The Danish Democracy Canon

21	The National Liberal Movement

Identification

The national liberal movement in Copenhagen was the driving force behind the introduction of democracy in Denmark. Culturally, the national liberals – also known as the intellectuals’ party – belonged to the educated middle class, who primarily comprised civil servants, lawyers, doctors, clergymen, newspaper editors and university academics.

Orla Lehmann (1810-1870).

Classical liberalism is built in principle on a nonnational philosophy. However, during the struggle for a national democracy, an ideological bond was forged between liberal and national currents of the time that were critical of the existing economic and political system. In the transformation process that turned the liberals into national liberals, the status of Schleswig and Holstein in the united monarchy played an important role. National liberalism arose as a political trend in 1842 when Orla Lehmann (1810-1870) formulated the Eider Policy, whose objective was to separate the German Duchies of Holstein and Lauenborg from the Danish monarchy and incorporate the Duchy of Schleswig into the Kingdom of Denmark. In other words, the national liberals wished not only to replace absolutism with democracy as the new system of government, but also to replace the multinational united monarchy with the Eider State as the new national form of government.

The dismantling of absolutism in the Danish monarchy was hastened by the second democratic wave that swept through Europe in spring 1848. Despite great scepticism in certain sections of the population, the national liberals succeeded in gaining support for their national and democratic programme at a number of large-scale meetings in Copenhagen in March 1848. At the decisive meeting in the Casino Theatre on 20 March, Orla Lehmann gained enthusiastic support for the national liberals’ demand for a change of government in an Eider-Danish direction. The following day, 21 March, the national liberals organised a demonstration in which 15,000 men, led by the members of the City Council of Copenhagen, approached the King with a demand for a new democratic system of government and a new national system of government. The demand was backed up by the famous revolutionary threat: “We beg your Majesty not to drive the nation to take desperate measures”.

When the King stepped down as absolute monarch, a shift occurred in the symbolic order of power: from royal sovereignty to popular sovereignty. This shift led to a radicalisation of the controversial question that was already being debated: Who are the people when the people are no longer the King’s people? There was considerable difference of opinion on this matter in the United Monarchy.

The disagreement led to the outbreak of civil war in 1848, which with occasional interruption lasted until 1851. Although the civil war caused considerable suffering, no solutions were found to the fundamental question of who “the people” were in the new democracy. “The solution” first materialised with the country’s defeat to Prussia and Austria in 1864 and the loss of the duchies, Holstein, Lauenborg and Schleswig. After this defeat, Denmark was close to achieving what was considered at that time to be the ideal of a democratic nation state, namely identity between the language’s, the nation’s and the state’s borders. However, the ideal was disrupted by the fact that around 200,000 Danish-minded citizens in Schleswig fell under German rule after 1864; a situation that was not rectified until the referendum held in Schleswig in 1920.

The large-scale procession on 21 March 1848. Grundtvig stands at the corner window on the 2nd floor.

Reason

The introduction and development of democracy in Denmark is closely associated with certain social movements and philosophical currents. Democracy’s introduction was in this respect promoted by the fact that the political, economic and cultural interests of the liberal middle class came into increasing conflict with the existing system that was characterised by the aristocracy’s interests. The liberals demanded a constitution that gave citizens influence on political life and an economic policy that promoted freedom of competition. The fact that the national liberals lost considerable political and cultural influence in the wake of the defeat in 1864 had a significant impact on the further evolution of democracy in Denmark.

“Most Gracious King!

The advisers that your Majesty has inherited from your predecessor do not enjoy the confidence of the people, no more in Denmark proper than in Schleswig and Holstein. The lamentable fruits of your government system which day by day become ever more prominent have served to undermine any belief that your advisers should now possess the necessary insight and strength to rescue the country.

The hour of judgement approaches with giant strides. The state will be dissolved unless your Majesty without delay surrounds your throne with men capable of undertaking the grandeur of the task and who would be able to inject an energetic determination into the government and come to the nation’s assistance – men who could save Denmark’s honour and lay the foundations of the country’s freedom. We beg your Majesty not to drive the nation to take desperate measures.”

ADDRESS BY THE MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF COPENHAGEN, 20 MARCH 1848.

groslash;n streg This page is part of the electronic publication "The Danish Democracy Canon"
© The Ministry of Education 2008

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