritarianism. In republic polities, referendums could be used to bypass legislatures and representatives by

6678-435: The face of heavy taxation and political censorship. The Hambacher Fest is also noteworthy for the Republicans adopting the black-red-gold colours used on today's national flag of Germany as a symbol of the Republican movement and of the unity among the German-speaking people. The song " Fürsten zum Land Hinaus! " originated from the festival, and quickly garnered popular support for the abolition of monarchy and establishment of

6784-514: The final time. A year after coming to power in Germany, the Nazi Party passed the " Law on the Reconstruction of the Reich ," effective on 30 January 1934. Directed at replacing the German federal state with a unitary government, this law abolished the Prussian Landtag, along with all other provincial diets. In 1899, the House of Representatives ( Abgeordnetenhaus ) moved into a building on Prinz-Albrecht-Straße No. 5 (present-day Niederkirchnerstraße), close to Potsdamer Platz and situated opposite to

6890-508: The fortress town of Olomouc in Moravia . On 2 December 1848, Ferdinand abdicated in favour of his nephew Franz Joseph . Struve Putsch (21–25 September 1848): Staufen Baden Mutiny (9 May – 23 July 1849): Baden had a liberal constitution from 1811 until reaction resulted in Grand Duke Louis I revoking the constitution in 1825. In 1830, Leopold became Grand Duke. His reign brought liberal reforms in constitutional, civil and criminal law, and in education. In 1832 Baden joined

6996-484: The inseparable prefix re- , here meaning "back" ). As a gerundive is an adjective , not a noun , it cannot be used alone in Latin, and must be contained within a context attached to a noun such as Propositum quod referendum est populo , "A proposal which must be carried back to the people". The addition of the verb sum (3rd person singular, est ) to a gerundive, denotes the idea of necessity or compulsion, that which "must" be done, rather than that which

7102-407: The king". King Frederick William IV , taken by surprise, verbally yielded to all the demonstrators' demands, including parliamentary elections, a constitution, and freedom of the press. He promised that "Prussia was to be merged forthwith into Germany." On 13 March, after warnings by the police against public demonstrations went unheeded, the army charged a group of people returning from a meeting in

7208-430: The leaders of the uprising, Wagner left Dresden for Switzerland to avoid arrest. He spent a number of years in exile abroad, in Switzerland, Italy, and Paris. Finally the government lifted its ban against him and he returned to Germany. Since the revolutionary events of 1830, Saxony had been ruled as a constitutional monarchy with a two-chamber legislature and an accountable ministry. This constitution continued to serve as

7314-682: The losing proposals are wholly null and void), it does have so many yes-or-no referendums at each election day that conflicts arise. The State's constitution provides a method for resolving conflicts when two or more inconsistent propositions are passed on the same day. This is a de facto form of approval voting —i.e. the proposition with the most "yes" votes prevails over the others to the extent of any conflict. Other voting systems that could be used in multiple-choice referendum are Condorcet method and quadratic voting (including quadratic funding ). Quorums are typically introduced to prevent referendum results from being skewed by low turnout or decided by

7420-420: The majority was denied the right to vote. The citizens of Vienna returned to the streets from 26 May through 27, 1848, erecting barricades to prepare for an army attack. Ferdinand and his family fled to Innsbruck , where they spent the next few months surrounded by the loyal peasantry of the Tyrol . Ferdinand issued two manifestos on 16 May 1848, and 3 June 1848, which gave concessions to the people. He converted

7526-482: The mansions of local aristocrats and threatening them. On 27 February 1848, in Mannheim , an assembly of people from Baden adopted a resolution demanding a bill of rights. Similar resolutions were adopted in Württemberg , Hesse-Darmstadt , Nassau , and other German states. The surprisingly strong popular support for these movements forced rulers to give in to many of the Märzforderungen (demands of March) almost without resistance. The March Revolution in Vienna

7632-607: The middle class and working class components of the Revolution split, the conservative aristocracy defeated it. Liberals were forced into exile to escape political persecution, where they became known as Forty-Eighters . Many emigrated to the United States, settling from Wisconsin to Texas . The groundwork of the 1848 uprising was laid as early as the Hambacher Fest of 1832, when public unrest began to grow in

7738-557: The military operations during the Polish uprising of 1830–1831, was placed in charge of the military operation on the Palatinate side of the Rhine River. Brentano ordered the day-to-day affairs of the uprising in Baden, and Mieroslawski directed a military command on the Palatinate side. They did not coordinate well. For example, Mieroslawski decided to abolish the long-standing toll on the Mannheim-Ludwigshaven bridge over

7844-658: The offensive. The uprising in Karlsruhe and the Grand Duchy of Baden was eventually suppressed by the Bavarian Army . Lorenz Peter Brentano , a lawyer and democrat from Baden, headed its government, wielding absolute power. He appointed Karl Eichfeld as War Minister. Later, Eichfeld was replaced as War Minister by Rudolph Mayerhofer . Florian Mördes was appointed as Minister of the Interior. Other members of

7950-712: The opening phase of which was also called the March Revolution (German: Märzrevolution ), were initially part of the Revolutions of 1848 that broke out in many European countries. They were a series of loosely coordinated protests and rebellions in the states of the German Confederation , including the Austrian Empire . The revolutions, which stressed pan-Germanism , liberalism and parliamentarianism, demonstrated popular discontent with

8056-473: The other survivors of the battle escaped across the frontier to Switzerland, and the commander went into exile in Paris. Frederick Engels took part in the uprising in Baden and the Palatinate. On 10 May 1848, he and Karl Marx traveled from Cologne , Germany, to observe the events of the region. From 1 June 1848, Engels and Marx became editors of the Neue Rheinische Zeitung . Less than

8162-789: The press , freedom of assembly , written constitutions, arming of the people and a Parliament. In 1848, Austria was the predominant German state. After the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire , which had been dissolved by Napoleon in 1806, it was succeeded by a similarly loose coalition of states known as the German Confederation at the Congress of Vienna in 1815. Austria served as President ex officio of this confederation. The (German) Austrian chancellor Klemens von Metternich had dominated Austrian politics from 1815 until 1848. On 13 March 1848, university students mounted

8268-463: The press, and provided for a bicameral parliament consisting of a First Chamber ( Erste Kammer , called House of Lords from 1855), as well as a Second Chamber ( Zweite Kammer , from 1855 House of Representatives) whose members were elected by universal manhood suffrage according to the three-class franchise system that weighted votes based on amount of taxes paid. Both houses and the King of Prussia had

8374-865: The prime minister and the presidents of the Landtag and the State Council or by a plebiscite . In 1931 just such a referendum, intended to dissolve the Prussian Landtag , took place on the initiative of the "Stahlhelm" veterans' organization, with the support of the Nazi Party and the German Communist Party . The referendum failed. Landtag elections took place on 20 February 1921 , 7 December 1924 , 20 May 1928 , 24 April 1932 , and 5 March 1933 . The last Prussian Landtag convened on 22 March 1933, and again on 18 May 1933 for

8480-400: The provisional government included Joseph Fickler , a journalist and a democrat from Baden. Leaders of the constitutional forces in Baden included Karl Blind , a journalist and a democrat in Baden; and Gustav Struve, another journalist and democrat from Baden. John Phillip Becker was placed in charge of the peoples' militia. Ludwik Mieroslawski, a Polish-born national who had taken part in

8586-440: The provisional government were ideal: the public and army were both strongly in support of constitutional change and democratic reform in the government. The army strongly supported the demands for a constitution; the state had amply supplied arsenals, and a full exchequer. The Palatinate did not have the same conditions. The Palatinate traditionally contained more upper-class citizens than other areas of Germany, and they resisted

8692-458: The public than party identifiers. The term "referendum" covers a variety of different meanings, and the terminology is different depending on the us that holds them. A referendum can be binding or advisory. In some countries, different names are used for these two types of referendum. Referendums can be further classified by who initiates them. David Altman proposes four dimensions that referendums can be classified by: A mandatory referendum

8798-522: The referendum has arisen from its use by dictators such as Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini who, it is argued, used the plebiscite to disguise oppressive policies as populism . Dictators may also make use of referendums as well as show elections to further legitimize their authority such as António de Oliveira Salazar in 1933 ; Benito Mussolini in 1934 ; Adolf Hitler in 1934 , 1936 ; Francisco Franco in 1947 ; Park Chung Hee in 1972 ; and Ferdinand Marcos in 1973 . Hitler's use of plebiscites

8904-881: The referendum to take place. In one such challenge, in 2017, the Spanish Constitutional Court suspended the Catalonia 's independence referendum . In post-referendum disputes, they challenge the result. British courts dismissed post-referendum challenges of the Brexit referendum. International tribunals have traditionally not interfered with referendum disputes. In 2021, the European Court of Human Rights extended its jurisdiction to referendums in its judgment Toplak and Mrak v. Slovenia , initiated by two disabled voters over polling place access . In Political Governance states that voters in

9010-499: The referendum. In the 2005 Italian fertility laws referendum , opposition to the proposed loosening of laws on research on embryos and on allowing in-vitro fertilization , campaigned for people to abstain from voting to drive down turnout. Although a majority of people voted yes for the changes in the law, the results were invalid because participation was low. Important referendums are frequently challenged in courts. In pre-referendum disputes, plaintiffs have often tried to prevent

9116-711: The revolution in Dresden, supporting the democratic-republican movement. Later during the May Uprising in Dresden from 3–9 May 1849, he supported the provisional government. Others participating in the Uprising were the Russian revolutionary Michael Bakunin and the German working-class leader Stephen Born . In all, about 2,500 combatants manned the barricades during the May Uprising. On 9 May 1849, together with

9222-658: The revolution. He published the article, "The Campaign for the German Imperial Constitution." Due to the Prussian Army's ease in crushing the uprising, many South German states came to believe that Prussia, not Austria, was going to be the new power in the region. The suppression of the uprising in Baden and the Palatinate was the end of the German revolutionary uprisings that had begun in the spring of 1848. In March 1848, crowds of people gathered in Berlin to present their demands in an "address to

9328-518: The revolutionary changes. In the Palatinate, the army did not support the revolution, and it was not well supplied. When the insurrectionary government took over in the Palatinate, they did not find a fully organized state or a full exchequer. Arms in the Palatinate were limited to privately held muskets, rifles and sporting guns. The provisional government of the Palatinate sent agents to France and Belgium to purchase arms but they were unsuccessful. France banned sales and export of arms to either Baden or

9434-440: The right to introduce bills, although the king remained the most powerful element in the government. The first Parliament, which met in 1849, modified the constitution in mostly minor ways. The resulting 1850 Constitution of Prussia , amended numerous times, remained Prussia's basic law until 1918. Under the regency of Prince William I and his liberal prime minister Prince Karl Anton von Hohenzollern from 1858 (the "New Era"),

9540-427: The student demonstrations, developing an armed insurrection. The Diet of Lower Austria demanded Metternich's resignation. With no forces rallying to Metternich's defense, Ferdinand reluctantly complied and dismissed him. The former chancellor went into exile in London. Ferdinand appointed new, nominally liberal, ministers. The Austrian government drafted a constitution in late April 1848. The people rejected this, as

9646-416: The surrounding Kingdom of Württemberg , the military corps would march to Nuremberg and set up camp in the state of Franconia . Sigel failed to account for dealing with the separate Free City of Frankfurt , the home of the Frankfurt Assembly, in order to establish an All-German character to the military campaign for the German constitution. Despite Sigel's plan, the new insurgent government did not go on

9752-517: The task of drafting a new constitution, to be called the "Fundamental Rights and Demands of the German People." The majority of the delegates to the provisional parliament were constitutional monarchists. Baden sent two democrats, Friedrich Karl Franz Hecker and Gustav von Struve , to the provisional parliament. In the minority and frustrated with the lack of progress, Hecker and Struve walked out in protest on 2 April 1848. The walkout and

9858-532: The task of writing a constitution "by agreement with the Crown", but on 9 November, before it had completed its work, the Assembly was adjourned and "for its own safety" moved to Brandenburg an der Havel . In Dresden , the capital of the Kingdom of Saxony , the people took to the streets asking King Frederick Augustus II of Saxony to engage in electoral reform, social justice and for a constitution. German composer Richard Wagner passionately engaged himself in

9964-575: The traditional, largely autocratic political structure of the thirty-nine independent states of the Confederation that inherited the German territory of the former Holy Roman Empire after its dismantlement as a result of the Napoleonic Wars . This process began in the mid-1840s. The middle-class elements were committed to liberal principles, while the working class sought radical improvements to their working and living conditions. As

10070-534: The uprising. On his way to Elberfeld, Engels took two cases of rifle cartridges which had been gathered by the workers of Solingen , when those workers had stormed the arsenal at Gräfrath . The Prussian troops arrived and crushed the uprising in August 1849. Engels and some others escaped to Kaiserslautern. While in Kaiserslautern on 13 June 1849, Engels joined an 800-member group of workers being formed as

10176-678: The votes, resort can be made to the two-round system or instant-runoff voting , which is also called IRV and PV. In 2018 the Irish Citizens' Assembly considered the conduct of future referendums in Ireland , with 76 of the members in favour of allowing more than two options, and 52% favouring preferential voting in such cases. Other people regard a non-majoritarian methodology like the Modified Borda Count (MBC) as more inclusive and more accurate. Swiss referendums offer

10282-504: The wider all-German struggle for constitutional rights. Franz Sigel, a second lieutenant in the Baden army, a democrat and a supporter of the provisional government, developed a plan to protect the reform movement in Karlsruhe and the Palatinate. He recommended using a corps of the Baden army to advance on the town of Hechingen and declare the Hohenzollern Republic, then to march on Stuttgart . After inciting Stuttgart and

10388-444: Was a catalyst to revolution throughout the German states. Popular demands were made for an elected representative government and for the unification of Germany. Fear on the part of the princes and rulers of the various German states caused them to concede in the demand for reform. They approved a provisional parliament, which was convened from 31 March 1848, until 4 April 1848, in St. Paul's Church in Frankfurt am Main , charged with

10494-713: Was also King Ferdinand V of Hungary, decided to send Austrian and Croatian troops to Hungary to crush a democratic rebellion there. On 29 September 1848, the Austrian troops were defeated by the Hungarian revolutionary forces. On 6 October through 7, 1848, the citizens of Vienna had demonstrated against the emperor's actions against forces in Hungary, resulting in the Vienna Uprising . As a result, Emperor Ferdinand I fled Vienna on 7 October 1848, taking up residence in

10600-654: Was breaking. In the Königstrasse we passed three or four deserted barricades; we could see that most of the windows in the street were broken and that all the houses showed marks of bullets. Arrived at the Schloss, led by General von Below, himself afoot, we were ushered through "Portal No. I" into the Castle Yard, where General von Prittwitz was to be seen mounted on a chestnut with some officers round about him. We had now to down arms and we began almost to freeze in

10706-583: Was closely connected to the uprising in the Palatinate, it is described below, in the section titled, "The Palatinate." When the revolutionary upsurge revived in the spring of 1849, the uprisings started in Elberfeld in the Rhineland on 6 May 1849. However, the uprisings soon spread to the Grand Duchy of Baden , when a riot broke out in Karlsruhe . The state of Baden and the Palatinate (then part of

10812-536: Was re-established as the parliament of the Free State of Prussia in 1921. The provinces were represented in the Prussian State Council , which succeeded the former Herrenhaus as a kind of upper house. The Cologne mayor Konrad Adenauer served as its president until 1933. A legislative period lasted for no longer than four years. The parliament could be dissolved early by joint resolution of

10918-529: Was small wonder if a lack of vigour or decision was displayed. It was under debate whether we should not abstain from any attempt at resistance, when the senior lieutenant, Besserer von Dahlfingen , of my company, an exceptionally small man, spoke out at the Council of War and declared that it would be a disgrace if we surrendered to the Revolutionaries without a blow. Thereupon it was resolved to put up

11024-923: Was soon replaced by Felix Raquilliet , a former Polish staff general in the Polish insurgent army of 1830–1831 . Finally Ludwik Mieroslawski was given supreme command of the armed forces in the Palatinate, and Franz Sznayde was given field command of the troops. Other noteworthy military officers serving the provisional government in the city of Kaiserslautern , were Friedrich Strasser , Alexander Schimmelpfennig , Captain Rudolph von Manteuffel, Albert Clement , Herr Zychlinski , Friedrich von Beust , Eugen Oswald , Amand Goegg , Gustav Struve , Otto Julius Bernhard von Corvin-Wiersbitzki , Joseph Moll , Johann Gottfried Kinkel , Herr Mersy , Karl Emmermann, Franz Sigel , Major Nerlinger , Colonel Kurz , Friedrich Karl, Franz Hecker and Herman von Natzmer . Hermann von Natzmer

11130-462: Was the former Prussian officer who had been in charge of the arsenal of Berlin . Refusing to shoot insurgent forces who stormed the arsenal on 14 June 1848, Natzmer became a hero to insurgents across Germany. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison for refusing orders to shoot, but in 1849, he escaped prison and fled to the Palatinate to join its insurgent forces. Gustav Adolph Techow , a former Prussian officer, also joined Palatinate forces. Organizing

11236-403: Was unable to pass resolutions and dissolved into endless debate. On 22 May 1848, another elected assembly sat for the first time in Berlin. They were elected under the law of 8 April 1848, which allowed for universal manhood suffrage and a two-stage voting system. Most of the deputies elected to the Prussian National Assembly were members of the burghers or liberal bureaucracy. They set about

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