Ulrich Ochsenbein was a Swiss

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

 politician and member of the Swiss Federal Council

Swiss Federal Council

The Federal Council is the seven-member executive council which constitutes the federal government of Switzerland and serves as the Swiss collective head of state....

 (1848-1854).

Professional life

He studied law and from 1835 he had a law firm together with this brother-in-law Eduard Sury. He headed the Radicals of Bern (Berner Radikale) together with Jakob Stämpfli

Jakob Stämpfli

Jakob Stämpfli was a Swiss politician and member of the Swiss Federal Council .He was elected to the Federal Council of Switzerland on 6 December 1854, and handed over office on 31 December 1863...

. The Radicals later became the Free Democratic Party

Free Democratic Party of Switzerland

The Free Democratic Party was a classical liberal political party in Switzerland. It was one of the major parties in Switzerland until its merger with the smaller classical liberal Liberal Party, to form FDP.The Liberals on 1 January 2009....

.

Political career

Ulrich Ochsenbein participated in the Freischarenzüge against Catholic Lucerne

Lucerne

Lucerne is a city in north-central Switzerland, in the German-speaking portion of that country. Lucerne is the capital of the Canton of Lucerne and the capital of the district of the same name. With a population of about 76,200 people, Lucerne is the most populous city in Central Switzerland, and...

 in 1844 and 1845. He was a member of the Grossrat in the canton of Bern from 1845 to 1846, president of the Verfassungsrat in 1846 and a member of the Regierungsrat from 1846 to 1848. 1847 to 1848 he represented the canton of Bern at the Tagsatzung

Tagsatzung

The Swiss Tagsatzung was the legislative and executive council of the Swiss confederacy from the beginnings until the formation of the Swiss federal state in 1848. It was a meeting of delegates of the individual cantons...

 (diet) which he presided in 1847. He played an important role that the Swiss constitution was accepted by the Swiss population in 1848.

He was elected to the Federal Council of Switzerland on 16 November 1848 and handed over office on 31 December 1854 after being voted out of office. He is one of only a few federal councilors to be voted out of office. During his time as a federal councilor a fight broke out between the conservatives and a group of the radical party. Not willing to take positions, he lost the trust of both sides. During his time in office he held the Military Department (department of defence).

External links

• All of the following links are in German.
  • http://www.nzz.ch/dossiers/nzz1847/nzz1847_970203.html
  • http://www.zuerich98.ch/woche42_l02.html
  • http://www.stub.unibe.ch/extern/hv/gkb/ii/zwei.html