Solemnly announced was the draft constitution a few days after the death of Christian VIII, his successor was Frederick VII (January 28, 1848). He created a common parliament for all areas of Denmark, which was supposed to meet alternately in the kingdom, then in the duchy. For the consideration of the draft was supposed to convene a meeting half appointed by the king, half-chosen by the Diet. All this caused the strongest disapproval and discontent in the country: the demand for a new constitution, common to the whole of Denmark before Eider, was categorically expressed, with the separation of Holstein as a completely independent area.
The excitement of the minds was intensified by the news of the February revolution. The king gave way; in October a constituent assembly was opened. Elections to the assembly were made on the basis of the electoral law that introduced the universal distribution of votes. On June 5, 1849, the constitution was approved; it was supposed to spread to both the kingdom and the duchy of Schleswig.
But in Schleswig, even before the publication of the constitution, a revolutionary movement broke out, causing Germany to intervene and to start a war with Denmark. Already, King Frederick VI made a major mistake by retaining the administrative connection of Schleswig with Holstein and giving the election almost exclusively to one nobleman, imbued with anti-Danish tendencies. Christian VIII, despite the protests of Schleswig peasant deputies, issued a decree, in which the Danish language as the official language was introduced only in the courts and the administration of that part of Schleswig, where the population was exclusively Danish; the language of the schools was even left German here. In fact, the only official language remained German, since it was refused to allow speech in Danish. The head of the local government was appointed as one of the leaders of the German movement – Prince Friedrich, brother of the duke Augustenburg. Government policy changed only when the Duke Augustusburg protested the law of succession in 1846, by which Schleswig’s indissoluble link with Denmark was reaffirmed, and when the reprsentatives of Schleswig presented the address to the King threatening the German Sejm with a complaint.
The revolution of 1848, and especially the convening of the Frankfurt Diet, untied the hands of the Germans of Schleswig. At a meeting in Rendsburg on March 18, it was decided to send the king a decisive demand to combine Schleswig and Holstein in one whole and to include the first one in the German Union. The king responded with a categorical refusal; a previously prepared rebellion broke out in Holstein and then in Schleswig. The Danish government was able to immediately put down the rebellion, but his victory produced an outburst of indignation in Germany.
Prussia opened hostilities; its troops inflicted a heavy defeat on the Danes and even occupied Jutland, cleared only by the vigorous demand of Emperor Nicholas. Of the powers that guaranteed integrity, only France tried to stand up for Denmark. Help from Sweden was not provided, and Denmark had to conclude a truce in Malmö for 7 months. After the renewal of the war, the Danes triumphed at Friederitia (1850); but the peace concluded in Berlin on July 2, 1850, did not secure Denmark from the possibility of Germany’s new intervention in the affairs of Schleswig and Holstein.
Prussia gave Denmark the right to suppress the uprising in Schleswig by force of arms, which was achieved by Denmark after a major victory in (July 25, 1850). The uprising in Holstein was crushed by Austria.
The Danish government proposed a draft constitution for the Danish kingdom and Schleswig; but Austria, which at first approved it, demanded its changes as a result of protest by the Holsteins and, supported by Russia and with complete indifference of England and France, began to insist on organizing the state on the basis of equal rights of three regions: the kingdom, Schleswig and Holstein.
One the other ministries fell in Denmark because of the disagreement of the deputies on the demands of the powers, until finally the ministry managed to settle the case according to the views of Austria and Prussia. Schleswig gained an independent political and administrative position; On January 28, 1852, the representatives of Schleswig and Holstein were transformed from deliberative into legislative to solve local issues, and the electoral law for Schleswig was drafted so that the right of representation fell almost exclusively into the hands of large landowners. A new law of succession was also established with the consent of 5 European states, expressed in the London treatise of 1852.
From the rights to the Danish crown, the successor of the VII line that was extinct with Frederick was declared Christian of Glucksburg. The agreement of the Parlament on all these measures was obtained with great difficulty only in 1853. Under the new constitution (1855), the union council for matters common to all of Denmark was to consist of 100 members (20 appointed by the king, 80 elected).
In its first meeting (1856), 11 of its members (7 from Holstein, 1 from Lauenburg and 3 from Schleswig) protested the new constitution with its electoral law, which was unprofitable for the German nobility in Schleswig. The demand to transfer the constitution to the discussion of the German Union Diet was rejected by an overwhelming majority; but Austria and Prussia joined the protest of 11 and demanded a change in the constitution, as contrary to the federal laws of Germany. The Danish government had to make a concession, causing new demands in the German population.
In 1859, the Frankfurt representatives demanded from Denmark on the basis of the “obligations” that it adopted in 1852 that no common tax or law should be applied to the duchy without the consent of their parliament. It was no longer about Holstein alone, but about Schleswig.
Only in 1863, however, the Danish government decided to give a direct rebuff to the requirements of Germany. It declared that the constitutional relationship of Holstein and Lauenburg with the rest of the monarchies was canceled; at the same time, a Danish-Schleswig constitution was elaborated in the spirit of the requirements of 1848, that is, in the sense of Denmark to Eider.
Then there was a formidable demand from the German Diet (October 1) to cancel everything that was done under the threat of execution. Six weeks were given to Denmark to take action to unite Schleswig with Holstein.
Sources:
Denmark // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron
Helge Paludan, Eric Ulsig, Carsten Rasmussen, Hertz Boncerup, Eric Petersen, Henning Poulsen, Søren Rasmussen. History of Denmark