Switzerland as a federal state

The 1848 constitution represented the first time, other than when the short-lived Helvetic Republic had been imposed, that the Swiss had a central government instead of being simply a collection of autonomous cantons bound by treaties.

In 1847, the period of Swiss history known as Restoration ended with a war between the conservative Roman Catholic and the liberal Protestant cantons (the Sonderbundskrieg).

[1] The Sonderbund (German: separate alliance) was concluded after the Radical Party had taken power in Switzerland and had, thanks to the Protestant majority of cantons, taken measures against the Catholic Church such as the closure of monasteries and convents in Aargau in 1841.

[2] When Lucerne, in retaliation, recalled the Jesuits the same year, groups of armed radicals ("Freischärler") invaded the canton.

The Sonderbund was in violation of the Federal Treaty of 1815, §6, which forbade separate alliances, and the Radical majority in the Tagsatzung dissolved it on 21 October 1847.

A confederate army was raised against the members of the Sonderbund, composed of soldiers of all the other states except Neuchâtel and Appenzell Innerrhoden, which stayed neutral.

At the end of the Sonderbund War, the Diet debated a new federal constitution drawn up by Johann Conrad Kern (1808–1888) of Thurgau and Henri Druey (1790–1855) of Vaud.

In the summer of 1848 this constitution was accepted by fifteen and a half cantons, with Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, Valais, Ticino and Appenzell Innerrhoden opposing.

Finally, however, another draft was preferred, and on the 19 April 1874, the new constitution was accepted by the people – 141⁄2 cantons against 71⁄2 (those of 1848 without Ticino, but with Fribourg and Lucerne).

Finally, the referendum was introduced in its "facultative" form; i.e., all federal laws must be submitted to popular vote on the demand of 30,000 Swiss citizens or of eight cantons.

The Schweizerische Nordbahn (SNB) society opened the first railway line on Swiss soil in 1847, connecting Zürich and Baden.

Rapid urban growth also enlarged Zürich, which incorporated its industrial suburb Aussersihl into the municipality in 1891.