The National Liberal Party was a liberal party of the North German Confederation and the German Empire which flourished between 1867 and 1918.
Leading politicians of the National Liberal Party from left to right: Wilhelm Wehrenpfennig, Eduard Lasker, Heinrich von Treitschke and Johannes von Miquel; bottom row from left to right: Franz von Roggenbach, Karl Braun, Rudolf Gneist and Ludwig Bamberger (woodcut c. 1878)
The Reichstag of the North German Confederation was the federal state's lower house of parliament. The popularly elected Reichstag was responsible for federal legislation together with the Bundesrat, the upper house whose members were appointed by the governments of the individual states to represent their interests. Executive power lay with the Bundesrat and the king of Prussia acting as Bundespräsidium, or head of state. The Reichstag debated and approved or rejected taxes and expenditures and could propose laws in its own right. To become effective, all laws required the approval of both the Bundesrat and the Reichstag. Voting rights in Reichstag elections were advanced for the time, granting universal, equal, and secret suffrage to men above the age of 25.
Rudolf von Bennigsen, c. 1871.
1868 cartoon of the South German states joining the Confederation, with the caption, “In the end, the South Germans, too, will join. We are obviously still too liberal for them!” Three years later, they voluntarily became part of the new German Empire.