Heinrich von Gagern

Frankfurt National Assembly (1848–1849) Liberalism and republicanism 1799–1880 ○ Natural causes

First president of the Frankfurt National Assembly and head of the Reich ministry, who pushed the Lesser German plan excluding Austria

Born at Bayreuth in 1799, he fought at Waterloo, studied law and joined the Burschenschaft. A civil servant in the Grand Duchy of Hesse, he was elected to its second chamber in 1832 but was dismissed from state service in 1833 for his opposition. In March 1848 he became head of the Hessian government; prominent at the Heidelberg meeting and in the Pre-Parliament, he was elected first president of the Frankfurt National Assembly in May. He was instrumental in making Archduke John regent, and as head of the Reich ministry from December 1848 he carried, with the "Gagern programme" that bound Austria to Germany only by treaty, the passage of the imperial constitution in March 1849. He resigned in May 1849, later sat in the Erfurt Union parliament and was Hessian envoy in Vienna from 1864 to 1872. He died at Darmstadt in 1880.

Also known as: Heinrich Wilhelm August Freiherr von Gagern