German states

“ If the great and enlightened German States, occupying, as they do, a central and commanding position in Europe, shall succeed in establishing such a confederated government, securing at the same time to the citizens of each State local governments adapted to the peculiar condition of each, with unrestricted trade and intercourse with each other, it will be an important era in the history of human events. Whilst it will consolidate and strengthen the power of Germany, it must essentially promote the cause of peace, commerce, civilization, and constitutional liberty throughout the world. ”

“ When the army has been brought to such a state as to command respect, then I will take the first opportunity to declare war with Austria, burst asunder the German Confederation, bring the middle and smaller States into subjection, and give Germany a national union under the leadership of Prussia. ”

“ That an incompletely unified state of forty million Germans, that is to say, Prussia, could co-exist with a more complete unity of seventy million Germans, is contrary to nature and is a political contradiction. The German people, therefore, must be free to erect within the Reich new German republics without regarding the actual boundaries of the existing German states, as far as economic conditions and historical considerations permit the formation of new states. ”

“ Austria was excluded from Germany, and Hanover, Hesse-Cassel, Nassau, and Schleswig-Holstein, with Lauenburg and Frankfort, were annexed to Prussia; the states north of the Main were formed into the North German confederation under the headship of Prussia. The four South German states, Bavaria, Würtemberg, Baden, and Hesse-Darmstadt, were made independent states, but were closely united with the North German confederation by means of the Zollverein and defensive and offensive alliances. ”

“ To us to-day, Germany means the German Empire, one of the three or four best organized and most powerful of the European states. It is a compact federation, somewhat like that of the United States, made up of twenty-two monarchies and three little city republics. Each member of the union manages its local affairs, but leaves all questions of national importance to be settled by the central government at Berlin. ”

“ From the thirteenth century down to Napoleon's time there was no Germany in a political sense, but only a great number of practically independent states, great and small. It was but a generation ago that, under the leadership of Prussia,—a kingdom unknown until many centuries after Charlemagne's time,—the previously independent kingdoms, principalities, and free towns were formed into the federation now known as the German empire. ”

“ The German Empire is composed of twenty-six states—Prussia, Bavaria, Wurttemberg, Baden, Saxony, Hesse, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Mecklenburg-Sterlitz, Oldenburg, Brunswick, Saxe-Weimer-Eisnach, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Saxe-Meiningen, Saxe-Altenburg, Waldeck, Lippe, Schaumburg-Lippe, Reuss (elder line) , Reuss (younger line) , Anhalt, Schwarz-Rudolstadt, Schwarzburg-Sonderhausen, Hamburg, Bremen, Lubeck and Reichsland—the Alsace-Lorraine. ”

“ The latter’s secularization of the ecclesiastical states, overthrow of Austria at Austerlitz (1805) and of Prussia at Jena and Auerstädt (1806) , and formation of the Confederation of the Rhine, completed the extinction of the Holy Roman Empire.
The German Confederation.—The states of Germany were again united by the treaty of Vienna (1815) , in a confederation called the German Confederation (der Deutsche Bund) . In 1818 a general commercial league, called the Zollverein was projected by Prussia, and was gradually joined by most of the German states, exclusive of Austria. ”

“ That Empire rests upon a basis of twenty-six autonomous governments, varying from autocracies at one end to republics at the other. The German Empire contains within it every form and shape of human community, varying from sheer mediævalism to extreme modernism. But whatever the form or shape of these separate governments, they are all alike in having control over their own local affairs. Most of the great states of Germany still possess control even over their own railways. ”

“ By this arrangement provision was made for the strengthening of a number of weak states without the creation of a new powerful unit in the group of European nations. Thirty million Germans, comprising by far the majority of the German-speaking inhabitants of the period, were thus politically welded for the first time in modern history. ”

“ It is a fact that the cities most efficiently managed, in the United States (1915) , are under the Commission System, that is to say, the German conception of responsible politico-civic authority.
¶ German thoroughness, as well as German discipline, unite to make the German system a brilliant success; but in America the German collective idea is politically offensive because of our superstition that the way of Liberty lies through incessant political changes. ”

“ A balance of power would be created within Germany. Vienna might once more dominate Berlin, and if Austria should follow a liberal, tolerant, and generous policy she might once more attract to herself the smaller nations of South-Eastern Europe and overshadow Prusso-Germany. A similar situation might arise if the War should be fought to the bitter end, and if the South German States should revolt against Prussia's rule and attach themselves to Austria. ”

“ In order to safeguard the representation of interests which arise in particular states from their special economic relations with, or their geographical contiguity to, foreign states, the Reich shall take the necessary measures and make the necessary arrangements in agreement with the states affected. ”

“ One thing, however, we must notice: the influence of the new policy is far greater than the immediate results of the actual laws passed. It has taught the Germans to look to the Government not only as a means of protecting them against the attacks of other States, but to see in it a thoughtful, and I think we may say kindly, guardian of their interests. ”

“ All existing societies of Germans are called upon as 'organized representatives of Deutschtum' to make it a point of honor to form a national alliance, to foster formation of new societies in all States of the Union, so that the whole mass of Germans in America can be used as a unit for political action. ”

“ The German union, as constituted in 1914, comprised four kingdoms, six grand duchies, five duchies, seven principalities, three sovereign cities, and the Reichsland of Alsace-Lorraine; twenty-six separate states in all. It included all the German peoples of Europe with the exception of those in Austria.
The progress of Germany within the modern period has been very great. The population of the states of the empire, 24,831,000 at the end of the Napoleonic wars, had become, a century later, over 64,000,000, having added 40,000,000 to the roll of inhabitants. ”

“ The individual states, he pointed out, were the products of purely dynastic politics which almost everywhere ran counter to the natural relations of populations and races, separating what should have been united and uniting elements that had nothing in common. Only the republic has the possibility—it is also its duty—to reunite what belonged together. The fundamental question of the internal organization of Germany is, can a centralized Prussian State be maintained within the future German Republic? This question Preuss, after philosophical, historical considerations, answered in the negative. ”

“ The Constitution of the German Empire of 1871 recognized the right of the member states to choose whatever constitutions they desired. [14] The Empire never concerned itself with the form of government chosen by any of its states nor with the different provisions they inserted in their constitutions. ”

“ No description of German governments would be adequate, none the less, which should ignore wholly the minor states. A number of these states, especially Bavaria, Baden, Württemberg, and Saxony, are of considerable size, and the populations which are governed within them approximate, or exceed, the populations of certain wholly independent European nations, as Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, Portugal, and several of the states of the southeast. ”

“ As before, there was only one department of State where his authority ceased,—the army.
It will be easily understood that this Constitution, when it was laid before the assembly, was not accepted without much discussion and many objections. There were some—the representatives of conquered districts, Poles, Hanoverians, and the deputies from Schleswig-Holstein—who wished to overthrow the new Federation which was built up on the destruction of the States to which they had belonged. Theirs was an enmity which was open, honourable, and easy to meet. ”

“ Including these three states, which have since joined the union, the present population cannot be less than twenty-seven millions and a half. The German powers which have not joined the union are Austria, with twelve millions of German subjects, and Hanover, Oldenburg, Holstein, the two Mecklenburgs, and the Hanse Towns, whose united population is about three millions more. {3072} The inhabitants of Germany are, therefore, divided in the proportions of twenty-seven and a half within, to fifteen without, the sphere of the Zollverein. ”

“ I encourage all Americans to recognize the contributions of our citizens of German descent to the liberty and prosperity of the United States, and to celebrate our close ties to the people of Germany. ”

“ The division of the Reich into states shall serve the highest economic and cultural progress of the people, with due regard to the wishes of the population affected. The alteration of state boundaries and the creation of states within the Reich shall take place by virtue of national law modifying the constitution. ”

“ The German Customs Union (Deutsche Zollverein) is an association of states, having for its declared object to secure freedom of trade and commerce between the contracting states, and a common interest in the customs revenue. The terms of the union are expressed in the treaty between Prussia and the other states, dated 22d March, 1833, which may be regarded as the basis of the association. The states now [1844] forming the union are Prussia, Bavaria, Wurtemberg, Saxony, Hesse-Cassel, Hesse-Darmstadt, Baden, Nassau, the Thuringian states, Frankfort, Brunswick, Lippe-Schaumburg, and Luxemburg. ”

“ The future of the German nation, its unity, its freedom, its development, were practical questions of the hour. The nationality principle is essentially democratic, and the aspirations for German unity carried with them in every one of the States strong movements for the extension of popular freedom and power. ”

“ To my great satisfaction, the relations of the empire to the foreign states are altogether and everywhere friendly and free from any cloud. The organized military force of Germany, however, compares still more unfavorably with that of our neighbors than it did last year. ”

“ Every change of the kind begets new hopes, and makes a government temporarily popular; so this was a gain for Austria. Nevertheless, the "Small-German" party finally triumphed in the Parliament. On the 28th of March, 1849, Frederick Wilhelm IV. of Germany was elected "Hereditary Emperor of Germany." All the small States accepted the choice: Bavaria, Würtemberg, Saxony and Hannover refused; Austria protested, and the king himself, after hesitating for a week, declined. ”

“ Everywhere there is a tendency to the formation of large and important states, speaking for the most part one language throughout their whole territory. It is promoted by the quickened impetus of trade and commerce, increased military and financial resources, improved and extended communication, and by the entire development of modern civilization. This progress towards the establishment of extensive and consolidated nationalities is conspicuously found in the present German empire. ”

“ So popular with Germans is this notion of unity that it has been cleverly exploited as an additional excuse for world conquest. For in every country there are Germans, and, according to the blood theory, they always remain such. There are approximately 33 million Germans outside of the German Reich. Of the 15 million in the western hemisphere, 10 million live in the United States. They cannot, according to this theory, divest themselves of exclusive loyalty to the German state even by acquiring citizenship in another. ”

“ But a glance at the map shows that, whereas previously Germany enjoyed by alliance with Austria political control eastwards to the Carpathians and Balkans and economic control to the Ægean and Black Sea, now Germany is barricaded on the east at its national frontier by strong national States; and by union with German-Austria would receive an extension of its [219] own national frontier not eastward but southward. The effect of union with Austria would be to add to Germany not another East Prussia or Silesia, but another Baden or Bavaria. ”

“ Nothing but the most powerful common interests could have drawn the dissevered halves of Germany together. This sense of common interests it was Bismarck’s study to create. An important Customs parliament.
South German hostility to union. step was taken in 1867 by the conclusion of a treaty with the southern states, by which it was agreed that all questions of customs should be decided by the federal council and the federal diet, and that, for the consideration of such questions, the southern states should send representatives to Berlin. ”