The question of an Imperial Sovereign or emperor was a central issue in Germany's attempts at unification from 1848 to 1850. Both the draft constitutional act with its provision for centralised power as well as the constitutional plans at that time, laid down how a German head of state would be selected for office and what rights they were to have.
In the Frankfurt Constitution of 28 March 1849, it was envisaged that an emperor would be the 'imperial sovereign'. Although the National Assembly voted for the first incumbent of this office, thereafter it was assumed that the office would be hereditary. The emperor was to be inviolable as a constitutional monarch, but would appoint responsible ministers.
Frederick William IV, King of Prussia, rejected the imperial dignity which had been proposed to him. Instead, he tried unsuccessfully to unite Germany in his own authority. Under the terms of the Erfurt Union, which he proposed, the Imperial Sovereign was first and foremost the Reichsvorstand (Imperial Executive), and then the Unionvorstand (Union Executive). The Unionvorstand had to share certain rights with other princes, above all, the veto of proposed laws.
Background and terminology
The title of Emperor originally came from the ancient Roman Empire and was familiar, not least because of its use in the medieval Holy Roman Empire. It had become natural that the German king also had the title of Holy Roman Emperor. For centuries, this had been the head of the Austrian House of Habsburg until, in 1806, the Empire was dissolved under pressure from Napoleon. The renunciation of imperial Holy Roman crown was made easier for Austria, because it was allowed by Napoleon to elevate itself to become the empire of Austria.
In the German Confederation from 1815, there was no emperor. The supreme body was a Federal Assembly (often called the Bundestag) with the presidency held by Austria. The romanticism of the time, however, meant there was a romantic idealisation of the medieval empire combined with the notion of a mighty emperor. One of the focal points of such fantasies was the 12th-century emperor, Frederick Barbarossa, who, according to the Kyffhäuser legend, slept in the mountains there, but would return one day to unite Germany.
As early as 1814-15, when the establishment of the German Confederation was still being discussed, Baron vom Stein had demanded a German emperor as head of the federation. Up to 34 smaller and medium-sized states followed suit. But the disunity between Prussia and Austria, as well as that between the other larger states, meant that this was not realised, either in the form of an emperor or of a directorate (Direktorium) or committee (Deutscher Ausschuss) made up of the five largest states. As Stein explained to the Russian Tsar in a memorandum on 17 February 1815, Austria was to appoint the German Emperor in order to bind it firmly to Germany.
In the years 1848 to 1850, further terms were proposed, which either avoided or concealed the monarchical character of a German head of state: Reichsoberhaupt ("imperial head of state"), Reichsvorstand ("imperial executive") or Reichsverweser ("imperial administrator"). These terms could be interpreted variously to mean either an elected president or a prince as primus inter pares.
When the terms "imperial authority" (Reichsgewalt) or "central authority" (Zentralgewalt) were used, they meant the "state" in the sense of the highest level of federal government, equivalent to the federal level in Germany today. Thus a distinction was made between the authority of the central power and that of the individual states within the Empire. The question then remained of who should exercise this central authority. In most cases, they envisaged a monarch whose power was limited by: a constitution, a body representing the people and by ministerial answerability. The terms "government" (Regierung) or "imperial government" (Reichsregierung) could mean the monarch and his ministers or just the ministers themselves (as the electable part of the government).
Revolution and attempted Imperial Reform, March–May 1848
Joseph von Radowitz wrote a memorandum in 1847 On behalf of the Prussian King, which on 15 March resulted in an Austrian-Prussian conference plan. The memorandum alluded to a central authority, but remained silent about a possible German head of state. In his proposal of 12 February, Bassmann, a representative from Baden, mentioned chambers at the Bundestag and uniform national institutions, but no head of state. On the other hand, Heinrich von Gagern explicitly mentioned in his motion of 28 February an interim head of Germany, who was to appoint a responsible cabinet.
In March 1848, disturbances arose across German states similar to those seen in the French Revolution of 1848. The frightened German monarchs installed liberal governments, and delegated liberal envoys to the Bundestag. The conventional wisdom among the people was that the time had come for a unified Germany and to provide it with a modern constitution. The Bundestag elected a national assembly, which would draft a constitution and unite governments.
Even before the election, the Bundestag set up a committee which made a constitutional proposal for a national federal state, the was issued on 26 April 1848. In the preface, the draft emphasized the importance of establishing a strong imperial sovereign in order to guarantee and achieve German unity. The Imperial Sovereign, known as Kaiser, had to be inviolable with ministers accountable to him. As far as law-making, he was to have a coequal responsibility to that of the Reichstag, the partially elected parliament. This draft was the first one put forth during the March Revolutions which provided for a hereditary emperor, according to . Although the draft had no formal status, it was nevertheless an influential model for the later imperial constitution of 28 March 1849.
A further development took place in the Bundestag itself. There was a plan to set up a federal executive committee to finally give the federal government an executive. The three members had to be representatives form Austria and Prussia. For the third, Bavaria had to make a proposal list and the other individual states of the Council of Engers (of the Bundestag) would choose the third. However, because the national assembly would soon meet on 18 May, the Bundestag did not set up this body.
National Assembly
The National Assembly immediately wanted to establish a provisional constitution order with a provisional central executive. According to Ernst Rudolf Huber, "the absence of a central power [...] was the core element of the old Federal Constitution". There were now seven different solutions to the debate, which continued until March 1849. A Democratic-Republican leader (President) who served for a fixed term of four, five or seven years. He would be chosen by the people or the people's representative. This was supported by the Democrats and partly by the left-wing centre of the National Assembly. A dynastic Republican sovereign. Only a member of a governing princely house could be elected. He could be elected by the people or the people's representatives. A democratic directorate, with three, five or seven members. Any citizen could be chosen. For this solution, the federalist thinkers were among the Democrats. A democratic directorate, the governing princes would have been elective or permanently appointed princes of certain states. An example was the proposed "Prince Electoral Council of the Three Uncles", Archduke John (Uncle to Austrian Emperor Ferdinand), Prince Wilhelm the Elder (Uncle to the Prussian King, Frederick William IV) and Prince Karl Theodor (Uncle to the Bavarian King, Maximilian II). An electoral empire, with an emperor elected by the people or parliament for life. A member of a dynasty or only a ruling prince could be elected. This solution was favoured mainly by the left-centre. Alternating sovereigns, with the Austrian Fürst for the first six years, and then the Prussian one for the next six. Hereditary emperorship, The very first official was to be elected. Only a dynastic member or a Fürst was eligible. Afterward, the crown would be inherited. In the Emperorship, occupied by a ruling prince, a permanent personal union of Imperial Head of State and Territorial Prince would have arisen. The Austrian Emperor and the King of Prussia were the only ones considered. For the hereditary emperor as a solution came those who desired a single and effective empire against the individual states.
Provisional Constitution On 3 June 1848, the National Assembly adopted a committee of 15 members, who proposed a three-member board with a majority of eleven to four votes. Governments had to propose this and agree to the National Assembly. The Board set up a ministry (a government) which would be responsible for the National Assembly.
The Democratic minority of the Fifteen-Committee, on the other hand, thought of an executive committee. The chairman would be elected by the National Assembly and then the other members of the committee. The majority of the National Assembly could at any time dismiss the executive committee. The moderate democrat Robert Blum imagined that the executive committee would essentially send the resolutions of the National Assembly to the Governments for execution. The decisive democrats, on the other hand, demanded that the provisional Imperial Government immediately take over the actual executive power of all of Germany.
The majority did not want to leave the familiar ground of the former constitutional right. Although the Imperial Government was responsible parliamentary, yet they turned against a pure parliamentary rule, following the example of the Convention in the French Revolution. The left-centre also did not want the National Assembly to recall the president as the head of the executive.
On 24 June, Heinrich von Gagern, the liberal president of the National Assembly, brought an end to the various proposals and thus the debate from 19 to 25 June. He called on the National Assembly to use a provisional central authority on its own (in a "bold grip"). On 28 June, a majority of the National Assembly voted in favour of the Central Power Act and the following day for the election of Archduke John to Reichsverweser. A Reichsverweser was traditionally the official who governed until the establishment of the final monarch. John of Austria was popular among the people and was thus most likely to be acceptable to the left, on the other hand, he was a high-ranking noble of the Right. Reichsverweser John then set up the first Reichsministerium, the real government of the emerging German Empire, in July and August.
Debates about the Imperial Constitution In January 1849, a campaign for a referendum erupted in the National Assembly, which highlighted the many differing opinions there. On 19 January 1849, the majority, with 339 votes to 122, rejected the request of the moderate left and the more pronounced "Entschiedenen Linken" leftists to institute an elected imperial ruler for a fixed term (any German could stand for election). In further votes, only 97 deputies voted for a directorate, only 80 for an alternating rulership, 39 for an elected Imperial Sovereign with lifetime tenure, 14 for twelve-year term, 196 for a six-year term, 120 for a three-year term. The only thing a majority of delegates agreed on, was that the Imperial Sovereign should bear the title "German Kaiser" (Kaiser der Deutschen) and that it should not be hereditary (but also not elected).