1 The 1848 Conflicts and their Significance in Swiss Historiography Thomas Maissen

Wha t does it take to make a revolution successful? How was it possible that, of all the countries concerned, was the on ly one to see the success of its liberal and national movement in 1848? It was a success in a double sen se: firstly, there was no polit­ ical reaction and repression as elsewhere, th e achievements of 1848 were not seriously threatened either by foreign powers or by int ern al oppo ne nts; and second ly, it was a lasting success, for from 1848 until today th ere has been constitutiona l and institution al continuity, making it possible to celebrate the 150th anniversary of modern Switzerland. Such continuity, which in addition has been peaceful, might not much imp ress a British audience that traces its na tiona l roots as far back as 1066, 1215 or even 1689 and 1707. But one has to compa re mod ern Switzerland to th e fate of th e othe r contine ntal countries: non e of th em has been spared territ orial modi ficatio ns or institutiona l and constitutiona l struggles througho ut the last 150 years, an d most have suffered enormously from th ese changes. Only th e sma ll Alpine republic has somehow muddled through th e era of the nation state without too much harm. It has becom e more obvious over th e last few years, however, that thi s success story has its dark spots, too, and it is high tim e for th e Swiss to say goodb ye to an unrealistically heroic view of their past. Nevertheless, th ey can be grateful for what happened in the 1840s, for a 'very civil war', as joachtrn Remak ha s ambiguously called it, J ended a lasting period of int ernal strife and insecurity and led to an institutional recon struction

3 4 Tile .'-Iaking ofModem SWitzerland, 1848-1998 Thomas Maissen 5 of the old Confede ratio n . Another outcome of that crisis was always canto ns for help if it was in danger. Finally, paragraph 12 contai ned possible: Switzerland could have broken apart in 1847 or the con­ a guarantee for the monasteries and their property. frontation could have ended with a stalemate, leaving the federal The Bundesvertrag was barely contested until 1830 when once again, state with its archaic structure. It is not the historian 's job to discuss a French revolution brought about changes in many other European the 'what if' qu estion, but it is not difficult to imagine what it could countries too. Alread y before Louis-Philippe's triumph in late summer, have meant to a traditional Switzerland of 22 sovereign, but tiny th e Ticino had adopted a new, liberal constitutio n. Ten other cantons canto ns to be confronted with the building of nations in the second followed , yielding to the pressure of popular meetings in autumn and half of the nineteenth cen tury, especially the Italian Risorgimento and winter 1830; this was the case in Zurich, Berne, , , the German Reichsgriindung. , Schaffhausen , St Gallen, , Thurgau and . Here, modern liberal structu res were founded: peopl e's sovereignty within T he conflicts leading to the n ew state of 184 8 a representative democracy, separation of powers, personal and eco­ nomic freedom. As there was political unrest in other cantons too, To understand how close th e decision of 1848 really was, we have to there were soon two opposing blocks within the Confede ratio n look first at the preceding critical years.' The Swiss allcien regime fell which even formed alliances for some time: the conservative group in 1798, under simultaneous pressure from apoleon's revolutiona ry (Sam er Bund ) co nsisted of the founding cantons of Uri, Schwyz and troops and th e claim for full citizen ship and political participation Unterwalden, with , Basle, Neuchatel and the , whereas the widely diffused amo ng sub jects in the countryside and in th e liberal Siebnerkonkord at brought together Zurich , Berne, Lucerne, Gemeine Herrschaften, the areas dominated by several cantons con­ Solothum, St Gallen, Aargau and Thurgau. The strong oppositlon jointly. The product of thi s upheaval was th e Helvetische Republik, of traditional thinking , wh ich was manifest also in liberal cantons, a centralised state in line with the mod ern French rational mod el, made the revision of the 1815 Bundesvertrag impossible although whi ch did not last. In 1803 Napoleo n imposed a new constitution a new constitution, the so-called Bundesutkunde, was proposed in that again respected the rights of the sovereign canto ns. Th rough the 1832/3. Yet the revision failed not o nly because of the conservatives treaties of and in 1815, Switzerland was granted eternal but also because on the other side the so-called radicals argued that neutrality, and through the Bundesvertrag it again became the union the Bundesu tkunde would not go far enough . of almost independent states it had been until 1798. The only national Thus, from 1833 o nwards, we have three major political groups institution was the Diet (), a congress of cantonal envoys struggling for power within the cantons. We have to keep in m ind who voted according to their govern ment's instructions when they that these were not the political parties we know nowadays but loose met in the , the capital which alternated every two years associations of men who sha red poli tical ideas. The differences between Zurich , Berne and Lucerne. There was no centralised adrnln­ betw een them were often subject to change and owed much to the istration, and the competence of the Tagsatzung was lim ited to foreign particular situation in each canton and to other circumstances. Thus and security policy. Thus it was quite deliberately that the name we must not be surprised that there are several famous cases of 'apos­ Bundesvertrag was chosen in 1815: this was no constitution among tasy', liberals of the 18305 who changed th eir ideas and becam e lead­ citizens , but a pact between confederate states. Yet it was this Bundes­ ing members of th e conservative group. The most fam ous was the vertrag whi ch contained the legal nucleu s of the later conflicts. In future leader of the Sonderbund, Constantin Siegwart-Miiller. Bearing paragraph 6, we read that the cantons were not to have separate alli­ in mind the fluidity of the political boundaries, let us have a closer ances am ong each other which might be det rimental to the Confed­ look at the three groups.' erati on or to other cantons (keine dem allgem ein en Bund oder den Liberals: The Swiss liberal tradition was strongly influenced by Rechten anderer Kantone nachtheilige Verbindungen). On the other Benjam in Constant' s thinking insofar as it defended the goals of th e hand, according to paragraph 4, each canton was entitled to ask other French Revolution but, horrified by the Terreur, insisted firm ly on 6 The Making of ModmJSwitzerland, 1848- 1998 Thomas Maissen 7

the institutio nal means of avoiding its mistakes. For Con stant, per­ Bundes rat, stated in Rousseauian terms, that the supreme will of th e sonal freedom and property went hand in hand; they allowed an people must not be bo und by the Constitutio n which is a product individualistic elite to handle the commonwealth while the state did of that will and not a contract.' Thus the radicals could procla im not intervene in their private affairs. The people was sovereign, bu t the people's right to revolution ( Volksrecllt aut Revolution)' wh ich its representatives were almost fully independent of its will; as for was one of the dynamic elements in the crisis leading to the Sender­ the representatives, they were controlled by a constitution which bund War. could not be modified easily. Thus, the people's sovereignty found Conservatives: The other dynamic element was situated, even if it its expression and at the same time its limits in voting a consti tution sounds paradoxical, in the conservative camp. To understand this, an d electing the parliam ent, rights which were often restricted by we must differentiate further the varying components of that camp. census. Many liberals even went so far as to consider the parliament What united th em was th eir hostility towards the modernist elements itself sovereign , once it had been elected on a co nstitutional basis; which we find among radicals as well as among liberals: anticlerical­ often, th ey considered th e British parliament as their model. Still, it ism, secular education , rationalism, positivism, materialism, belief in was the libera l intention to enlarge po pu lar participation: in a fairly progress. To all tha t, the conservatives opposed revelation an d reli­ optimistic view of hu man beings, ed ucation was supposed to form gious faith, the legacy of h istory and tradition, prescriptive law, old good and skilful citizens who could acquire property, thus learn privileges and alliances, an organic view of the state and the Church respo nsibility and fully participa te in political powe r. linked to a metaphysical order. Th ese convictio ns were shared by Radicals: Radicalism differed from liberalism mainly in its inter­ Catholic as well as by Protestant conse rvatives; the latter ruled in pretation of people's sovereignty, whose exercise was seen as much Basle, Neuchatel and until 1846,, and always formed an less fonnal and clearly limiting the arbitrariness of its represent­ influential oppositio n in th e biggest liberal canto ns of Zurich, Berne atives. The radical tradition goes back to the Anglo-Saxon roo ts of and Vaud. Yet the Protestant conservatives were eclipsed by the John Wilkes who called for universal suffrage and also to Thomas dynamics of the 1840s caused by their Catholic counterparts. Here Paine and Ieremy Bentharn's egalitarian utilitarianism. But in Swit­ again we have to distinguish between the traditionalist particularists zerland, the influence of Rousseau, of the French jacobins and of or (in the German sense of the word)'federalists' on the one hand German refugees, namely ludwig Snell, was more important, as was and the 'ultras' on the other. The particularists stuck to the century-old the mem ory of the Swiss unitarian movem en t after 1798 and some canto nal sovereignty and the solem n role of the Church in everyday Swiss political thi nkers, Ignaz Paul Vital Troxler being the most life; they often belonged to the traditional patrician elites of the important and most interesting. The unitarian theo ries prod uced ancien regime and were, in the strict sense of the word, conservative centralised governments in some cantons, especia lly Vaud , and also insofar as they did not see why the Bundesvettrag of 1815 should be claimed a strong central power for the whole nation. Such a govern­ modified. Unlike the particularists. the 'ul tras' thought that the ment should also intervene, according to the radicals, in economic struggle against libera l modernity must be fought with modern and social affairs, which liberals wished to keep free from interfer­ weapons: they relied on popular religious feelings , but also on the ence from the state. The main distinction concerned sovereignty and sovereignty of the peopl e. Thus they fought the restricted circles of the role of constitution and revolution. For liberals, a revolution was the ruling liberal elites, changed the Constitutio n with the help of legitimate when it led to a constitution based on sovereignty of the popular movemen ts, and introduced democratic instruments, espe­ people; but once a constitution was established, further evolution had cially the so-called 'veto', a predecessor of the referendu m. The most to proceed within its settled rules . As the liberal Neue Ziircher Zeitung fam ous leaders of the 'ultras' were the farmer joseph Leu von Ebersol pu t it in 1846, the Cons titution mu st restrain the people from and the aforementioned Lucerne Schultheiss, the Constantin becoming an absolutist ruler. ' On the other hand, Henri Druey, a Siegwart-Miiller. The latter was to be the 'spiritus rector' of th e radical leader and later member of the first national government, the Sonderbund, and he even went so far as to develop a plan for changing 8 The Making o( "' (odem Switzerland, 1848-1998 Thomas Maissen 9 the boundaries and governments in other Swiss canton s after a pos­ to a national level. In early 1841, after the aforementio ned insurrec­ sible victory in a war. Such a revolutionary outcome \vrould have tion , the rad ical government closed down the monasteries which guaranteed a stable equilibrium between Catholics and Protestants, were considered to be the nucle us of th e armed revol t and this in between liberals and conservatives; it could never have been ima­ spite of the fact that. as mentioned, the rights of th e monasteries ha d gined by the traditiona list particularists who were so fond of the been explicitly gua ranteed in the 181S Bundesvertrag. The Catholic ancient laws which they wished to perpetuate among confede rates. cantons subsequently protested against this illegal act on the part of Having sketched in these details about the ma in political groups, the Argovian gove rnment, but the liberal majority of the Tagsatzung the early Socialist movemen t being of little im portance in the Swiss declared in 1843 that it was satisfied with the reconstitu tion of the context of 1848, we can now give a brief overview of the confessional four Argovian nunneries. Even among conservative Protestants, not­ dynamics of the 1840s that led to the Sonde rbund War . We must ably in Zurich . few were prepared to defend the rights of the mo nks recall that among the regenerated cantons of 1830 were Lucerne, who since Zwingli had constantly been on the receiving end of criti­ Solothurn, Fribourg and the Ticin o, all wholly Catholic, to whom we cism from the reformed Church. The conservative case became even may add St Gallen and Aargau whic h bot h had a large Catholic more difficult among Protestan ts in 1844 when Lucerne appointed population. With Protestant cantons like Basle, Neuchatel and Geneva Jesuits to run its seminary. This symbol of the Counter-Reformati on in the conservative camp, it was obvious to all contempo raries that me t with the traditional hatred of the Protestants and of many there was a political, not a religious confrontation on a national enlightened Catholics too. Here we can best see the difference level, which during th e 1830s remained unsettled. Yet, wit hin the between the conservative 'particu larists ' and the 'ultras': the cautious cantons, confrontations soon intensified over the closely connected traditionalists opposed the appointm ent beca use they did not wan t issues of the Church and ed ucation. As early as 1834. seven liberal to provoke religiou s unrest but the 'ultras' imposed it, as it enabled cantons tried to establish a Catholic national archbishopric under them to mobilise the flock of believers against radical aggression. state control, but protests mainly in the Bernese Jura and diplomatic Thus the confrontation became fiercer and fiercer as the extremes in interventions by the Pope an d France put a sto p to tha t initiative. both camps,'ultras' and radicals, took over.In December ]844 a first In 1839. the liberal government of Zurich appointed the rationalist armed attempt to overthrow the Lu cerne government failed miser­ theologia n David Fried rich Strauss to its recently founded university; ably . A second Freischarenzug with radical volunteers not only from popular unrest, mainly in the countryside, opposed this Religionsge(ahr. Lucerne, but also from many surrounding cantons, was heavily the threat to the Zwinglian orthodoxy. The govern me nt yielded and defeated on 1 April 1845 when over 100 men lost their lives. As it in the coup of Septembe r 1839 the conserva tives took power. Through­ was obvious th at th e liberal canto ns had not prevented the attack out the country the impact was enormous: the conservatives adopted from their terr itory and ha d even let the volunteers arm themselves the techniques of pop ular assemblies and riot s an d Zurich, one of the in their arsenals, th e scandal was trem endou s at the Tagsatzung. The three Voro rte, highly industrialised and a flagship of the liberal move­ fury of the Catholic conservatives grew even furt her in the summer men t, cha nged camps. What followed was a series of coups: the liberals of 1845 when Robert Steige r, a Lucernese radica l leader of th e second won in the Ticino and they resisted conservative Catholic insurrec­ Freischatentug, who had been sentenced to death, managed to escape tions in Aargau and Solot hurn . But after a first victory in 1839, th ey from prison and was welcomed as a hero in the liberal cantons. A lost the Valais in 1844 following heavy casualties, whereas in Lucerne, month later. a former guerrilla assassinated joseph Leu von Ebersol another Vorort, a popular movement under the leadershi p of joseph while he was asleep . Leu von Ebersol ended in 1841 by peacefully establishing a conser­ Thus, in 1845, there was little space left between those who wanted vative government. to figh t the radical aggression agains t Chr istia nity and law and those Thus, around 1840 most cantons were touched by interna l polit­ who thought they were opposing the ultra mo ntane reaction against ical unrest. The reaction of one of them. Aargau, raised the problem mod ernity and individual rights. The once large juste milieu that ran 10 The Making of MQtit'm Switzerland, 1848-1998 Thomas Maissen 11 from moderate conservatism to moderate liberalism, had to choose. not prevented. But this time, unlike the formally correct appointment It was not by chance that immediately after the second Freiscnarenzug, of the jesutts, the co nse rvatives had chosen an illegal way them­ the liberal j onas Furrer was elected burgomaster of Zurich - the selves: th e afore mentioned paragraph 6 of the 181S Bundesvertrag conservative regime, considered a tool of the jesuits, was abolished. stated that separate alliances wh ich might be detrimental to th e Similarly, in Vaud the liberal government was overthrown by a radical Confederation or othe r canto ns were forbidden. This danger could revolution becau se the population did not agree with its moderate not be denied: the surrounding conservative monarchies, especially position towards the Jesuits. As a result of th e second Freischarenzug Guizot's Fran ce and Metternich 's Austria, were interested in a weak and the am bivalent role of the Bernese government, th e radicals and conservative Switzerland and did not hid e th eir sympathy for gain ed power in that canton, too: Ulrich Ochsenbein, a leader of the the Sonderbund. Th e future of th e Confederation was at stake: it was volunteers, becam e a member and later Schultheiss, mayor of the possible that the conservative cantons might form a separate union government. In that role, at the head of a \'orort, he was to become or change the existing one, as we have seen with Siegwart-Muller's president of th e Tagsatzung in 1847. project. At th is point, we have to look at the institutional conflic t. Since th e The new threat definitely clarified the situatio n . At th e Tagsatzung failed revision of 1832/3, Switzerland had been split between th e of August 1846, only ten canto ns voted for abolishi ng the Sender­ particularist federalists and the partisans of a strong, modern nation bund. Five cantons were still neutral but after a short civil war, the state. Often en ough, the obvious lack of efficiency of the Tagsatzung radicals gained contro l of Geneva, and th ere was only one vote missing had been th e subject of complaint; often enough, pressure from sur­ for a majority of 12 votes amo ng the 22 canto ns. The Catho lic rounding monarch ies like France and Austria had shown that the Appen zell-Innerrhoden would not furnish it, nor would Neuchatel, Confederatio n could not match the power of centralised states. In whi ch still had the King of Peussia as its sovereign. That left Basle, addition, since 1839 the Tagsatzung had been watching the series of where a peaceful revision of the Constitution did not convulse the coups without intervening to settl e them; on the contrary, Lucerne cons ervative government , or Fribourg, where the radicals attempted as a Vorort in 1844 played a major part in worsening the crisis in the a coup in early 1847 in order to leave the Sonderbund, but were easily Valais. But it was not enough that Switzerla nd lacked an executive defeated. In the elections of May 1847 St Gallen decided for Switzer­ that could impose law and order; there was not even a legal procedure land. Until then, conservatives and liberals had had exactly the in sight which could furn ish it. The 181S Bundesvettrag did not same number of seats in that canton, and thus St Gallen had not yet contain a single paragraph about its revision, as it was meant to be ch osen its camp. Once a small, Catholic constituency unexpectedly eternal. Already in 1832/3 the conservative cantons decla red that voted liberal, there was a majority of two seats and St Galle n joined they considered the Confederation a pact between independent the majority at the Tagsatzung. This case shows how very close th e canto ns that could only be revised if all of them agreed. How could decision was, not only in St Gallen, but all over Switzerland. It even things continue as they were in th e mid-1840s, once feelings am ong seems that one small village in that constituency, Arnden, was decisive confederates had become much more bitter than th ey were a dozen for the whole country becaus e, as a form of protest, th e inhabitants years earlier? voted against their own - conservative - magistrate. What became the final step towards disunion paradoxically ended Th is leads us, after the political, the confessional and th e institu­ up resolving the constitutional and institutional problems. On 11 tional, to th e ecollom ic con flict, th e fourth one leading up to 1848. December 184S Uri, Schwyz, Un terwalden, Lucerne, Zug, Fribourg Th e ma gistrate of that sma ll village of Amden was accused, immedi­ and th e Valais formed a defensive alliance, labelled the Sonderbund ately before the vot e, of having speculated on flour while the villagers (separatist league) by its antagonists as soon as th ey found out about were starving . Since 1845, Switzerland had been suffering from it. The seven cantons, all of them wholly Catholic, justified their alli­ po tato rot and fami ne, the same one th at caused catastrophe in Ire­ ance by referring to th e guerrilla attacks wh ich the Tagsatzung had land.The Swiss situation was not as disastrous, but it was difficult 12 The Making ofModem Switzerland, 1848-1998 Thomas Moissen 13 enough and contribute d to radicalising the two cam ps whi ch part of the lower classes, the Swiss regeneration involved changing accused each ot her of wor sen ing th e sit ua tio n. In thi s period of ear ly those in power: the old urban patricians who were at the h ead of the industrialisation, there were also other reasons for existential insec­ can tons until 1830 yielde d their place to the bourgeois des talents, the urity and even vio len t protest: in 1832 , the rural town of Uster near liberal professions, the civil servants, and the ent repreneurs who Zurich experienced a riot of weavers and domestic labourers who most often originated in the many municipalities to whom full civil des troyed th e newly installed mechanical looms and fina lly burnt righ ts were give n on ly after 1798. This rapid an d often rad icalising down the wh ole facto ry. Th us, the manufacturers, who formed an exchange of elites can best be seen in Berne, which went from the important group among the new liberal elites, were soon confronted old ar istocrat Rudolf von Wallen wyl, mayor in 1830, to th e moderate with serious u nrest among the less privileged who in 1830, h ad regime of the liberal Schnell family from the m unicipality of Burg­ helped them to get rid of th e old patr ician rulers. It was aga in no dorf, who had to h and over pow er to the radical Cha rles Neuh aus in coinc ide nce that the imprisoned rioters of 1832 were freed in 1839, 1839; in h is tu rn , after the catastrophe of th e Freiscnarenziige, Neu­ after th e conservative co up against the liberal regime - the country haus yielded to th e even more radical gro up surro und ing the lawyers dwellers often co m bined religiou s and economic feelings against the Och sen bein a nd jakob Stampfli, born into a modest farming fam ily new elites . Let us mention a final economic problem, the unification only 26 years ear lier. Th us th e experience th at the revolution maybe of a n ational market. Already the Bundesurkunde of 1832/3 h ad pro­ does not eat but overthrows its own children is endemic in these posed a federal monopoly on customs , on th e post, on coinage and years in the usually tranquil Swiss cantons. measures, but this attempted revision failed and traditional parti­ We have looked at the political, the religious, the institutional, the cularism continued. Protectionism on the part of the cantons thus economic and the social aspects of this unrest which characterises opposed the liber ty to carry out a trade and they defended their own the regeneration, especially during the years after 1839. Yet we m ust citizens and their products while being unable to defend com mon sta te th at contemporaries mostly expe rienced th e events leading to Swiss in terest s agains t th e bigger sur rounding powers. The Tagsat­ the n ew state of 1848 as a political crisis: one coup followed anoth er, zung and non -governmental institutions, such as the Schweizerische almost every can to n h ad its success fu l an d failed upheavals, an d the Gewerbeverein, founded in 1843, tried to fin d solutions with in the Tagsatzung was for a long time unable to intervene and procure old system , but th ey did n ot agree about the procedures and failed . peace among the different factions . The longer it went on the more Among other effects, th is meant a n otable delay in railway-building. even moderate people agreed that there could on ly be Alexa nde r's By 1848 a sin gle line, from Strasbo urg, had barely touched Swiss soil solution for the Gordian knot in Swiss policy. In the summer of 184 7 at Basle and th e cities of Zurich and Baden h ad just bee n co nnected finally, one group, the liberal one, h ad the power and th e united by about 20 kilometres of track. Th ere were plenty of ot he r initia t­ force to impose solutions in the controversial matters: the 12 cantons ives, but they were as yet unable to overcome cantonal selfishness. decided to d issolve the Sonde rbun d, to expel the Jesuits and to revise In connection with the economic problems we must look at social the Co n stitution. Th e legal foundation for the last two de crees was ch ange due to in dus trialisa tio n and the new, libe ral public space. On thin: th e Jesuit question belonged to th e jurisdiction of th e can to n one side of society, we have a growin g group of dependent wo rkers concerned and as mentioned, the 1815 Bundesvettrag did not provide and petty peasants with very limited finandal means - in these difficu lt for a revision thro ugh major ity decision. Th e Sonderbund therefore times, many of them were ready for visions, be it the religious faith opposed the edicts and mobil ised under the leadershi p of Ulrich vo n of the ancestors or th e liberal prediction of eternal progress. Metternich Salis, a Protestant con servative. Iron ically, anoth er Protestant conser­ h imself judged the riots an d th e radical triumph in Geneva as th e vative, from Geneva, was named of first successful Socialist revolution on the continent. But in the end, th e Tagsatzung troops, which turn ed out to be the better choice: even the radicals in Switzerland turned out to be rather moderate after a short cam paign of about 20 da ys with roughly l OO ca sua lties and often even quite elitist. Rather than a social movem ent on the the Son derbund surrendered . 14 The Maki"g ofMoclem Switzerland, 1848-1998 Thomas Maissen 15

The cases of Dufour and von Salis show once again that this was a of the USA, many foreign ideas influenced the Constit utio n of po litical, rather than a religious conflict, and that the decisive polit­ 1848. Yet , it was declared a 'home-grown' Swiss creation from th e ical contest for the extremes was to convince the hesitating juste begin ning to avoid the hated memory of th e of milieu. \Vith their patriotic reference to the Swiss nation, the radicals 1798. succeeded far better. Besides the political conflict of course, the co n. Let us now return to th e initial questi on: what did it take to make fessional animositi es did a lot to mobilise the ordinary soldiers on the Swiss revolution o f 1848 successful? Maybe first of all the fact both sides, but th ey were not at the origin of the war . What was at that it was not a real revolution or at least managed fairly well to stake can best be seen in the words of two leading Lucerne politi­ hide its revolutionary aspects. The Tagsat zung was the o nly national cians: the liberal Kasimir Pfyfler did not join the Sonderbund tro ops authority and it was the Tagsatzung that suppressed the rebellion of because, as he put it, 'every Swiss should first consider himself a con. the Sonderbund; as the war was qu ickly won, there was no period of federate and only after that the citizen of a canton'.' On th e other anarchy during which foreign powers could have intervened under hand, the conservative Philipp Ant on von Segesser wrote immediately some pretext. Once the military solution had been imposed, there after the lost war:'To me, Switzerland is only of interest because remained no serious internal opposition either; Protestant and Cath­ Lucerne - which is m y country (l'ater/aml ) - lies in it. If this canto n olic conservatives surrendered and accepted the new Constitution, no longer exists as a free, sovereign part of the Confederation, I care and those who did not , did not resist open ly but went on hoping for as much for the latter as for Tartary." Modern nation state or trad i­ help from abroad. But that became impossible for several months tional confederation, that was th e qu esti on in 184 7 and 1848. Of aft er February 1848 , wh en first France, then Austria, Prussia, and course, bo th sides called it a fight for freedo m and democracy, but almost all Germa n states had plenty to do th emselves with their judged from today, we clearly see on bo th sides the shortco mi ngs of own domestic revolutions. The Tagsatzung used precisely this period this rhetoric. Out of fear of direct - and conservative - democracy, without external threat for writing and voting the new Constitution th e victorious liberals abolished in Zug and Schwyz th e Landsge­ that went much further than one would have expected in late 184 7. meinde and in Lucerne the 'veto', a kind of referendum. In addition, Yet , the fath ers of th e Constitution could refer to the failed Bundes­ without the military threat from th e ne igh bouring cantons and utkunde of 1832 and - maybe even more important - to almost 20 many legalistic tricks , the new radical regime in Fribourg would have years of modern parliamentarianism and constitutionalism on a given way much earlier than 1856. cantonalleve!. The revolution had actually been going on since 1830, Still, th ese problematic aspects were eclipsed by the succe ss of the and even though many of the fathers o f modern Switzer land were new Constitution, quickly designed in February and March 1848, surprisingly young, they all had considerable experience in handling discussed in the parliaments of the can to ns and at the Tagsat zung, political crisis. This led them finally to remain neutral and stay out­ accepted in a referendum by a big ma jority of voters and 15 and a side the European struggles of 1848 and 1849, although there was a half cantons, and proclaimed on 12 September 1848. As it is impossible great deal of pressure, even within th e government itself, to join the to go into too much detail here, I will just mention the most impo rt. liber al camp in the gen eral 'fight for principles'. Thi s decision, wh ich ant aspects: a na tional execu tive, the federal council: a bicameral maybe saved the country from a military intervention after the victory parli ament according to the Ameri can system, thus guaranteeing of reaction all over Europe, was taken according to the Swiss state's co nsiderable influence to the small cantons; several freed om rights, raison d'etat; but it also reflected two essential differences from the such as - to some extent - universal suffrage for men and freedom revolutionary movements abroad. In 184 7 and 1848, there was of settlement; unification of customs, post, coinage, measures and neither a social nor a national question in Switzerland. \Vhile France weights; further unificati on in military issues; federal competence installed a new Napo leo n to save the cou ntry from class war, th e to promote the com monwealth, through public enterprises or a Swiss workers and peasants were still far from developing class­ national university. It is clear that even besides the obvious model consciousness; their identity was confessional or political, cantonal or 16 Tire ,\ faking ofModem Switzerland, 1848-1998 Thomas Meissen 17 nati onal, but barely social. On the other hand, a quite homogeneou s, the war, entitles his book Biugerkrieg in det Schweiz: a civil waragainst national bourgeoisie des talents was already formed and read y to take the ackno wledged legal maxims and clear rules of the Confede ration power and responsibilities, but also to eo-o pt new mem bers from the (anerkannte Rechtsgrundsatze und klare Bundesbestimmungen). lower classes to whom they suggested education as th e mean s of Balth asar, who fin ished his book in 1850, sees the tragedy of ancient, social ascent . \Vhile social conflicts "..·ere still to come, the national original, Catholic Switzerland as a prelud e to the fight for principles frontiers had already been clarified for some time.In th e critica l in the whole of Europe, the revolutions as an effect of planned con­ years from 1798 to 1815, Switzerland had found its territorial form spiracy. Yet he hopes that the new Confederacy in spite of its unit­ which was not seriously questioned afterwards; if the Swiss did not arian and factious character can be 'a rampart against injustice and agree about the future institu tio ns of their country, th at did not arbitrari ness , a rampart for th e freedom of confessions and Christia n mean that th ey wanted to split it up or join ano th er state. Through life, a bo nd of reconciliation and union of the peo ple and a bul wark newspapers, the army, clubs and societies, there had been, since for an independent country'." Here we see the readiness of many of 1815, an ever-extending national pub lic domain. Characteristica lly, the vanquished to participate [aute de m ieux in the new state; even there were French- and German-speaking canto ns in bo th camps of Bernhard Meyer, Siegwart 's eo-leader in the Sonderbund and later th e Sonderbund War and the boundary between th e moderate eastern exiled in Munich , sum mo ns his part isans in sum mer 1848 to vote for liberals and the interventionist western radicals was not the famo us the new Constitution, because a refusal would either continue the Riistigraben , but somewhere between Berne and Zurich . Thu s the chaos of illegality or provoke a real unitarian constitution th at wou ld Swiss Confederation somehow succe eded in bringing a pre-na tional, fina lly smash th e rights of the canton s.'! political, republican identity into the era of the democrati c national The most in teresting conservative voice is perhaps th at of Gallus state. It has lasted since then, thanks to integrating myths and jakob Baumgartner, an 'apostate' like Siegwart-Miiller. In 1832, thanks to a constitution which allows continuous adaptation to a Baumgartner edited the liberal Bundesurkunde, but as a Catholic he world that is cha nging faster and faster. switched camps around 1840. Consequently he is very critical of the radi cal 'tyranny' and the illegal measures that led to the new Consti­ Sw iss historiography about the So n d erb u n d a n d the n ew tut ion, but he welcomes the Constitution itself whi ch co uld promote Co n fed e ra ti o n internal welfare and avoid disu nion against foreign parts. Baumgartner is convinced that an evolution of the particularist Confederation was The second par t of this essay dea ls with the aftermath of 1847 and in evitable and cannot be revoked, bu t at the same time, he calls for 1848 in Swiss historiography. Of course, many contemporaries wrot e republican virtues and simplicity to counterbalance the dangerous, their memoirs or impressions and thus forged the ideas of their suc­ cor ruptive influence of foreign courts and modern, mob-led politics." cessors." The leader of the Sonderbund, Siegwart-Miiller, published In an accurate analysis of the new Constitution, Baumgartner states his account in 1866 and the title - 'The victory of violence over law' in 1851 that it gave the federa l ins titutions the maximum power that - says alm ost everyt hing. It is an apologia for the Sonderbund wh ich , Swiss tradition could adm it; yet, the real danger was not centralisa­ as Siegwart admits, was by then often criticised even among those tion but the fact th at the ruling liberals illegally ab used their powers, who were once its members. Siegwart goes on to proclaim that 'cen­ and th at the big cantons, the winners of th e war, flouted th e tralisation' is the 'murderer of people's freed om' and the separation national institu tio ns they themselves in stalled while th e losers of state and Church leads to the decline of virtue and Christendo m.I. lacked the strength for such a policy." Siegwart 's former secretary, joseph Balthasar Ulrich, also chooses Similar in some ways to Baumgartner, the moderate liberal Niklaus a significant title in orde r to co ntradict liberal terminology. The Friedrich von Tschudi, also from St Gallen, keeps hi s distan ce from Sonderbund War was known as a Bundesexekution, the execution of a the factiou s ext remes in both camps: th e rad icals have been acti ng federal decision against rebels, whereas Ulrich, who hi mself served in illegally, but the Sonderbund has Willingly risked an intervention of 18 The Making of.\'odcm Switzerland, 1848-1 998 Thomas Maissen 19 foreign powers . Th us its dissolution has become inevi table and corre­ Peter Fedderse n, who witnessed the crisis already in Basle where he sponds to the nation's needs, interests and laws." was naturalised, finished in 1866 a Historyof tJ re Regelleratioll, describing The win ners, like the radical jakob Amiet from Solothurn, celebrate it as an independent republican movemen t, 'without any foreign a victo ry of the 'natio n against foreign, non-Swiss, com pletely non­ interference', heading towards a new order which reflected the grow­ national elements', that is the aristocracy, Rome and the Jesuits. Like ing national consci ousness. Even if - according to Feddersen -liberal many losers, liberals consider Swiss events a prelude to the uprisin g postulates like legal equality, religious freedom, un ified law or freedom of peoples all over Europe, but unlike their adversaries, they see this of trade were not fully imposed against particularist oppositio n, the as a positive step towards universal progress." The Argovian j. Martin reborn, powerful Confederatio n could set about many new tasks and Rudolf describes the struggle against fanaticism, superstition and reached a level from where further natural devel opment became intolerance which led the in nocen t Catholic people to fight a hope­ easy." The major syntheses of the following decade mostl y follow less war against their confederates. To him, the Swiss troops of his the same interpretation: the liberal movement is natural, some over­ time are no longer in the mercenary tradition of the ancien regime, reactions from the radicals, like the Freischarenzuge, deplorable, but but have rediscovered the roots of thei r heroic ancestors like Win kelried the real and stubbornly defended crimes are the appointment of the and the warriors of St jakob. " This is the path the liberal and Jesuits and the creation of the Sonderbund.A truly harmonious national interpretation of the critical years had already established nationa l policy wins with Dufour in an inevitable war and frees Swit­ earlier" and one which was to develop further in the nineteenth zerland from internal unrest and external influence: the wise master­ century: while the original cantons semi-consciously continue the piece of a new constitution, beyond particularism and unitarianism, decadence and dependence of the allcien regime," the liberal fighters moderate even towards the losers and in full ha rmony with the Swiss for freedom are th e true heirs of William Tell and the origi na l federalist trad ition, becomes, togeth er with neutrality during the strugg le for independence and democracy . 1848 revolutions, the basis for furth er peacefu l and orga nic prosperity. Ano ther lasting feature th at made th e Swiss revolution acceptable We can read this version in Karl Dan dliker's nation al history of 1887, to many hesitating members of the iuste milieu like the Bernese aristo­ leading us from the co nservative tyranny in Lucerne to the Constitu­ crat Anton von Tillie,zo was the fame of Guillaume Hemi Dufour. tion wh ich finally streng thens nation al feelings and national powe r." With his memoirs, which he wanted to be publis hed only afte r his Simila rly, johannes Dierauer, in his fundamental History oftile Swiss death, the general hi mself contributed to his lasting ima ge as a chiv­ Confederation, opposes (and thus justifies) th e patriotism of th e Fteis­ alrous, moderate and modest soldie r who did his duty and yet over­ c/wren to the 'formal order of state' tha t clearly objec ts to their deeds; came the bad feelings of his enem ies." Even today Dufou r remains, the Son derbund crisis is an 'inescapable natural force', and the new along with Tell, Niklaus von Flue, Henri Dunant and Hen ri Guisan, Confederacy turns out to be an equally natural result of th e 'indigenous one of the most popular historical heroes of SWitzerland; man y roads old historical tradition and an ever-growi ng internal stirnulus' r'" bear his name, as does the , the only mount ain in the Numa Droz, a former federal councillor, praises in his popular to be nam ed after a real person. Dufour so mehow symbolises description of th e regeneration the 'warm rays of the confedera te th e historical necessity of the Sonderbund War and the subsequent spirit' of 1848.25 In 1902, Theodor Curti, like Droz a former journalist fou nd ation of the new Confederation: a conservative himself, he an d politician, publishes a chapbook about his country in the nine­ obeyed the call of the nation and th rough his clemency integrated teenth century, telling, without disdain for the conservatives, an ele­ the vanquished into th e new state. Although in reality many Catholics mentary drama about the bold liberals fulfilling the 'dream of a whole had a long way to go before accepting the federal state, the memory generation'." Max Huber, in the m idst of the First World War, calls of Dufour could help them. the Constitutio n the 'most fortunate and important act in Swiss After all, they had to ado pt the view of their enemies, as liberal his­ history'." The interpretation of 1848 as a somehow transcendental toriography was to dominate for almost a century. The German refugee stroke of luck can be read in many later texts, too." 20 TIle Making of Modern Switzerland, 1848-1998 Thomas Maissen 2 1

The loser's voice is not completely missing, as we have for example 19 12 the later fam ou s economist an d diploma t WilIiam Rappard, josepn Hiirbin from Lucerne, who blames the leaders of the Sonder­ then a student at Harvard, firs t reflects on the 'economic factor in bund for its defea t wh ile the people were prepa red to sacrifice them­ the generation of modern Swiss democracy'." In 1928, the year of selves." But Hiirbin , who in 1903 was still complaining about the his death, Eduard Fueter publishes a since unitarian elements of the 1848 Constituti on, is an exception. The 1848, with a first chapter describing the economic struct ures in the liberal interpretation prevails, even if or rather because it points ou t middle of the century. Before going on to discuss the political insti­ what a decisive break the years between 1798 and 1848 really were: tu tions of the highly praised Constitution, he deliberately first pre­ continuity, not revolution is the motto, In 1891, the Swiss national sents the 'new creations concerning commerce and econ omy'.eo state invents and celebrates for the first time the tradition of the Gaglia rdi's changed view is obviously due to Fueter, and an other 1291 oath on the Riitli;30 it is symptomatic that in the same year, the admirer of Fueter's, Hans Nabholz, writ es in 1944 a fundamental art­ first member of the Catholic conservative party joins the Federal icle about 'the rise of the federal state from the perspective of eco­ Council. In these years when the coalition of the non-Socialist parties, nomic history', where he pu ts forward the view that the adaptation that is the different liberal groups, the conservative losers of 1848 to economic change was the 'first and co ntinually effective stimulus and the farmers is formed, early history definitely becomes the focus for co nstitutional reform' bu t admits that only the political struggle of Swiss identity while the confli cts leading to 1848 are eclipsed." finally led to it." Analysing discussions about custo ms duty , Walther Thus in 1898, th ere is no national jubilee; only Berne celebrates the Rupli in 1949 conclu des that the economic and political mo tives me mory because it is linked to its election as federal capital.' 2 leading to the new state carried equal weightY A sober app roach is also typ ical of mere his to rians of the Consti­ After Nabholz, the economic aspects of 1848 are stressed in many tution: Carl Hilty, in 189 1, sees the wor k of 1848 as nothing but other boo ks" and the rise of National Socialism and endem ic ant i­ th e implem en tation of the Bundesurkunde of 1832 and a first step parliamentari anism in Switzerland also gives another impulse to towards th e revised Constitutio n of 1874 which inst alled truly natio nal historiograp hy. In 1938, Wem er Naf states that Switzerland democratic instruments like the referendum. " Similarly, Ed uard was the first European state to become a democratic republic asa result His points ou t th e continuities in constitutional th ought and the of the country's past and cha racteristics; here, 'the individualistic decisive role of the democratic movement leading to the revision of revolution was a revival, not a rupture'.".. 1874." Andreas Heusler, in 1920, does not go that far and speaks of The experience of the Second World War strengthens not only the the 'fundamental upheaval' of 1848, bu t still points out th e many dem ocratic identity, but sharpens sensitivity for the victims and ten­ compromises in the new Con stltutio n.P sions of 1848. The direct line, be it political or eco nomic, th at earlier In the first half of the twentieth century, the liberal interpretation historiography drew from the Enlightenme nt to the liberal apotheos is acquires a new element. In the first edition of his Swiss History, of 1848 and that has, in 1948, one of its last heralds in Gottfried publi shed in 1920, Ernst Gagliardi from Zurich , a lead ing historian Guggenbiihl," is openly questioned by Edga r Bonjour after the war, of his time, poetically praises th e liberal triumph as Switze rland's although in an earlier synthesis he hi mself gave qu ite a traditional, 're-emergence amo ng the truly independent states' and her regaining rather und ifferentiated picture .-16 In 1948, Bonjo ur stresses the diver­ 'civilising equality' with othe r nations, even a fulfilment of Zwingli's gence of interests and points out that in such a complex situation, programme, because Catholicism and especia lly ultra mo ntanism are man y alternative solutions remained possible. Thus the new Consti­ definitively rolled back. ' · Yet in 1937, when Gagliardi rewrites hi s tuti on is no longer a child of th e liberal Weltgeist, but a stroke of luck text, he insists on the economic situation which imposes political followed by na tional recondliationY Bonjour sees the Bruderkrieg as modernisation against traditional particularism." What has happened? a catastrophe, but praises the moderation of the victors; still, his real The rapid eco no mic development of the ni neteent h century had sympathy lies with the conservative mediators of Basle, the 'voice 38 often been described, but never in relation to 1848. However, in of conscience' among the factiousness, to whom Bonjour dedicates 22 Tire ,\ faking ofModem Switzerland, 1848-1998 a specific piece of research" This distance from the liberal tradition of the century-old Swiss thirst for freedom . Vet, accordi ng to Huber, is partly explained by the national union during the Second Wor ld this freedom must constantly be asserted and defend ed, in 1848 as in War that left littl e place for century-old antagonisms and littl e his own dangerous times. In the age of totalit arian ism, Huber sees respect for civil wars; on the other hand, the warn ings of such brilliant the liberal Constitu tion as a means of defendin g ind ividual freedom conservatives as }acob Burckhardt became horri bly true: the sover­ against the overwhe lming state: through participation, guaran teed eign people, so cherished by the radicals, democratically elected Hitler personal rights, chec ks and balances, the federative structure of the in German)' and turned into a mass and a populace under his rule. state." William Rappard also thinks gratefully that the 'natural solution' These new aspects of 1848 were cano nised in 1948 with the official of 1848 not only correspo nds to the necessities of that critical time boo k of the jubilee, a vade-mecum for every interested citize n entitled but also to the needs of later gene rations and even to the eternal Swiss Democracy 1848 to 1948, with Ferdinand Hodler's Tell on the requiremen ts of the Swiss people which someho w has itself given frontispiece and an intro duction b)' Emico Cello, the President of birth to the Constitution in its 'truly Swiss spirit'.SJ the Federal Council. Celio compares the Constitution of 1848 to Amo ng the leadi ng Swiss intellectuals who raised their voices in those of 1798, 1803 and 1815 and insists from the begin ning that it 1948, Karl Schmid , Professor of Germa n litera ture at the Federal is the only one which is completely Swi ss in origin and content. Celio, Institute of Technology (ETH), was pensi ve rather than emotional. a mem ber of the Catholic conservative parry, does not mention the He argued th at it was nothing short of a miracle that the state estab­ Sonderbund War, but speaks of 1848 as a reform which set the country lished in 1848 had lasted 100 years. He warns those who like to talk free from hum iliating foreign influence. 'Be and remain true to yo ur about 'our' achieve ments as if those of their ances tors were their own cha racter ' is the exho rtatio n of the h ighest representative of Switzer­ deeds. Have the Swiss been faithful to the Consti tution of 1848? land; be faithful to republican freedom , Swiss democracy, independence According to Schrnid, th e central state has grown in an un liberal, and neutrality which all are older th an the liberal revolutions of the 'socialist' direction, reducing individual freedom, yet it atte mp ts to past two centuries. If we can believe E. Abderhalden in th e same book, protect the petty people of the lower classes and the whole nation the new Constitution even 'corresponds in all decisive regulations to itself in its fight against totalitarian states abroad. Would the liberals the nature and the needs of the people and the cantons and is a true of 1848 agree with the foreign policy of their successors which is masterpiece of political insight' . With Cello's and Abderhalden's words, entrenc hed resistan ce rather than devoted sacrifice? What they the Constitution becomes the natural link between the glorious past of understood b)' neutrality was pru den ce and read iness, Willingness to all Swiss and modern democracy as the result of a virtuous and har­ fight wit h arms if necessary, an d the)' wou ld agree with that part of monious peop le - it is a typical mileston e of the Swiss Sondetfall modern Swiss politi cs, but they would be suspicious about its material which has nothing comparable in the un iverse.' ?This is a view which gains and not forget its moral aspects." is sha red by other important members of Cello's conservative party; Corresponding to the national uni on during and after the war which the losers of 1848 have accepted that the 'transition from the federal included the Socialists in fighting off the Nazi and Communist un ion to the federal state was necessary to preserve the country' .'" threats, the moderate left also part icipated in all th ese celebratio ns. Among the semi-official celebrators of the jubilee in 1948, we find Vet there were symp to matic intellectual and journalistic polemics three authors we have alread y mentioned : Nabho lz, Huber and Rap­ abo ut th e mean in g of 1848: while Socialists often claim to be the pard. Unlike th e harmonious politicians, Hans Nabh olz chooses strong tru e heirs of the (radical) movement of th e 1840s, the Freisinn words: a figh t between ideologies ( lVeltallsclJOlIIlIIg) led to a revolution , angrily counters that the re has been liberal continuity within its own and the new Constitution forged national consciousness." Nabholz party for at least the last 120 years. This positio n can impl y criticism shares the pride that the democratic constitutio nal state of 1848 against Fueter's and others' materialist in terpretation of 1848, which resisted the dictatorships in neigh bouring countries with Max Huber is still considered to be the idealistic chil d of liberal convictions. The who, at the official celebration in Zurich , praises 1848 as an exp ression ideol ogical backgrou nd at the beginni ng of the Cold War is even 24 The Making o( M(}(h'm Switzerland, 1848-1998 Thomas Maisseu 25 more obvious in another respect: for the liberals , 1848 means the their interpretation of the nineteenth century, too. The antagonists definite end of a revolutionary era, because a fair constitution was of 1848, conse rvatives and liberals, have already come together since established; o n the other hand, the Sociali sts interpret 1848 as a at least 189 1 in th eir anti-Socialism whi ch - in spite of some sym­ revolution whi ch does not necessarily have to be the last one ." Th is pathi es, even in bourgeois circles, for th e USSRwhich defeated Hitler's view goes back to Robert Grimm, one of the em inent leaders of the troops - dominated Switzerland again after 1948 . It is quite symbolic part y, who, imprisoned as a leader during the general strike of 1918, that in a very po pular, illustrated history of Switzerland, published wrot e his History of Switzertand ill its Class Contlicts, following the several times from 1961 onwards, the modern period is covered by a tradition of historical materialism . He explains the formation of the Catholic from St Gallen who taught in the quite o rthodox college of federal state as the 'bourgeois revolution' against aristocracy, a conflict Sch wyz. Emil Spiess wrote impressive studies on the two fascinating that could only be resolved through 'raw violence', wh ich in Grimrn's authors I. P. V_Troxler and G. J. Baumgartner, both torn between own days beca me so frightening for th e bourgeo is. The defeated Catholic faith and liberal convictions. Spiess not o nly shows mu ch guerrillas of 184S cha nged their methods and started a 'legalised sympathy for th e legal position of th e losers of 1847; in the middle revolution' with th e strength of a national army, by which means of the Cold War, he sees a decisive role for Germa n emig rants and they brought to an end their struggle of 50 years for a modern state Communists for the radical cause in the Sonderbund crisis and cites and a unified economic area. Grimm praises the courage and the ini­ extensively Friedri ch Engels's article 'Th e Swiss Civil War ' published tiative of the former radicals, so different - acco rding to h im - from on 14 Novem ber 1847_What Spiess declares to be an impartial position his contemporaries. Yet their Constitution was coined by the conser­ has become even more than in Bon jour's case very close to the vatism of th e petty bourgeoisie that dominated the social structure of liberal-conservative juste milieu which Spiess still criticises for its th e country. Now that this structure has changed so much, the future inefficiency in avoiding the civil war. Still, he praises th e importance will belong to th e working class and international revolution." of the conservatives for the new Constitution that meets with In his later political life Grimm was to moderate his prophecies, Spiess's approval : withou t their resistance to revolution and to the but the Sociali sts' claim for th e heritage of 1848 endured, as is dem­ radicals, the particu larist tradition would not have made much onstrated by writers like Max Prisch and Peter Bichsel, Bichsel thanks impression on modern Switzerland.'? the liberals to whom he believes he owes his personal freedo m much Thus, in the second ha lf of our century, Swiss historiography more th an to William Tell: 'they wanted to impose the idea of a chooses a rather conservative middle way in judging th e events of state, not only economic interests'. The Constitution of 1848 was the 1847 and 184860 and appraising the new Constitution, but far from wo rk of the opposition, of the left, whi ch, according to Bichsel, is th e liberal enthusiasm of the earlier decades and in a way in the one reaso n why their libera l 'succe ssors' prefer the memory of 1291 tradition of Ieremias Gotthelf who, once a young liberal, had become to that of 1848." In Fnsch 's Stiller (19S4), the protagonist Whitel a sceptical conservatlve." By now, the confessional strife no longer Stiller regrets that the conservative and in dolent Swiss do not want influences an individual's judgement: Hanno Helbling, a Protestant the ir futu re, but their past. The last time they had a real pro ject, a real from the Engadin, whose sch olarly research had concentrated on aim mu st have been around 1848: a great , truly lively and creative medieva l (and thus Catholic) Italian thinking before he became the epoch. In achtung: Die Schwelz, published around the same time liberal Neue Ziircher Zeitung specialist for the Vatican and later dir­ (l9SS), Frisch, together with Lucius Burckhardt and Markus Kutter, ector of its Feuilleton, states in 1963 that 'guilt was uniformly distrib ­ again demands that Switzerland shou ld have a goal and proposes a uted' between the two camps. For Helbling, 1848 is the end of a 'new town': such a design for the future is worthy of the memory of 'period of searching' followed by the 'responsibility of findi ng'; what 1848 , where political parties made a Uto pia become reality.'" was found should last and yet was o pen to change, to reform.62 Thus Such judgements went on haunting the political foes who are the regeneration and Sonderbund issue has defi nitely become a his­ described as mere executo rs of th e liberal revolution and marked torical matter, the judgements no lo nger depen d on one's co nfession 26 TIle .\faking ofM oc iem Switzerland, 1848-1998 Ttunnns .\faiss eu 27 or political affiliation but rather on one', idea about legitimate way' • Grimm's Socialist version of a determined, but materialistically of change or prog ress in history. A' th e Swiss politica l system ha' presented progress through a first, bourgeois revolution; definitely become a search for compromise, since the Zaubetformel • the 'materialist turn' within liberal historiography since Fueter of 19S9, a distant and barely in volved historian like Geo rges Andrey highlighted the economic aspect' of 1848; in the 1983 History ofSwitzerland and tile Swiss ca n see the di fficult • the organic interpretation during the confrontation with the transition from 1798 to 1848 moderated by many compromise, which Nazis and Communism, pointing out that the harmonious solution helped to support the revolutionary changes." Thus the 1840, of 1848 accorded with the true na ture of the Swiss and was free become an important step, bu t not the only one, withi n a successful from foreign influence; and fairly smooth path to modernisation in politic" society and eco­ • the nee-conservative shift durin g the Cold War, sceptical about nornics. Accordi ng to the general shift in postwar hlstoriography, the an age of revolutions; structural force of the industrial revolution is generally considered • finally, an interpretation based on economic theories of rational more important than the bayonet, of Dufour's troo p' . acting, typical of our times of globalisation and a prepo nderance In a way surpristngly, it Is a historian of economic history who ha' of economy in th eory and in practice. just recently given another tu rn to the interpretation of the 1840,. Hansjo rg Siegenthaler ha' not ignored the fact that th e new state Let me finish with some short observations about other recent made an ind ustrial upturn possible in the second ha lf of the nine­ approaches to 1848. A' th e speec h of a lead ing Catholic politician at teenth century but that uncontested consequence of 1848 may not a commemo ration of 1848 shows the bad feeling on th e par t of the necessarily be a reason for the peopl e acti ng in the first half of the conservative losers is not as far away as one might think.66 This century. Based on a 'k ulturalistisch au tgerustete okonom ische Hand­ point' to the discontinuity, the rupture of the SO years from 1798 to lungstheorie', an ada ptation of the econo mist's 'rational choice' theory 1848 whi ch pu t an end to th e Swiss Confederatio n their ancestor, to historical science, Siegenthaler wonders what makes individu al, had wanted. Most historians nowadays emp hasise that rupture too; act together with other individuals to promote change, even if it if th ey belong to th e left, they often combine their appraisal for the means costs and sacrifices for th em. They only do th at if they need new fede ral state with the claim already mentioned th at the Social­ each othe r and th ey need each other if th ey are in an 'epistemolo­ ists are its true heirs.67 From a feminist point of view, the exclusion gical crisis', if they have lost former certitude. Such a fight for the of women during the period of nati on-building ha' been in terpreted 'sources of truth' was fought until th e decision of 1847 and 1848 a, a result of the influential men ', club' a, a basis of th e liberal re­ brought new 'belief in the rules'.... Thi s interpretatio n means that volu tion; such political associations provided the shel ter of a fam ily the existing economic reasons for a stronger union in Switzerland without depending on wome n because new members did not have did not motivate individual' to fight for it. Siegenthaler's position to be bo rn but were eo-opted acco rding to social rule, ." Finally, ha' been further developed by several of hi' pupil, but ha' also en­ th ere is a public debate abo ut similarities between the Swiss nation­ countered opposition from 'materialistic' histortans." As a result of building in th e nineteen th centu ry and the further development of these recent debates, however, one can say that Siegenthaler's posi­ institution s within the EU. Surprisingly, there are even prominent tion ha' convinced most of his fellow historians. authors of the nineteenth century who prophesied a European fed­ We can briefly sum up this ove rview of ISOyears of htstonography eral state acco rding to the Swiss model. Thus the jurist johann Cas­ a, follows: par Bluntschl i, a leader of the conservative coup of 1839 in Zurich, • the losers of 184 7 deplorin g the broken traditional law; stated: 'When one day the idea l of the future (to which Switzerland • the 'idealistic' winners rejoicin g about a successful liberal II'eItgeist, ha' shown the way) is realised, then the international Swiss natio nal­ but moderating thei r triu mphant ou tbreaks at least from 1891 ity may dissolve into the big European community. It will not have onwards; lived in vain nor without glory!69 28 Tile Making ofModem Switzerland, 1848-1998 Thomas Maissen 29

Notes 5. Henri Druey in his Nouvetiiste Yaudois, 5 November 1844, cited by Edgar Bon jou r, 'Die Griindung des schwetzertschen Bundesstaates' (Basle, 1. joachlm Remak, A Very' Civil War. Tile Swiss Sonderbund \V'a r of 18-17 1948), p. 198, says that "le radi calisme reconnalt au peuple le d roit (Boulder/San Francisco/Oxford, 1993). d'exercer sa souveralne te a chaque instan t, comme iI le veu t, sa volonte 2. In th is survey, whi ch constitutes the first part of this essay, I will only sup reme ne pouvant pas etre life par la constitution qui est un acre de mention th e literature when I qu ote directl y. For furth er informa tion see cette volonte et no n un contrat.' classic works such as Edgar Bonjou r, Die Gtiindung ties schweiterischen 6. Tanne r, Das Recht aufRevolution (see not e 3), p. 122. Bundesstaates (Basle, 1948) or Erwin Buch er, Die Geschichte des Sondetbund­ 7. As qu ot ed in the NZZ, see Maissen, Vom Sondetbund (see not e 2), p. 151. skrieges (Zurich, 1966). Many recent ap proaches are brought together in 8. Philipp Anton von Segesser to And reas Heusler (9 February 1848), in Von the books mentioned in note 3 and in Andreas Erns t et al. (eds), Bevo lu ­ Segesser/Heusler, Briefwechsei, edited by Victo r Co nzemius, prepared by tion und Innovation. Die konfliktreiclJe Entstehung des schweirerischen Heidi Bossard-Borner, vol. I (Zurich/Einsied eln/Cologne, 1983), p. 494. Bundesstaates wn 1848, Die Schweiz 1798-1998: Staat - Gesellschaft - Poli tik, 9. See Edgar Bonjour, Das Schicksal des Sondetbunds in zeitgellQssischer Dantet­ vol. I (Zurich, 1998); Urs Altermatt et al. (eds), DietconsmenoneinerNation. luug (. 1947); for th e contemporary and later authors see also Edgar Nation und Nationaiisierung in der Schweiz, 1 ~20. Iahrhundett, Die Sch v..·eiz Bon jour and Richa rd Feller, Geschichtsschreibung der Schweiz \'Om spatmit­ 1798-1 998: Staat - Gese llschaft - Politik, vol. 4 (Zurich, 1998); see also teiatter zur Neuzeit, vol. 2 (Basle/Stuttgart, 1979). Thomas Christian Muller, 'Die Schweiz 1847--49. Das vc rlauflge, erfolgreiche 10. Co nstantin Siegwart-Mul ler, Der Swg der Gewalt iiber das Recht in der Ende der "demo kratlschen Revolution"?', in: Dieter Dowe t't al. (eds), Europa Schweizetischen Eidgm ossens chaft (Altdorf, 1866), pp . v-xt (Vo rwort). 18-18. Revolution und Reform, Forschu ngsinstitut der Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. 11. joseph Balthasar Ulrich, Du Burgerkrieg in der Schweiz (Einsiedeln, 1850), Reihe Politik- und Gesellscha ftsgeschichte, vol. 48 (Bonn, 1998), pp. 283-326. pp. iii-vi (Vorrede), 762--8. I have described th e revolutionary period as it was reflected in th e co m­ 12. ha rd Meyer, Uber Amlalrme oder Yerwetfung der nellell Bundesvetfas­ mentaries of the lead ing libe ral ne.....spa per in Vom Sonderbund zllln Bund­ sUIIg(Zurich. 1848). See also Bonjour, Gtiindung (see not e 2), p. 182. e5staat. Ktise und Emeuerung 1798-1848 im Spirgt'1 ,ler NZZ (Zurich, 1998). 13. jakob Baumgartner, Die SChweiz ill ihren Kiimpfen und Umgesta ltu ngen }'On 3. See Alfred K61z, Neue schweiretische Ver(a55Jmgsgescl!icllte. lhre Grundlinien 1830 his 1850, vol. 1 (Zurich, 1853), p. vii; vol. 4, pp . 606-7. I'O m Ende der Altm Eidgenossenschaft bis 1848 (Berne , 1992), pp. 227- 300; 14. jakob Baumgartner, Scllweizerspiegel. Dreilahre umerder Bundesvetfassung V01l Albert Tanne r and Th omas Hildbrand (eds), lm Zeichen der Revolut ion, Det 1848 (Zurich. 1851). pp. vu. 235--44; see also Heidi Born er. Zwisclten Sander­ Weg wm schweitetischen Bundesstaat 1798-1848 (Zurich, 199 7), especially bund una KultrlTkampf. Zur Lage derBesiegten im Bundesstaat von 1848, Luzer­ the contrib utions of Albert Tanner. "' Alles fur da s Volk". Die Iiberalen nfsche Hrstortsche veroffentllchu ngen. vol. 11 (Lucerne, 198 1), pp . 31-2. Bewegungen von 1830/3 1', pp . 51-74 and ' Das Recht auf Revolution. 15. Dr C. Webe r (i.e. Nik la us Friedrich von Tschudi), £JeT Sonderbund und seine Radikalismus - Anti jesuitismus - Natio naJismus', pp . 113-37 and Marco Aufliislmg van dem Standpunkte einer nationaien Politik (St Gallen, 1848), j orto, .... Wider den Park m it de m Teufel". Reaktion und Gegenw eh r der pp. 3-7, 36-7; see also Bonjour, Sellieksal (see not e 9), pp . 66-8. Konservanven', pp. 139-60. 16. jakob Amiet, Der siegreiche Kampf der Eidgenassen gegen lesuitlsmus und 4. See Neue Ziircher Zeitr",g. 22 January 1846, entitled 'Ober Volkssou ­ Sondatnmd (Solothurn, 1848), cited in Bonjour, SChicksal (see not e 9), p. 58. \'eranita t' referring to the earlier debate 'ob da s Volk der Souveran sei oder 17. j. Martin Rudolf, Die Gescllichte der Ereignisse in der Schweiz seit der ob dieser in dem Rathe der Stellvertreter des Lande s gesucht \..·erden Aargallische Klosterall{1lebllng 184 1 bis zur Auf10sung ,ies Sonderbllndes Itnd miis se' wh ich has now become th e qu estion, "ob das Volk ein unum­ zur AJlSweisung der lesuitm (Zurich, 1848), pp. 489- 95; see also Bonjour, sch rankter, absoluter oder aber ein konstitution eller Oberh err sein solle'. Sc/.ieksal (see not e 9), pp. 6s-6. The editor, luigi Ercole Daverio, sees it as 'eine Frage liber die Schrank en der 18. See for example the woodcut Alt und lung by jakob Ziegler with jacob oberhe rrlichen Gewalt, ob namJich die Verfassung auc h als eine Schranke Amiet's text , in lllJlStrieter Schweizer Kalender (Ziegler-Kalender, 1850), fO r den Souver~n anzuse hen sei oder nicht'. His conclusion is th e o ppos­ p. 17. Sim ilarly th e l\'eue birc/Jer Zeitung celebrating the new Co nstitu· ite of Druey's (see note 5), for he says th at 'da wo die Stellvertreter eines tion o n 14 Septem ber 1848 states that Volkes unter Ratifikat ionsverbehalt deselben eine Verfassung erlassen, hat dieselbe eine so bindende Kraft, als irgend ein vertrag, den Einzelne unter uber Berge und Thaler haben sich heute di e Eidgenossen ihren jubel sich abgeschlossen und mit Nam en suntersch riften versehen haben. I ···] zugedon nert; die wenigen, die in finsteres Schweigen sich hiillen, sollen Die Ansicht dagegen , es sei da s Volk ein durch au s selbstandiges, unab­ un sere Freude nicht triiben . Keine Freude nfeuer dilrfen heute von den han giges Indi viduum, das na ch Belieben Vorsatze fassen, ab3. ndern oder Bergesh6hen herableuchten , von welch en die ersten Feuersigna le der unerfliJlt lassen kann, miissen wir entschieden verwerfen , als unbegriin­ schweizerischen Freiheit erglanzten. Wohlan ! di e Reihe ist jetzt an den det in der Theorie und verderblich in der Praxis.' jiinge rn SOhne n der Freihei t. An diesen ist es nun, ihren alte rn Brildern 30 The Making o{ ,\f(}{lem Switzerland, 1848-1 998 Thomas M aissen 31

die im Laufe der j ahrhunderte durch herrschsuchtige Magnaten und 33. Carl Hilty, Die Bundesvertassungen tier Schweizerischen Eidgenosserrschaft freiheitsfeindlic he Priester ihnen verktimmerte Freiheit zu verkunden - und (8erne, 1891), pp. 402- 7. zu bringen . Von dem getsn gen Drucke der ne ue n Gessler die Urstatte 34. Eduard His, Geschichte des neuem Scnweitetischen Staatsrechts, vol. 2 (Basle, schweizerischer Freiheit IU befreien, wird ni cht das letzte Bestreben der 1929), pp. 773-4; vol. 3 (Ba,le, 1938). den neuen Bund freud ig begrussenden Etdgen c ssen sein, 35. And reas Heuster. Schweizetische Verfasswrgsgeschicllte (Basle, 1920), pp . 375-81. 19. For the denigratio n of the 'oligarchic' ancien regime see Andreas w urgler, 36. Ernst Gagliardi , Geschtchte derSclrweiz von den Anfiillgell bis zur Gegenwart, Die Legitimienmg der Revolution ails den Unruh en des Ancien Regime dutch first edition, vol. 2 (Zurich, 1920), pp. 42 6, 434. On p. 435 Gagliardi die schweizeriscbe Nationalhistonographie des 19. ki hrhu nderts, in Ernst names the three historical sources of th e new Co nsti tution as 'alem an ­ et al. (eds), Revolution und Innovation (see note 2), pp. 79- 90. nisch es Streben nach Bewahrung der Volksfreiheit', 'Rousseausche 20. For Tlllfer see Bonjour, Schicksat (see note 9), p. 72. Lehre von de r volkssouverarutat' and 'das Beispiel Nordameri kanisc her 21. Guillaurne-Henrt Dufour, Campagne du Sondetbund et e\!enements de 1856. Union'. Pricide d'une notice biograpltique d'Edouard Sayous (Neuchatel/Geneva/ 37. Ern st Gaglia rdi, Geschichte derSchweiz \'On den Anfiillgen bis znr Gegenwart, Paris, 1876); see also Olivier Reverdin, La guerre du Scnderbnnd me par le -tth ed itio n, vol. 3 (Zurich, 1939), pp . 1378-81 whe re he writ es that General Dutour, 11Iin 1847-Avril 1848. D'apres des tettres et des documents 'Okonomische Zwangslauffg kert spielte beim Kamp f urn das neue inedit s (Geneva, 1948; rep rin ted 1997). Early historiograp hic praise of Gru ndgesetz sonach eine entscheidende .' See also p. 1415. Dufour is fou nd in Eusebe-Henrt Gaullieurs, La Suisse en 184 7 (Geneva, 38. See for exa mple the third volum e of Seippe l's Swiss history (see note 25) 1948); see Bonjour, Schicksal (see note 9), p. 69. which contains chapters on agricultu re, industry, tra nsport and the 22. Peter Fed dersen, Geschichte der Schweizerischen Regeneration von 1840 bis wor king-class movem ent. 1848 (Zurich, 186 7), pp . iii- v, 567 , 582 . 39. WilIiam E. Rappard. Le [acteur economtque dans l'avi nement de la 23. Karl Dandliker , Geschichte der Schweiz (Zurich , 188 7), pp. 615, 654. danccratie modeme en Suisse, vol. 1, L'agriculture ala fill de l'Ancien Regime 24. johanes Dierauer, Geschichte der Schweizerischen Eidgenosse1Jsclraft, vol. 5 (Geneva, 1912). No further volumes pub lished. (Gotha, 191 7), pp. 679, 686, 785-6. 40. Eduard Fueter, Die Schweiz seit 1848. Geschichte, Politik, winschatt (Zurich! 25. Numa Droz,'Die w tedergeburt', in Paul Seippel (ed.), Die Schweiz im neun­ Leipzig, 1928), pp. 12-1 9, 39--43. Emil Dun, Neuzeitliche w ondtungen ill zehnten lahrhundert, vol. 1 (Bem e/ , 1899), pp. 275- 6 wh ere he der schweizetischen PoIWk. Histonsch-polttische Betrachtung iiber die Ver· says that 'die gemassigten Elemente, welche allein au fzubauen vermogen . wirtschattlichung der poiitischen Motive und Parteien (Basle, 1928), is an ­ hatten die Oberhand gewonne n.[ . .. }jetzt war das w crk der Wiederge­ ot her testimo ny to th is new interest amo ng historians for economic change, burt vollbracht. Die fremde Vormundscha ft war gebrochen. Die Schweiz but as far as 1848 is concerned he accor ds more importan ce to poli tics trat in eine neue Ara ihrer Geschichte ein '. than to econom y (p. 22). 26. Theodor Curti, Geschichte derSchweiz im 19. 1ahr/umdert (Neuchatel, 1901), 41. Hans Nabholz, 'Die Entstehung des Bundesstaates wirtschaftsgeschichtlich p.539. betrach ter', in MiJanges offerts Cl Charles Gilliard (Lausanne. 1944), 27. Max Huber, Der schweizetische Staatsgedanke (Zurich, 1916), p. 13. pp. 574--90. See also Nabholz's obituary notice on Fueter in NeueZtircher 28. Nabholz, HWJdertjalrrfeier (see no te 51), (referring to Huber); Ulrich Im Zeitung, 2 December 1928, and Hans Co nrad Peyer,'Der Historiker Eduard Hof, Vom Bundesbrief zur Bundesvertassung (Rorschach, 1948), p. 164; Pueter. leben und werk', in 145. Neujahrsblatt W in Besten des WaiselJ ­ Wolfgan g von Wartbu rg, Geschichte der Schwetz (Munich, 1951), p. 205. hauses Ziirich fhr 1982, pp. 5- 72, especially pp . 53 and 57. 29. joseph Hi.irbin, Handbuch der Schweizer Geschichte, vol. 2 (Sta rts, 1903), 42. Walt her RupIi, Zollrefomt und Bundesretorm in der Schweiz 1815-/848. Die pp. 605- 11. Bemiihungen um die wirtschaftliche Einiglmg derScllweizund iI,r EillflusSallfdie 30. Georg Kreis, Der ~fytl lOS "On 1291. ZlIr DJtstelnmg des Sc1Il'>'f'izerisdlen Griilldlmg des Bundesstaates vmJ 1848 (Zurich, 1959), pp . 206-7. See also Nationalfeiertags (Basle, 1991). jean·Frant;ois Bergier, Die Wirtsc1ra{tsgeschicllte da Schwriz (Zurich, 1959), 31. See also Frant;ois de Capitani, ' Die Suche nach dem gemein sam en pp . 206-7. See also jean·Frant;ois Bergier, Die WirtschaftsgescJtichte der Nenner - der Beitrag de r Geschichtsschre iber', in Frant;ois de Capitani 5chweiz (Zurich, 1983), p. 2 10 where he co mments that 'die Industrial­ and Georg German n, Auf dem Weg zu einer schweizeriscllen ldentitat isierung hat, wenn auch spat , verm utlich meh r als jeder andere Faktor w r 1848- 1914. Probleme - EmmgellScllaften - Misserfotge (Frilxmrg, 1987), Ein fi.i hrung eines solche n lpolitischen, sozialen und ins titutio nellenl pp. 25- 35. Appara tes beigetragen'. 32. Geo rg Kreis, 'Das VerfassungsjubiIaum von 1948', in lubi/aen derSchweizer 43. See for exampl e Karl Schib , IIh,strierte ScJnveizergescllichte {ilr jedmlJatm Gescllicllte 1798-1848- 1998, Studien und QueUen, vol. 24 (Berne, 1998), (Zur ich, 1944), pp . 179-81 and 'Vom Staatenbund zum Bundesstaat ', pp . 133-5. in Sclr weizerisc1re D ~lI ok ratie (see note 49), pp. 26--7. See also ' Valter 32 TI,e Making ofMOtfem Switzerland, 1848-1998 Thomas Maissen 33

Stampfli, 'Die Bundesverfassung von 1848 und die schwetzertsche 58. Max Frtsch, Stiitet, in Gesammeite\Verke in zeitlicherFolge, vol. 3 (Frankfurt Wirtschaft' in Schweiierische Demokratie, pp . 331-5. am Main, 1976), p. 596 and achtung: Die Schweiz, in Gesammeite Wnke, H . wemer Nif, Die Schweiz in Eurapa. Die Entwicklung des schweizerischen p. 336. See also the recent thesis by Sonja Rtlegg, 'Jell hasse nicht die Staates im Ralnnen dereuropaischen Geschichte (Berne, 1938), pp . 57--8. Sctiweiz, sondem die verlogmheit'. Das Schweiz-Biki in Max Ftischs lVerkeIJ 45. Gottfried Guggenbtlhl, Geschichte der Sdrweizerisdlen Eidgenossenschaft, 'Graf lhter/and', 'Stiiier' und 'acntung: die Schweii ' und ihre zeitgenossische vol. 2 (Erlenbach, 1948); see pp. 416-20, which cover the ' home~g ro~· n Kritik (Zurich, 1998). especially pp . 241, 312-14 and 389 (referring 10 a will' (einheimiscller WilIe) that in one of the 'luckiest ' years of SWISS his­ letter written in 1991 ) where the author remarks: tory, made possible the new Constitution, which included a 'co nsiderable swtsslftcanon' (Vm:chweizernng) of the American model. Der Rekurs auf die Staatsgrunder von 1848 zieht strh von Stiller uber 46. Edgar Bonj our, Gesdlichte (ferSdtweiz im 19. und 20./ahrlmnderf,.Geschichte achtung: Die Schweiz durch bls zu dleser letzten offentlichen Ausserung der Schweiz, edited by Hans Nabholz et al., vol. 2 (Zun ch , 1938), Frischs.(... ] Mit der Berufung auf die Grunder von 1848 erinnert Frisch pp. 433-62. das heutige Biitgettum, das sich als Nachkomme der liberalen Grunder­ 47. Bonj our, Griindung (see note 2), pp. 5--6. vater versteht, immer wi eder I...) an ihr efgenes. ursprungltch es ver­ 48. Bonjour, Schicksal (see note 9 ), p. 73 and Gtiindung (see note. 2), p. 152. sprechen und ihr Versagen davor. For Basle see Bonjour, BaseIs Vermittlung in den .so"dnmmdsw,rren (Basle, 1948) which originally appeared in Archiv des Historischen vereins des 59. Emil Spless, Vas \Vn den des Bundesstaates und seine Entwicklung um Kantons Bern, vol. 39 (Berne, 1948). modemen Europa, llIustrierte Geschichte der Schweiz, vol. 3 (Einsiedelnl 49. Sc/nwizerisclJe Demokratie 1848-1948. Ein /ubiliiumswerk, edited by Arnold 2urich /Cologne, 1961 ), pp . 155-7, 167-8, 184. H. Schwengeler (Murte n, 1948), pp. 13- 16,35. On p. 34 Abderhalden's 60. See also Peter Durrenmatt, Sctiweiur Geschlchte, vol. 2 (Zurich, 1976), explanation of the importance of th e new Constitutio n is very like pp. 641-78. Celio's. He declares: 'ste uberwand die im So nderbundsk rieg zum Aus­ 61. For Gotthelf see Albert Tanner,'Vom "achten Uberalen" zum " mil itanten " druck gekommenen Gegensatze und schuf als Abschluss und xronung Konservatlven.Ierem tas Gotthelf im politischen Um feld seiner Zeit', in einer jahrhunde rtlangen Entwicklung aus einem schwerfall~gen Bund Hanns Peter Holl and}. Harald waber. 'Zu schreien in die Zeit hinein.' Beitriige selbstandtger Staaten einen atlen Anforde rungen der Neuze it gewach­ ru Ieremias Gottllel(lAlbert Bitziu.s(\797-1854) (Berne, 1997), pp. 11- 59. senen Bundesstaat'. 62. Hanno Helbling, Schweizer Geschichte (Zurich, 1963), pp . 130, 134. ~r~is , . Ve~a s. 50. Alphons Hen, President of th e Swiss Standerat, as cited in 63. George Andrey, 'Auf de r Suche nach dem neuen Staat (1798-1848), in sungsjubiliimn (see note 32), p. 160. Kreis discusses the official I~b l lees Geschichte der Schweiz und der Schweizer (Basle/ Frankfurt am Main, 1986), and the differences between the com memorative discourses of the different p. 630. Ernst Bohnenblust, Geschicnte derSclrweiz (Erlenbach, 1974), p. 439 political par ties. also calls th e new Constitution a ',..-ork of agreement, a compromise 51. Han s Nabholz, 'Zur Hundert jah rfeier der Bundesverfassung des jahres between the parties'. A similar scientific distance marks the contributions 1848', in Die Schweiz. £i tl nationales [ahrbucn 19 (1948), pp. 3-16, espe- of jean-Cha rles Biaudet an d Erwin Bucher in Handbuch der Schweiier cially pp . 3, 8, 11, 13. . . Geschtchte, vol. 2 (Zurich, 1977), and Ulrich Im Hof, Geschichte der 52. Max, Hube r, Die Bundesver(assung von 1848 ats Ausdmck sc/nw'Zt'1'I5clJetI Schweiz (5tu ttgart, 1974), pp. 106-9. Frelheitswillens, Kantonal-Zurcherische Hun dert jahrfeier de r Bun desve r- 64. Hanstorg Slegenthaler, 'Suprananonalttat, Nationalism us und regionale fassun g, 4 Ju li 1948 (Zur ich, 1948 ), pp. 14-25. .. . Autonomie. Erfahru nge n des schweizerischen Bundesstaates, Perspektiven 53. \Villiam E. Rappard, Die Bundesverfassung der Schwerunsclren Eldgenossen- der europaischen Ge meinschaft: in Travn se, 3 (1994 ), pp. 117-4 0; see scllafl 1848-1948 (Zurich, 1948), pp. 429- 33. . also Siegen tha ler, 'Weg der Vernunft in die :\fodernitat. Vom Kampf urn 54. Karl Schmid,'£in Jahrhundert Bundesstaa t' , in Schmid, ZeJtspuren. die QueUen de r Wah rheit zur Gru ndung des Bundesslaa tes ', Neue Ziircher Aursa/Le u/ld Redm, vo!. 2 (2unch/5tuu gart, 1967), pp. 32-11. . Zeihmg, 27/28 Ju ne 1998, p. 71. 55. See de tails about the q ua rrel concerni ng an exhibition co mmemoratmg 65. see in Ernst et aJ. (eds), Revolution Ilnd bmovation (see note 2), the contri· 1848 in Kreis, Ver(assungsjubiIiium (see note 32 ), pp . 164-7, and also butions of Patrick Halbeisen and :\fargrit Muller, Christoph Guggenbiihl pp. 148-50 for comment on th e attempt by the Socialists to lay clai m to and Thomas Christian Muller who defend one side of the question and th e heritage of 1848 . of flans Ulrich l ost and Cedric Humair who disagree. 56. Robert Grimm, Geschichte dn Schweiz in ihren Klassenkiimpfen (Bern e, 66. carlo Schmid (Landam mann of Appenzell·lnnerrhoden ),'Geschichte 1920), pp. 368-82, 405-7. der Integration', in Rq JUblikanisches Bankett der Neuen Ziirclln Zeitung 57. Peter Bichsel, De5 SCh....'t'izers 5ch....'t'iz (Frankfurt am Main, 1997), pp . 16-17 zum 1SCJ./ahr·/ubiliium des SChweizenschm BlUrdesstaatn . 26 /lmi 1998. Die (first printed in 1969). Reden im \Vortlaut (Zurich, 1998), pp. 9-10. 34 Til e Makillg o(Modem Switzertand, 1848-1998

67. For examp le Iosef long, who also contributed an article about th e Cath olic radicals to Erns t, Revolution (see note 2), pp. 259-70; see his stateme nts in MOMA, Monatsmagazin tif r lIeue Poli ti k, 12.97/1.98. See also Tob ias Kastl i, Die Schweiz - eine Republik in Europa. Geschichte des Nationalstaats seit 1798 (Zurich, 1998). 68. Lynn Blattrnann and Irene Meier (eds), Mim nerbund und BUlldesstaat. Ober die politische Kultu r der Schweiz (Zurich, 1998). 69. Cited in Daniel Thur er, 'Die d rei Paradoxe in der Verfassung von 1848. Uber ihre Relevan z im Zeitalter der Globallsierung , NZ Z, 27/28 Jun e 1998, p. 69.