The Kingdom of Saxony, lasting between 1806 and 1918, was an independent member
of a number of historical confederacies in Napoleonic through post-Napoleonic
Germany. From 1871 it was part of the German Empire. It became a Free state in
the era of Weimar Republic in 1918 after the end of World War I and the
abdication of King Frederick Augustus III of Saxony. Its capital was the city
of Dresden, and its modern successor state is the Free State of Saxony.
History = Napoleonic Era and the German
Confederation = Before 1806 Saxony was part of the Holy
Roman Empire, a thousand-year-old entity which had once aspired to be a single
state, but had become highly decentralised over the centuries. The
rulers of Electorate of Saxony of the House of Wettin had held the title of
elector for several centuries. When the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved
following the defeat of Emperor Francis II by Napoleon at the Battle of
Austerlitz, the electorate was raised to the status of an independent kingdom
with the support of France, then the dominant power in Central Europe. The
last elector of Saxony became King Frederick Augustus I.
Following the defeat of Saxony's ally Prussia at the Battle of Jena in 1806,
Saxony joined the Confederation of the Rhine, and remained within the
Confederation until its dissolution in 1813 with Napoleon's defeat at the
Battle of Leipzig. Following the battle, in which Saxony — virtually alone of the
German states — had fought alongside the French, King Frederick Augustus I was
deserted by his troops, taken prisoner by the Prussians and considered to have
forfeited his throne by the allies, who put Saxony under Prussian occupation and
administration. This was probably more due to the Prussian desire to annex
Saxony than to any crime on Frederick Augustus's part, and the fate of Saxony
would prove to be one of the main issues at the Congress of Vienna. In the end,
40% of the Kingdom, including the historically significant Wittenberg,
home of the Protestant Reformation, was annexed by Prussia, but Frederick
Augustus was restored to the throne in the remainder of his kingdom, which
still included the major cities of Dresden and Leipzig. The Kingdom also
joined the German Confederation, the new organization of the German states to
replace the Holy Roman Empire. = Austro-Prussian War and the German
Empire = During the 1866 Austro-Prussian War,
Saxony sided with Austria, and the Saxon army was generally seen as the only ally
to bring substantial aid to the Austrian cause, having abandoned the defense of
Saxony itself to join up with the Austrian army in Bohemia. This
effectiveness probably allowed Saxony to escape the fate of other north German
states allied with Austria — notably the Kingdom of Hanover — which were annexed
by Prussia after the war. The Austrians insisted as a point of honour that
Saxony must be spared, and the Prussians acquiesced. Saxony nevertheless joined
the Prussian-led North German Confederation the next year. With
Prussia's victory over France in the Franco-Prussian War of 1871, the members
of the Confederation were organised by Otto von Bismarck into the German
Empire, with Wilhelm I as its Emperor. John I, as Saxony's incumbent king, was
subordinate and owed allegiance to the Emperor, although he, like the other
German princes, retained some of the prerogatives of a sovereign ruler,
including the ability to enter into diplomatic relations with other states.
= End of the kingdom = Wilhelm I's grandson Kaiser Wilhelm II
abdicated in 1918 as a result of Germany's defeat in World War I. King
Frederick Augustus III of Saxony followed him into abdication and the
erstwhile Kingdom of Saxony became the Free State of Saxony within the newly
formed Weimar Republic. Government
The 1831 Constitution of Saxony established the state as a parliamentary
monarchy. = King =
The king was named as head of the nation. He was required to follow the
provisions of the constitution, and could not become the ruler of any other
state without the consent of the Diet, or parliament. The crown was hereditary
in the male line of the royal family through agnatic primogeniture, though
provisions existed allowing a female line to inherit in the absence of
qualified male heirs. Added provisions concerned the formation of a regency if
the king was too young or otherwise unable to rule, as well as provisions
concerning the crown prince's education. Any acts or decrees signed or issued by
the king had to be countersigned by at least one of his ministers, who thus
took responsibility for them. Without the ministerial countersignature, no act
of the king was to be considered valid. The king was given the right to declare
any accused person innocent, or alternately to mitigate or suspend their
punishment or pardon them; such decrees did not require ministerial
co-signature. He was also given supreme power over religious matters in Saxony.
He appointed the president of the upper house of the Diet, together with a proxy
from among three candidates suggested by that house, and appointed the president
and proxy of the lower house, as well. The king was given sole power to
promulgate laws, and to carry them into effect, and only by his consent could
any proposal for a law be advanced in the Diet. He equally had authority to
issue emergency decrees and even to issue non-emergency laws that he found
needful or "advantageous," though such instruments required the
counter-signature of at least one of his ministers, and had to be presented to
the next Diet for approval. He could not, however, change the constitution
itself or the electoral laws in this manner. He was permitted to veto laws
passed by the Diet, or to send them back with proposed amendments for
reconsideration. He was permitted to issue extraordinary decrees to obtain
money for state expenditures refused by the Diet, through the Supreme Court,
though such decrees could only last for one year. He was permitted to dissolve
the Diet, though new elections for the lower house had to be held within six
months; he was also permitted to convoke extraordinary sessions of the
legislature at his discretion. From 1697 the Kings of Saxony became
Roman Catholic in order to accept the crowns of Poland and Lithuania, of which
they were kings until 1763. The royal family remained Roman Catholic, ruling
over a domain that was 95% Protestant. = Ministry =
The ministry was defined in the constitution as consisting of six
departments, all of which were made responsible to the Diet:
The Chief Court of Justice; The Court of Finance;
The Office For the Affairs of the Interior;
The War Office; The Ecclesiastical Court;
The Office of Foreign Affairs. Members of the ministry had the right to
appear in either chamber of the Diet at will, and there to participate in
debate, but upon a division of the house they had to withdraw.
= Bill of Rights = A Bill of Rights was included in the
constitution. It incorporated: Limited protections for "liberty of
person and property... except that which law and justice dictates";
The right of a citizen to choose any lawful profession and to emigrate so
long as no military or civil obligations attached to them;;
The right to be paid for expropriated property and to challenge the amount of
payment set by the state in court; Liberty of conscience and religion,
though freedom of religion was limited to Christian churches recognized by the
state; Equality for members of state-recognized
religious organizations; Equality in eligibility for government
employment; A limited freedom of the press, subject
to legal restrictions; The right to appeal actions of
government officials either to the courts or to the Diet itself;
The right to directly appeal grievances to the King himself;
Freedom from arbitrary arrest and punishment save through conviction in a
court of law; No person was to be confined for more
than 24 hours without being informed of the reason for his arrest;
The right to be free of all taxes other than those prescribed by law or title.
= Legislature = The Diet, or legislature was divided
into two houses, which were constitutionally equal in their rights
and status, and neither house was to meet without the other.
The upper chamber consisted of the following:
All princes of the blood who were of legal age;
One deputy of the Archibishopric of Misnia;
The proprietor of the Principality of Wildenfels;
One deputy representing the five Schonburg family domains;
One deputy from the University of Leipsic, chosen by the professors of
that institution; The proprietor of the Barony of
Konigsbruck; The proprietor of the Barony of
Riebersdorf; The minister of the Lutheran court
chapel; The deacon of the Cathedral of St. Peter
in Budessen; The superintendent of the town of
Leipsic; One deputy from the Lutheran Cathedral
of Wurzen; One deputy representing four other
Schonburg family estates; Twelve proprietors of manorial estates
in the kingdom, possessed of a minimum income of at least $2000 per year from
rentals, chosen for life from amongst themselves;
Ten more persons of the proprietary class, possessed of a minimum income of
at least $4000 per year from rentals, chosen by the king for life;
The chief magistrate of Dresden and Leipzig;
Six other town magistrates chosen by the king, with the provision that the
monarch should try to see that all sections of the kingdom were
represented. Members of this house held their seats
so long as they remained qualified to do so under the constitution, or in certain
cases until they had reached the age of sixty or participated in three sessions
of the Diet. The lower house of the Diet consisted
of: Twenty proprietors of manorial estates,
possessed of rental income of at least $600 per year;
Twenty-five deputies from towns; Twenty-five deputies chosen from among
the peasants; Five representatives of trades and
factories. A proxy was to also be chosen for each
representative, who would take the representative's place, should they be
incapacitated, absent, resign or be removed. Each representative was elected
for nine years; however, approximately one-third were required to resign their
seats every three years, though all were eligible for immediate re-election. The
lower house was to nominate four members, of whom the king was to choose
one to be president of that house, and another to be his proxy.
Members of the Diet must be at least 30 years of age; electors must be 25 years
of age, not have been convicted of any offense in a court of law, not have
their personal estate financially encumbered in any way, and not be under
guardianship. The Diet was required to consider any
business laid before it by the king, before proceeding to any other business.
Members were to vote their consciences, and were not to accept instructions from
their constituents. Members were granted full freedom of speech in the chambers,
but were not permitted to insult each other, the king, any member of the royal
family or the parliament. Members who violated any of these rules could be
disciplined by their respective house, up to and including permanent expulsion
with ineligibility for re-election. The Diet could propose the formation of new
laws or changes in existing ones, but no bill could be brought forward without
the king's express consent. Conversely, no new law could be enacted, without the
Diet's consent. Bills could be passed by a simple
one-third-plus-one vote in both houses of the Diet; a majority vote was not
necessary in either house. Any bill rejected or amended must contain a
statement of why it was rejected or amended. No new taxes could be imposed
without the Diet's consent, though the king was permitted to bypass this in
certain instances. The parliament could impeach members of the ministry by
unanimous vote of both houses; ministers so impeached were to be tried by a
special court; the decision of this court was final, and even the king's
right of pardon did not extend to persons convicted by it.
In the wake of the tumultuous 1848 revolutions, Saxony's Landtag extended
voting rights and abolished voting-taxes. In 1871, Saxony was
incorporated into the German Empire and more voting rights were gradually
extended. By the early 1900s, Saxony's local politics had settled into a niche
in which Social-Democrats, Conservatives, and National-Liberals
were splitting the share of votes and Landtag seats three ways.. Voter
participation was high. = Judiciary =
The judiciary was made independent of the civil government, The High Court of
Judiciature, created in Sections 142 to 150 was also given authority to rule
upon "dubious" points in the constitution; its decision was decreed
to be final, and was protected from royal interference.
See also Constitution of the Kingdom of Saxony
Constitution of the Kingdom of Saxony References