The south-west of Germany – previously consisting of Baden, Württemberg and the Prussian province of Hohenzollern – was divided between France in the south and the United States in the north.

To reinforce this claim, the constitution also adopted the pre-World War II Baden flag and coat of arms for the new state.

After local elections in December 1946, the Badische Christlich-Soziale Volkspartei (BCSV) emerged as the strongest party and its leader, Leo Wohleb, was appointed by the French administration as president of the state secretariat.

Since the French military administration still held many key executive powers in Baden, a single-party government was not possible despite the CDU's absolute majority.

With the end of military rule in West Germany, the three western powers requested that state leaders should re-examine and finalise the borders that had been established during occupation.

The newly founded Federal Constitutional Court of Germany (Bundesverfassungsgericht) rejected a nullification of the referendum in 1951, after the judges' vote ended in a draw.