Home > Prussian three-class franchise
After the 1848 revolutions in the German states, the Prussian three-class franchise system (Dreiklassenwahlrecht) was introduced in 1849 by the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm IV for the election of the Lower House of the Prussian state parliament. It was only completely abolished in 1918. This franchise was used in Prussia, Brunswick, Waldeck and Saxony (the latter until 1909). Those eligible to vote were men aged over 24, divided by their direct tax revenue into three classes. These three classes were calculated according to how much tax one paid, by dividing the entire range of taxes into thirds. The first class was for those paying the highest taxes; the second for those with a lower income; the third for those paying few or no taxes.
Voting took place in public, orally; there was no secret ballot. It was also indirect; representatives known as electors (Wahlmänner) were voted for, each class electing a third of all the electors. The classes of course contained widely differring numbers of people, even though the number of electors was the same for each one: in 1849 the first class constituted 4.7% of the population, the second class 12.7% and the third class 82.6%. This distribution meant that a first-class vote was 17.5 times stronger than a third-class vote. A three-class franchise system was also used for local elections in parts of Prussia, one result of which was that the industrialist Alfred Krupp was the only person able to vote for the electors in the first class in Essen .
Prussia's controlling position in the German Empire meant that the system was at the heart of debates about reform. Extending suffrage would, however, have meant the downfall of the ruling conservative politicians, elected by the wealthy voters the three-class system favoured. Thus, despite popular dissatisfaction, the Prussian franchise persisted.
In 1917, Theobald von Bethmann-HollwegTheobald von Bethmann-Hollweg ( November 29, 1856 January 1, 1921) was a German politician and statesman who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1909 to 1917. The son of a Frankfurt banker, Bethmann became a professional civil servant, and gradually rose, German Chancellor and Prussian Prime Minister, drafted a reform to the voting system. Trying to placate the public and avoid revolution, Kaiser Wilhelm IIWilhelm II of Prussia and Germany, Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert von Hohenzollern ( January 27, 1859 June 4, 1941) was the last German Emperor Kaiser and the last King Konig of Prussia from 1888 1918. He was born in Berlin to Crown Prince Friedrich and proclaimed a watered-down version of this reform in his Easter Speech on April 7April 7 is the 97th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (98th in leap years). There are 268 days remaining. Events 529 first draft of Corpus Juris Civilis (a fundamental work in jurisprudence) is issued by Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I 1348 Char, which, giving no fixed date, failed to satisfy the public. The three-class system remained until the German RevolutionThe German Revolution describes a series of events that occurred in 1918- 1919, culminating in the overthrow of the Kaiser and the establishment of a democratic republic. Like the Russian February Revolution, no single political party led the rebellion, a of NovemberNovember is also the letter N in the NATO phonetic alphabet. November is the eleventh month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 30 days. From the Latin novem for " nine". It was originally the ninth month of the year in the early Roman calendar, w 1918 when the Weimar RepublicThe period of German history from 1919 to 1933 is known as the Weimar Republic (in German Weimarer Republik ). It is named after the city of Weimar, where a national assembly convened to produce a new constitution after Germany's defeat in World War I. was formed. Article 17 of its constitutionThe Constitution of a given organisation defines its form, structure, activities, character, and fundamental rules. To view particular constitutions, refer to the list of national constitutions. The term comes from Latin constitutio which referred to any proclaimed proportional representationProportional Representation PR describes various multi-winner electoral systems which try to ensure that the proportional support gained by different groups is accurately reflected in the election result. Proportional representation is also used to descri for women and men over the age of 20, with a secret ballot system.
