Constitution of Prussia (1850)

The news of the overthrow of King Louis-Philippe in Paris in February 1848 led to sympathetic revolutions across Germany, including in Prussia's capital, Berlin.

[3] Ten days later, he rode through Berlin wearing the black, red and gold armband of the revolution and authorized the convening of a national assembly.

[4] On 11 April Gottfried Ludolf Camphausen, a moderate liberal who had been named minister president of Prussia on 29 March, called for elections to a Prussian National Assembly, with all males 25 and older able to vote.

[8] The next day Prussian troops under General von Wrangel occupied Berlin, essentially putting an end to revolutionary activity in the city.

It introduced universal male suffrage and kept most of the catalogue fundamental rights, including jury trials, freedom of speech, the press and assembly.

When the new Parliament met for the first time on 26 February 1849, it formally accepted the Constitution imposed by Frederick William the preceding December and then began work on its revision.

In spite of calls for its repeal that increased over the years, the three-class franchise remained in effect in Prussia until the fall of the German Empire in 1918.

Following World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Free State of Prussia, a part of the Weimar Republic, enacted a new, democratic constitution in 1920.