Describe the four main areas of the Weimar constitution
In January 1919 Ebert asked a member of the Reichstag called Hugo Preuss who was a legal jurist to put together a draft constitution for the new republic. He began the constitution by looking at the British, French and German traditions and the USA constitution in January and finished it in August. It was submitted, as a draft, and voted on. 262 voted in favour, 75 against, however there were 423 deputies of the Reichstag, so this reveals that not everyone voted, and the constitution was not as accepted as it seems. The constitution was only supposed to be a draft, to be discussed and then finalised, but in the turbulent world of Weimar, this did not happen and it remained a draft. The constitution had four parts to it: The roles and rules of the President and Chancellor; elections and voting structures; the reichsratt and the civil liberties and freedoms of the people.
The president was equivalent to the Kaiser in status, head of state, but not in power. The difference between the Kaiser’s power, and the president’s power came from article 48 in the constitution. This meant that the president could, “in a state of crisis” dissolve the Reichstag and rule without it, as a complete dictator. In a responsible president’s hand, this acted as a pressure valve, to allow the Reichstag to diffuse before reassembling, in times of crisis, for instance under Ebert, with the crisis in the Ruhr, it gave him the opportunity to take direct action and solve the problem; but in the wrong hands it allowed the president to forget democracy, as happens when Hitler rises to power. There was also a difference in how the president was elected, the Kaiser was born into the job, as it were, the president, however, was elected from a direct election every seven years, article 43. Despite these differences, there were many similarities to the Kaiser and the Presidents job. The head of state could still dissolve the Reichstag, still commanded the army and still appointed the chancellor. Whereas previously, although the Reichstag was elected in the Kaiser Reich, they had no say in who was chancellor, he was appointed by the Kaiser, and if the Reichstag did not like him, then it was tough. In the new Republic, however, the chancellor had to have the confidence of the Reichstag or he could not be chancellor, article 53.
