I hereby propose the periodic election by the parliament of an imperial head of state. In our previous session I voted in favour of broadening the circle of those eligible for high office as far as possible, albeit without any prospect of success, and hence against that paragraph of the draft, according to which only ruling princes can stand for high office. Now that the resolution has been passed as is, I am left with no choice but to vote for those motions that are directed against dynastic succession and hence against the privileging of a single estate and dynasty and against the exclusion of Austria [...] / There has been a lot of talk of youthful dreams just recently and I, for my part, freely admit to being haunted by one of my own: the dream of the spring of 1848. [...] / I confess to having once dreamed that the great uprising of the German nation would also call forth political characters of weight and that henceforth only the most excellent of these would stand at the helm of the all-German state. That can be achieved only through election, not inheritance. […] (“Bravos!” on the left.) [...] That unique election, by virtue of which the first elected head of state would accede to this high office, would be tantamount to a last wish, an especially solemn renunciation of the right to vote. It is my sincere hope, Gentlemen, that you will not proclaim any such renunciation; for it would contradict the spirit by which you were summoned to this place. (“Bravos!” on the left.) The revolution combined with a dynastic emperor would be like a young man with grey hair. (Spirited “Bravos!” on the left and left centre.) / I know that I am rubbing salt in a wound by addressing the exclusion of Austria. Exclusion – what an upstanding word that is! For were a dynastic German empire to come into being without Austria, who can say how Austria might yet become part of Germany. (“Bravos!” on the left.) [...] / Any true settlement would have to include all the German lands. [...] / In closing, Gentlemen, I urge you to abandon the principle of dynastic succession, to not create a single hegemonic state, to not exclude Austria and to uphold the right to vote – this precious right that is the last enduring symbol of the people as the sovereign power! Believe me, Gentlemen, when I say that no head shall henceforth shine over Germany that has not first been anointed with an ample drop of democratic oil! (Spirited “Bravos!” and applause on the left and left centre)

Ludwig Uhland: Motion ‘for the periodic election by the parliament of an imperial head of state’. In: Stenographischer Bericht über die Verhandlungen der deutschen constituirenden National-Versammlung zu Frankfurt a.M., Vol. 7, No. 157, 23.1.1849, pp. 4818–4819

King Frederick William IV of Prussia had the Prussian National Assembly dissolved on 5th December 1848. Only then did he endow his realm with a constitution, which of course could no longer be contested by parliament. This put an end to the principle of representation of the people by elected parliamentarians. Uhland had railed against the principle of dynastic succession and had called emphatically ‘for the periodic election of the imperial head of state’. As resolute as he was in his line of argument, alone his choice of words reveals that he was now representing a minority position within the National Assembly.