Restoration and Regeneration (Switzerland)

The periods of Restoration and Regeneration in Swiss history lasted from 1814 to 1847. "Restoration" is the period of 1814 to 1830, the restoration of the ''Ancien Régime'' (federalism), reverting the changes imposed by Napoleon Bonaparte on the centralist Helvetic Republic from 1798 and the partial reversion to the old system with the Act of Mediation of 1803. "Regeneration" is the period of 1830 to 1848, when in the wake of the July Revolution the "restored" ''Ancien Régime'' was countered by the liberal movement. In the Protestant cantons, the rural population enforced liberal cantonal constitutions, partly in armed marches on the cities. This resulted in a conservative backlash in the Catholic cantons in the 1830s, raising the conflict to the point of civil war by 1847.

Restoration

When Napoleon's fall appeared imminent, the Act of Mediation was suspended in late December 1813, and lengthy discussions about future constitutions were initiated in all cantons of Switzerland.

The Tagsatzung (the gathering of delegates from all the nineteen cantons) which took place between 6 April 1814 and 31 August 1815, the so-called "Long Diet", met at Zurich to replace the constitution. The Diet remained dead-locked until 12 September when Valais, Neuchatel and Geneva were raised to full members of the Confederation. This increased the number of cantons to 22. The Diet, however, made little progress until the Congress of Vienna.

At the Congress of Vienna (18 September 1814 to 9 June 1815), the Swiss Confederation was represented by a delegation of three conservative politicians, Hans von Reinhard, Johann Heinrich Wieland and Johann von Montenach, besides a number of unofficial lobbyists attempting to influence the country's re-organisation, such as Frédéric-César de La Harpe who, with the support of his former pupil Emperor Alexander I of Russia, campaigned for Vaud's independence from Bern — though, on the other hand, de La Harpe opposed the creation of a federal state as opposed to a united Swiss republic. In addition, de La Harpe and his friend Henri Monod lobbied Emperor Alexander, who in turn persuaded the other Allied powers opposing Napoleon to recognise Vaudois and Argovian independence, in spite of Bern's attempts to reclaim them as ''subject lands''.

The official delegation had the mission of ensuring the recognition of Swiss neutrality, but their efforts were hampered by a complicated web of cantonal rivalries and diverging agendas, which went to discourage the interest of the great European powers in Swiss affairs. On 20 March, the Congress finalized a declaration on the future status of Switzerland, including the recognition of the territory of the 19 cantons of the Act of Mediation (including financial compensation for those cantons which had lost territory to newly formed ones) and the recognition of Valais, Neuchâtel and Geneva as part of Switzerland, while the Valtellina, Chiavenna and Bormio were detached from the Grisons and made part of the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia.

Recognition of Swiss neutrality was left undecided, and on 20 May, after Napoleon's return from Elba the Swiss Tagsatzung gave in to allied pressure and declared war on France, allowing the passage of allied troops across Swiss territory (see the minor campaigns of 1815). Swiss troops under General Niklaus Franz von Bachmann advanced to the Franche-Comté without orders from the diet, but were ordered back. The French fort at Hüningen near Basel was placed under siege by Austrian and Swiss troops and surrendered on 28 August. The Swiss were particularly eager to lay siege to this fortress after its commander General Joseph Barbanègre opened fire on the city of Basel.

The Treaty of Paris of 20 November included a financial compensation for Switzerland besides the acquisition of a small territorial gain, connecting the canton of Geneva (formerly an exclave) to Vaud. Most significantly, the Treaty included the recognition of permanent Swiss neutrality by all European powers.

Cantonal constitutions were worked out independently from 1814, in general restoring the late feudal conditions of the 17th and 18th centuries. The Tagsatzung was re-organized by the Federal Treaty (''Bundesvertrag'') of 7 August 1815.

The Tagsatzung reintroduced the old flag consisting of a white cross on a red field, using it for the seal and coat of arms of the confederation.
The Tagsatzung re-introduced the white cross in the red field for the federal coat of arms in 1815. The commission for drafting a federal constitution on 16 May 1814 recommended the adoption of a seal of the Confederacy based on the "field sign of the old Swiss" (ratified on 4 July 1815). Article 41 (of the draft constitution):
"Das Siegel der Eidgenossenschaft ist das Feldzeichen der alten Schweizer: ein weißes freistehendes Kreuz im rothen Felde, sammt der Umschrift: Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft."

End of the Restoration

Following the French July Revolution in 1830, a number of large assemblies were held calling for new cantonal constitutions. As each canton had its own constitution, the assemblies in each canton addressed different specifics, but they all had two main issues. First, they called for peacefully adjusting the constitutions by adjusting the way seats in local legislatures and the Tagsatzung were allocated. In particular, they objected to what they saw as the over-representation of the cantonal capital in the government. Secondly, they sought a way to amend the constitution. Very few cantons even had a way to amend or modify the constitutions, and none of them allowed citizen's initiatives to be added.

The first assembly was held near Weinfelden in Thurgau in October and November 1830. Followed in November by meetings in Wohlenschwil, Aargau then Sursee, Lucerne and finally the Ustertag near Uster in Zurich. In December there were three assemblies in the Canton of St. Gallen in Wattwil

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