1868 Zollparlament election
Elections to the Zollparlament of the German Zollverein were held in February and March 1868. The Zollparlament consisted of the members of the Reichstag of the North German Confederation and members from the South German states. Those South German members were elected in these elections, the North Germans were the Reichstag members elected the previous year.
Image: Rudolf von Bennigsen
Image: Benedikt Waldeck (IZ 54 1870 S 445)
North German Confederation
The North German Confederation was initially a German military alliance established in August 1866 under the leadership of the Kingdom of Prussia, which was transformed in the subsequent year into a confederated state that existed from July 1867 to December 1870. A milestone of the German Unification, it was the earliest continual legal predecessor of the modern German nation-state known today as the Federal Republic of Germany.
First session of the konstituierender Reichstag on 24 February 1867. This organ was actually not a parliament as there was no federal state then. Its sole purpose was to discuss and accept the draft constitution. Later, in August, the North Germans elected the first Reichstag as established by the new constitution.