The Constitution

The Constitution

1. Strengths

   • Provided a strong leader to keep control over the country in an emergency
   • All Germans had equal rights, including the right to vote
   • Each state had its own elected assembly to represent local interests
   • Proportional representation meant that parties had the same percentage of seats in parliament as the did in the election

2. Weaknesses

   • If the chancellor didn't do something the president wanted, the president could get rid of him
   • The armed forces where at the mercy of the president who was the chief of the armed forces
   • President could remake laws in the situation of an emergeny. However, the constitution was vague on what an emergency was
   • The president had too much control over everything

3. Main Features

   • The Reivhstag were the German parliament and were the people who chose the chancellor
   • Each German state kept its own parliament, the had little power and national laws overruled local state laws
   • The president was head of state until he was re-elected every 7 years. He was head of the armed forces, could dismiss a chancellor and in a state of emergency he could remake the laws
   • The Bill of rights guaranteed that every german got freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom to meet and freedom from arrest without a good excuse
   • For every 60,000 votes each party got one member or seat

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