ABSTRACT
Leaving aside a few exceptions, such as backward Mecklenburg or the directly administered imperial territory of Alsace-Lorraine, the constituent parts of the new German empire had pre-existing legislatures. Imperial Germany was a new country richly endowed with old legislatures. Voters made heroic efforts to reach the polls during midwinter elections, candidates went on the stump even in the remote outposts of rural constituencies, prominent parliamentary figures were in such demand to address meetings all over the country. The legacy of state repression—of Catholics in the eighteen-seventies and both in more subtle ways thereafter—certainly did not foster trust between the parties or their voters. In the particular circumstances of a latecomer nation that contained disaffected national minorities, a major religious divide between Protestants and Catholics, and multiple social conflicts at a time of rapid but uneven economic development.
