Johann Smidt

He then became 'Syndikus' (company lawyer) for the Älterleute (aldermen, Bremen's merchants corporation of constitutional rank) and in 1800 'Ratsherr' (councilman), a position in which he exerted considerable influence on the governmental and commercial development of the cities of the Hanseatic League.

In particular as he acted as Bremen's diplomatic representative at the Congress of Vienna and preserved the independence of the Hanseatic cities and put through their acceptance into the German Confederation of sovereign states after the Battle of Leipzig in 1813.

"[1] In the Confederation's Bundesversammlung, he battled the politics of Klemens Wenzel Lothar von Metternich, and was particularly involved in the negotiations which in 1820 established free shipping on the Weser.

Above all, he gave Bremen's commerce an important impulse through the foundation of Bremerhaven in 1827 and by closing advantageous trade agreements with foreign countries, through widening of consular representation, etc.

The representatives of the Lutheran congregation, led by the cathedral preacher Johann David Nicolai, started to fight for its right to exist.

The fight lasted until the congregation's official recognition in 1830, asserted by a majority of Bremen's senators (government members) against the expressed will of Smidt.