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The March Revolution in Denmark are the events of 1848 that ultimately led to the introduction of Danish constitutional monarchy and the Constitution of Denmark.
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The March Revolution in Denmark are the events of 1848 that ultimately led to the introduction of Danish constitutional monarchy and the Constitution of Denmark.
The February and March Revolutions of 1848 were a series of violent events that took place in several European countries (including France and Germany) and marked the emergence of steadily increasing support for democratic reform among the civic population in those countries. Denmark, which had long had a movement for constitutional reform, was affected by the fallout of these revolutions.
King Frederick VII (reigned 1848–63) was 39 years old at his coronation of 20 January 1848. As a prince he had had a somewhat unstable existence including two failed marriages, had no notable skills, and had engaged very little with state-related duties. This, and his lack of desire to shoulder the heavy work and responsibilities of an absolute monarch, meant that he was already open to the thought of a constitutional state.
After his ascension to the throne, he kept the previous ministers and made two new appointments to the Council of State: personally his childhood friend Carl Emil Bardenfleth, and, at his father Christian VIII's wish, Carl Moltke. A few days after the change of monarchs, the Gehejmestatsråd (loosely, "privy council") accepted the fundamentals of the draft constitution that had been under development during Christian VIII's last days. On 28 January 1848, a public announcement of a joint constitutional framework for the entirety of the Kingdom of Denmark was made. The plan was for public representation to consist of equal numbers of members from both the Kingdom proper (that is excluding the Duchies) and jointly the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, with meetings alternately taking place in these locations.
The National Liberal Party, which had through several methods demanded a constitution for the Kingdom and Schleswig immediately following the change of monarch, was very disappointed by the announcement. Specifically, they felt that giving the Kingdom's population of 1,300,000 and the Duchies' smaller population of 800,000 equal representation was a violation of the Danish people's rights. A larger movement grew in the Kingdom demanding a constitution for, geographically, Denmark up to the Eider river. The people of the Duchies were also displeased since the population thought it unthinkable that the Kingdom and the Duchies should be bound by a joint constitution.
On the morning of 20 March 1848, a message reached Copenhagen telling of a meeting held between representatives of Schleswig and Holstein two days earlier in Rendsburg. The representatives decided to dispatch a deputation to Frederick VII with demands including a free constitution, the unification of Schleswig with Holstein, and then Schleswig's joining of the German Confederation.
Off the back of these communications, the leading National Liberal politician Orla Lehmann announced and maintained that the Duchies were in open rebellion. Lehmann, along with party colleagues including Anton Frederik Tscherning, Henrik Nicolai Clausen, and Lauritz Nicolai Hvidt, announced a public meeting at the Casino Theatre at 2000 that same night (20 March). Additionally, Hvidt was tasked with calling the Borgerrepræsentation (English: People's Representation) to a meeting at 1800, to formally approve a declaration to the king with demands for system reform and a change of government. Lehmann wrote the introduction to the message, which read:
Ever merciful king!
Your advisors, which Your Majesty has inherited from your predecessor, are not in possession of the people's confidence, neither in Denmark proper nor in Schleswig and Holstein; the evermore prominent and sad fruits of their governmental system have undermined all hope that they should carry the wisdom and power to free the land. The decisive moment is approaching with a giant's steps. The state will dissolve itself if Your Majesty does not continuously surround your throne with men who are strong enough to meet the challenge and who can provide the government with energetic purpose and the nation with advice - men that could save Denmark's pride and lay the foundation for the land's freedom. We urge Your Majesty not to drive the nation into a spiral of sorrow.
The Representation accepted the declaration after a lengthy debate and decided to deliver it to the king the following day at 1100. Hvidt and Lehmann were consequently late to the Casino meeting, finally arriving at 2030 to the cheers of the 2,500-3,000 attendees. They presented the declaration and it was agreed to meet at Gammeltorv the next morning and accompany the Representation to the king.
The next day (21 March), 15,000-20,000 people gathered at Gammeltorv (Copenhagen's main market square) around midday, from where they walked to Christiansborg to demand a new government. They arrived to find that earlier that morning Frederick VII had already, at the advice of his newly appointed minister Bardenfleth, dismissed his previous ministers. In order to attempt to keep Schleswig for Denmark, Bardenfleth had convinced the king to dismiss the unification-supporting government (which wished to keep both the Duchies).
The following days were taken up by efforts to form a new government. Both Bardenfleth's attempts and several other suggestions, which involved a cabinet consisting mainly of representatives from the old political school mixed with a few liberal politicians, failed; eventually, on the morning of 22 March (and immediately before the arrival of the deputation from the Duchies), the former finance minister Adam Wilhelm Moltke managed to form a coalition now known as the Moltke I Cabinet or March Ministry. This consisted of very few old school figures, with the opposition gaining seats for Ditlev Gothard Monrad, Tscherning, Hvidt, and Lehmann. The National Liberals were in fact displeased with the cabinet but accepted the government based on the king's promise that he was now a constitutional monarch and would yield responsibility to the ministers.
The deputation from the Duchies then received an answer on March 24 (which also served as an announcement of the government's proposed program), which stated that the king refused to allow Schleswig to join the German Confederation. However, it did give Schleswig increased provincial independence and its own national day of celebration, with the king remarking that he wished to "strengthen [Schleswig's] unbreakable bond with Denmark through a joint, free constitution". As for Holstein, it was to have a separate, free constitution as an "independent German Confederate state". Before news of the answer could reach the Duchies, open rebellion had broken out in Holstein on March 23, and the conflicts became the Three Years' War of 1848–1850.
The Duchy of Schleswig was a duchy in Southern Jutland covering the area between about 60 km north and 70 km (45 mi) south of the current border between Germany and Denmark. The territory has been divided between the two countries since 1920, with Northern Schleswig in Denmark and Southern Schleswig in Germany. The region is also called Sleswick in English.
Christian IX was King of Denmark from 15 November 1863 until his death in 1906. From 1863 to 1864, he was concurrently Duke of Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg.
Christian VIII was King of Denmark from 1839 to 1848 and, as Christian Frederick, King of Norway in 1814.
Frederick VII was King of Denmark from 1848 to 1863. He was the last Danish monarch of the older Royal branch of the House of Oldenburg and the last king of Denmark to rule as an absolute monarch. During his reign, he signed a constitution that established a Danish parliament and made the country a constitutional monarchy. Frederick's motto was Folkets Kærlighed, min Styrke.
Christian I(Christiern I) was a German noble and Scandinavian monarch under the Kalmar Union. He was king of Denmark (1448–1481), Norway (1450–1481) and Sweden (1457–1464). From 1460 to 1481, he was also duke of Schleswig and count of Holstein. He was the first king of the House of Oldenburg.
The history of Schleswig-Holstein consists of the corpus of facts since the pre-history times until the modern establishing of the Schleswig-Holstein state.
The First Schleswig War, also known as the Schleswig-Holstein Uprising and the Three Years' War, was a military conflict in southern Denmark and northern Germany rooted in the Schleswig-Holstein Question: who should control the Duchies of Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg, which at the time were ruled by the king of Denmark in a personal union. Ultimately, the Danish side proved victorious with the diplomatic support of the great powers, especially Britain and Russia, since the duchies were close to an important Baltic seaway connecting both powers.
The Second Schleswig War, also sometimes known as the Dano-Prussian War or Prusso-Danish War, was the second military conflict over the Schleswig-Holstein Question of the nineteenth century. The war began on 1 February 1864, when Prussian and Austrian forces crossed the border into the Danish fief Schleswig. Denmark fought troops of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Austrian Empire representing the German Confederation.
The Schleswig–Holstein question was a complex set of diplomatic and other issues arising in the 19th century from the relations of two duchies, Schleswig and Holstein, to the Danish Crown, to the German Confederation, and to each other.
Peter Martin Orla Lehmann was a Danish statesman, a key figure in the development of Denmark's parliamentary government.
Louise of Hesse-Kassel was Queen of Denmark as the wife of King Christian IX from 15 November 1863 until her death in 1898. From 1863 to 1864, she was concurrently Duchess of Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg.
The Constitutional Act of the Realm of Denmark, also known as the Constitutional Act of the Kingdom of Denmark, or simply the Constitution, is the constitution of the Kingdom of Denmark, applying equally in the Realm of Denmark: Denmark proper, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. The first democratic constitution was adopted in 1849, replacing the 1665 absolutist constitution. The current constitution is from 1953. The Constitutional Act has been changed a few times. The wording is general enough to still apply today.
The Moltke I cabinet was the government of Denmark from 22 March 1848 to 15 November 1848. It was also referred to as the March Cabinet.
The Society of the Friends of Peasants was a liberal Danish political society founded on 5 May 1846 by members of the provincial consultative assemblies Johan Christian Drewsen and Balthazar Christensen, with the intent to promote the liberation of the peasantry and equality among the different classes of society. Among its most politically influential members were Anton Frederik Tscherning, Jens Andersen Hansen and Carl Christian Alberti.
Andreas Frederik Krieger was a Danish politician, government minister, professor of law and supreme court judge. He was a member of the National Constitutional Assembly from 1848 to 1849, a member of the Folketing from 1849 to 1852 representing the National Liberal Party and a member of the Landsting from 1863 to 1890 representing first the National Liberal Party and later the conservative party Højre.
The monarchy of Denmark is a constitutional institution and a historic office of the Kingdom of Denmark. The Kingdom includes Denmark proper and the autonomous territories of the Faroe Islands and Greenland. The Kingdom of Denmark was already consolidated in the 8th century, whose rulers are consistently referred to in Frankish sources as "kings". Under the rule of King Gudfred in 804 the Kingdom may have included all the major provinces of medieval Denmark.
Events from the year 1863 in Denmark.
The Casino Theatre was a theatre located at Amaliegade 10 in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was built as an entertainment venue by Tivoli Gardens-founder Georg Carstensen but was converted into a theatre in 1848. It closed in 1937 and the building was demolished in 1960.
Ant(h)on Frederik Tscherning was a Danish army officer who became a politician.
The Danish Unitary State was a Danish political designation for the monarchical state formation of Denmark, Schleswig, Holstein, and Saxe-Lauenburg, between the two treaties of Vienna in 1815 and 1864. The usage of the term became relevant after the First Schleswig War, when a need for a constitutional framework for the monarchy was present, which ought to follow the premises of the London Protocol, which prohibited a closer connection between two of the monarchy's possessions. The political designation was ultimately eliminated after The Second Schleswig War and was replaced by the national state in 1866.