It became a free state in the era of Weimar Republic in 1918 after the end of World War I and the abdication of King Frederick Augustus III of Saxony.

The Holy Roman Empire was dissolved in August 1806 following the defeat of Emperor Francis II by Napoleon at the Battle of Austerlitz, thereby rendering Saxony an independent state.

In 1807 the Treaties of Tilsit ceded the Lordship of Cottbus [de], formerly a collection of Prussian enclaves within Saxon Lower Lusatia, to Saxony.

Frederick Augustus was restored to the throne in the remainder of his kingdom, which still included the major cities of Dresden and Leipzig.

This effectiveness probably allowed Saxony to escape the fate of other north German states allied with Austria – notably the Kingdom of Hanover – which were annexed by Prussia after the war.

With Prussia's victory over France in the Franco-Prussian War of 1871, the members of the confederation were organised by Otto von Bismarck into the German Empire, with Wilhelm I as its emperor.

John, as Saxony's incumbent king, had to accept the Emperor as primus inter pares, although he, like the other German princes, retained some of the prerogatives of a sovereign ruler, including the ability to enter into diplomatic relations with other states.

King Frederick Augustus III of Saxony followed him into abdication when workers' and soldiers' councils were set up in the cities of Dresden, Chemnitz and Leipzig.

He was required to follow the provisions of the constitution, and could not become the ruler of any other state (save by blood inheritance) without the consent of the Diet, or parliament.

[8] The king was given the right to declare any accused person innocent, or alternately to mitigate or suspend their punishment or pardon them (but not to increase penalties); such decrees did not require ministerial co-signature.

[13] He was permitted to veto laws passed by the Diet (though he was required to give his reasons for so doing, in each instance), or to send them back with proposed amendments for reconsideration.

[20] The upper chamber consisted of the following:[21] Members of this house held their seats so long as they remained qualified to do so under the constitution, or in certain cases until they had reached the age of sixty or participated in three sessions of the Diet.

[32] The Diet could propose the formation of new laws or changes in existing ones, but no bill could be brought forward without the king's express consent.

By the early 1900s, Saxony's local politics had settled into a niche in which Social Democrats, Conservatives, and National Liberals were splitting the share of votes and Landtag seats three ways.

[39] The High Court of Judiciature, created in Sections 142 to 150, was also given authority to rule upon "dubious" points in the constitution; its decision was decreed to be final, and was protected from royal interference.