Frankfurt National Assembly
프랑크푸르트 국민의회
The first freely elected all-German parliament, opened in St Paul's Church in Frankfurt on 18 May 1848 to draw up a constitution for a united Germany, elected by manhood suffrage, mostly indirect, in the states of the German Confederation. It set up a Provisional Central Power under Archduke John as Regent and passed the Basic Rights in December 1848 and the imperial constitution in March 1849, but collapsed when the King of Prussia refused the imperial crown; its rump in Stuttgart was dispersed by Württemberg troops in June 1849.
In depth
The Pre-Parliament set one deputy per 50,000 inhabitants, 649 seats, reduced to 585 by the boycott of Czech-majority constituencies; with frequent replacements, counts of all deputies range from 799 to 830. Its many officials, jurists and professors earned it the name "professors' parliament", and the deputies formed groups named after their meeting places: Café Milani on the right, the right-centre Casino, the left-centre Württemberger Hof, and Deutscher Hof and Donnersberg on the left. Its first president was Heinrich von Gagern.
The Assembly had neither the power to tax nor an army. Its acceptance of the Malmö armistice in September 1848 broke its ties with the democrats, and the question of including Austria divided the Greater German and Lesser German camps. On 28 March 1849 it proclaimed a Lesser German constitution with a hereditary emperor and elected the King of Prussia, who refused in April. After Austria and Prussia recalled their deputies the remainder moved to Stuttgart on 30 May and were dispersed on 18 June.