Act of Mediation

Switzerland, 1803–1813. Draft, not yet reviewed

The Act of Mediation was issued by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the French Republic, on 19 February 1803. It abolished the Helvetic Republic and replaced it with the Swiss Confederation. The Act of Mediation was Napoleon's attempt at a compromise between the Ancien Régime and a republic. This intermediary stage of Swiss history lasted until the Restoration of 1815.

Seat of power: Bern

No rulers documented for this era yet.

Culture

• The next 19 sections covered the 19 cantons that existed in Switzerland at the time. The original 13 members of the old Confederation were restored and 6 new cantons were added.
• Every Swiss citizen was now free to move and settle anywhere in the new Confederation. There were to be no privileged classes, burghers or subject lands.
• The highest body of government was the Tagsatzung or Diet which was held in one of the six vororten each year. The Diet was presided over by the Landammann der Schweiz who was the chief magistrate of the vorort in which the Diet met during that year.
• In 1806 the principality of Neuchâtel was given to Marshal Berthier. In 1810 the Valais was occupied and converted into the French department of the Simplon to secure the Simplon Pass.

Picture

With Napoleon acting as a mediator, representatives of the Swiss cantons met in Paris to end the conflict and officially dissolve the Helvetic Republic.

Image: Napoleon, Public domain, file

Sources

• Act of Mediation (Wikipedia)
• Act of Mediation (Wikidata)
• About the picture (Wikipedia)

Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.