12 September 1848 and the Swiss Constitution
15 September 2021
The present-day Swiss Confederation came into being on 12 September 1848. On that day, the parliament (Tagsatzung) approved the text after the cantons had adopted it with a majority of 15 ½ cantons against 6 ½.
Of these 6 ½ opponents (Zug, Valais, Uri, Tessin, Schwyz, Appenzell Innerrhoden (1/2), Nidwalden (1/2) and Obwalden (1/2), 3 ½ were also willing to join the majority. So, 19 ‘yes’ votes were opposed by 3 ‘no’ votes.
Most of those who voted against it belonged to the Catholic Sonderbund, which was defeated in a short war (3-27 November) by government forces led by General Guillaume Henri Dufour (1787-1875). Lucerne had also been a member, but all the non-voters were counted as voters in favour; the cantonal government (Grosser Rat) decided in Freiburg.
The Komitialstimmen decided in the predominantly Protestant canton of Graubünden. The Landsgemeinde made decisions for the cantons of Uri, Obwalden, Nidwalden, Glarus (both Catholic and Protestant), Appenzell Ausserrhoden (Protestant), and Appenzell Innerrhoden (Catholic).
The remaining 16 cantons, including the two semi-cantons Basel-Stadt and Basel-Landschaft, held a referendum. The number of valid votes in all the cantons was 199,904, including 54,320 (27.2%) no votes.
Moreover, Nidwalden did not accept the result and was compelled to accept it by an invasion of federal troops. The canton lost the territory of the municipality and monastery of Engelberg, which were transferred to the canton of Obwalden.
The Constitution of 1848
This Constitution was an ingenious design at the right time and place in a country with different religions, languages and sovereign cantons.
The essential fundamentals were the federal structure and the constitutional equality of all cantons in the Council of States (Ständerat), decentralisation, direct democracy, the Militia system, and the citizens’ involvement and engagement at the political levels.
In 1875, Switzerland was one of the most modern countries in Europe and was justifiably referred to as the laboratory of progress.
The Swiss Confederation was founded on centuries-old political, economic, personal, cultural, and linguistic relationships, exchanges, experiences, and systems. This Confederation created the conditions for modernisation and the Industrial Revolution in Switzerland.
The Constitution of 1848 was a well-thought-out political system based on this bottom-up creation and centuries of political experiences, trade and exchange.
Myths
It is irrelevant whether William Tell (Wilhelm Tell) existed or whether the long history of the origin of the present-day Confederacy began in 1291, 1351, 1501, 1798, or 1848.
Unique political systems existed in the fourteenth century. The Eidgenossen were independent cantons and Orte, united and cooperating in a loose confederation despite all their differences. This Confederation survived. That is not a myth but a fact.
However, it is a myth that Switzerland was a poverty-stricken country in Europe and derived its right to exist solely from the French king’s lucrative mercenary trade and protection.
The vast majority of Switzerland was poor, but the picture is not fundamentally different from that of England or, for example, the Netherlands during its Golden Age, where grinding poverty prevailed outside the small circle of well-to-do merchants and citizens.
Anyone visiting villages such as Trogen, Schwyz, Glarus, or Altdorf in Central Switzerland will immediately notice the urban allure and wealth from the 14th to the 18th centuries. The same applies, for example, to cities such as Freiburg, Lucerne, Bern, Zurich, Basel, Solothurn, Geneva, St. Gallen, or Stein am Rhein. Trade, industry, and innovation have always been the hallmarks of the country.
The French kingdom might not have survived the expansion of the Burgundian Duchy, the military, political and cultural superpower of the fifteenth century. However, the Duke of Burgundy was defeated by the Eidgenossen (1474-1477). Afterwards, the French king needed the Eidgenossen just as much in his struggle with the Habsburgs as vice versa.
Free trade always benefits prosperity. It was the concept of the Hanseatic League and the trade treaties with, for example, the Kingdom of France, which lasted until 1798. Economic interdependence has always existed on the European continent; the Romans already traded with German tribes, and the Celts with the Greeks.
The European Union, founded in 1957 as an economic organisation, the EEC (European Economic Community), has always worked rather well. However, it went wrong with the introduction of the monetary union in 1991 and the far too rapid enlargement in 2004 without reform of the EU’s structures. The politicians missed this unique momentum for fundamental reforms in a limited number of countries.
Sovereignty
There is also the myth that true sovereignty is now shared with the European Union: (“La souverainité absolue est une notion dépassée, elle se comprend aujourd’hui comme de la compétence de prendre part à une décision commune, à excercer une responsabilité partagée, ce qui correspond à la tradition suisse” (Prof. A. Holenstein, Le Temps 13 September 2021).
The functioning of the European Central Bank shows that debtors determine policy; good policy is systematically voted out. Other examples point in the same direction.
The EU lacks (direct) democracy, federalism, decentralisation, trias politica or subsidiarity, and a historically and organically grown political and administrative system.
Conclusion
The Constitution of 1848 made Switzerland’s success possible. However, the European Union’s ‘Constitution’ and structures do not guarantee the same success. On the contrary, with future enlargements, the democratic system will become increasingly fragile.
None of this detracts from the usefulness, value and importance of the European Union, which is irreplaceable. However, it is not a holy relic and has its fundamental weaknesses. These weaknesses should be discussed without the critics’ doom, gloom, or condemnation.
The Canton of Glarus, for instance, is capable of implementing fundamental reforms and making progressive decisions. The Landsgemeinde has relinquished its century-old rights and responsibilities, including the election of the canton’s government.
Nowadays, the government is elected by secret ballot. The Landsgemeinde had reduced the number of municipalities from 25 to 3 in 2006 (it takes generations in other countries), the Landsgemeinde decided in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to allow both religions, Catholic and Protestant, the Landsgemeinde voted in 2007 in favour of voting from the age of sixteen (it is not necessarily a wise decision, but it shows the progressive nature of the Landsgemeinde) and the Landsgemeinde accepted on 5 September 2021 strict CO2 rules—the power and wisdom of decentralisation, federalism and direct democracy.
(Source: U. Häfelin, W. Haller, H. Keller, D. Thurnherr, Schweizerisches Bundesstaatsrecht, Basel 2020; www.parlament.ch).