Prussian Constitution of 1848

The Prussian constitution of 1848 was imposed by King Frederick William IV on 5 December 1848 in response to the pressures of that year's revolutions across the German states. It set out basic civil rights, established trial by jury, placed some limits on royal power, and created a bicameral legislature, while still leaving the king an absolute veto over legislation, control of foreign policy, command of the army without parliamentary oversight, and the power to dissolve the chambers or rule by emergency decree. Its notorious three class franchise weighted votes according to the taxes a voter paid, which strongly favored the wealthy and kept Prussia far short of full democracy even after a revised version of the constitution took effect in 1850. The document, as amended in 1850, remained in force through Prussia's leadership of the North German Confederation and then the German Empire, lasting until 1918, when it was replaced by a democratic constitution after the German Revolution. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/