Otto Theodor Freiherr von Manteuffel (3 February 1805 – 26 November 1882)[1] was a conservative Prussian statesman, serving nearly a decade as prime minister.

The Vereinigte Landtag of 1847 (an assembly of the members of Prussia's provincial legislatures) gave him an opportunity to demonstrate his parliamentary skills, whereupon Manteuffel showed himself a champion of the bureaucratic political system and an opponent of constitutional liberalism.

[2] In pursuing this mediation position, Manteuffel often came into conflict with the conservative and ultra-conservative members of the parliamentary government, whom he found unwilling to fully embrace the new constitutional order.

However, Manteuffel's efforts to impose a more structured decision making apparatus within the royal palace was halted by the ultra-conservatives who, due to their high aristocratic status, traditionally had the most direct contact with the king.

In 1856, as Minister-President, he oversaw government policy removing state controls over the "flow of credit to financial institutions" and limiting supervisory powers within the iron and coal industries.

Manteuffel was thus very much aware of the need to face rather than repress the power of the press which, in his words, '[had] grown with the expanded participation of the people in public affairs.

'[8] When he was temporarily entrusted with managing foreign affairs after the Count of Brandenburg died, he took part in the negotiations for the Agreement of Olmütz in November 1850, and surrendered the constitutional rights of Kurhessen and Holstein to the Austrian restoration zeal.

"The strong man takes a step back"; these were the words with which he sought to calm the members of the recently re-established Bundestag who were unhappy with these measures.