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What were the main features of the Weimar constitution?

The Weimar constitution came about when the treaty of Versailles stated that monarchies were to be abolished. In replace of this, under the control of allies, a number of meetings were held in the city of Weimar to form a constitution for the creation of a new republic. The constitution stated that the new government must have a president, an elected parliament called the Reichstag and a number of district representatives known as lander each who had a say in the creation of laws through regional assemblies that took place known as the Reichstrat. The president along with the Reichstag were the main law-making body of the parliament. The Reichstag consisted of deputies who were elected every four years through a system known as proportional representation; under this system a party received the same percentage of seats in the Reichstag as it had received votes in the election. The Chancellor was the chief executive member of the Reichstag and commander in chief of armed forces, he was appointed by the President on the basis of party numbers. The president was the head of state and was elected every seven years by the whole electorate. Article 48 gave the president emergency powers to suspend individual rights and take whatever measures necessary to restore order, later on we see this as a weakness to the constitution as it didnt pacifically state what that emergency had to be and allowed, for example Hitler, to take power legally. With the introduction of the Weimar constitution, with it came the Bill of Rights which guaranteed every German citizen freedom of speech, religion and equality under the law. The constitution also allowed all men and women over the age of 20 to vote. Germans were very pleased to be now living in a democratic state. Many others however, disliked democracy and saw weaknesses in the Weimar Republic from the very start. Two of the main weaknesses would include Article 48, which I explained previously, and the voting system of proportional representation. The problem with proportion representation was that instead of voting for an MP, Germans voted for a party. This meant that a lot of smaller parties were formed and therefore werent strong enough to get a majority. This lead to no government getting its laws passed in the Reichstag.

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