Federal Convention (German Confederation)

The Federal Convention (German: Bundesversammlung or Bundestag) was the only central institution of the German Confederation from 1815 until 1848, and from 1850 until 1866. The Federal Assembly had its seat in the Palais Thurn und Taxis in Frankfurt. It was organized as a permanent congress of envoys.

The German Confederation and its Federal Assembly came into existence as a result of the Congress of Vienna in 1815 after the defeat of Napoleon. The original task was to create a new constitutional structure for Germany after the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire eight years before. The princes of the German states wanted to keep their sovereignty, therefore the German Confederation was created as a loose confederation of independent monarchist states, but included four free cities as well. The founding act was the German Federal Act of June 8, 1815 (German: Deutsche Bundesakte), which was part of the treaty of the Congress of Vienna.

The Federal Assembly was created as a permanent congress of envoys of all member states, which replaced the former imperial central power of the Holy Roman Empire. The Federal Assembly took its seat at the palais Thurn und Taxis in Frankfurt, where it met once a week after November 5, 1816.

The Federal Assembly was presided over by the Austrian delegate and consisted of two executive bodies: the inner council and the plenary session. Its members were not elected, neither by popular vote nor by state parliaments (which even didn't exist in some member states), but had been appointed by the state governments or by the state's prince.

The inner council consisted of 17 envoys (one seat each for the 11 larger states, 5 seats for the 23 smaller states and one seat for the four free cities). The inner council determined the legislative agenda and decided which issues should be discussed by the plenary session. Decisions of the inner circle required an absolute majority.

The plenary session had 69 seats, according roughly to the state's sizes. The plenary session was involved especially in decisions regarding constitutional changes, which required a majority of 2/3 of the plenary session.

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