This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Chronology of 1814• 14 January Treaty of Kiel• 16 Feb Meeting of high ranking men at Eidsvoll• 10 April – 20 May The Constitutional Assembly at
Eidsvoll• 17 May - The Constitution adopted
– Prince Christian Frederik offered the Norwegian Crown
• End July / Early August Swedish-Norwegian War• 14 August The Moss Convention on armistice• 7 Oct - 26 Nov The extraordinary Storting • 4 Nov Carl 13 of Sweden elected King of Norway
Political background• Denmark-Norway allied with Napoleon since 1807• The building of alliances against Napoleon
– British and Russian interests– Later Prussian and Austrian interests
• Sweden had lost Finland to Russia in 1809– Coup d’état and new constitution in Sweden– New king: Carl 13– Sweden adopted the French Marshal Bernadotte as Crown Prince
in 1810
• Bernadotte changed Swedish foreign policy– Rather get Norway in the West than trying to win back Finland in
Swedish Danish Kiel Treaty – main content• Peace between Denmark and Sweden• Alliance against Napoleonic France• Cession of the Kingdom of Norway to the King
of Sweden– Excluding Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands
• Cession of the Duchy of Swedish Pomerania and Principality of Rügen to Denmark
• Military withdrawal from Denmark• Provisions on proclamations to the involved
Christian Frederik’s declaration of 19 February 1814• “The Norwegian people, absolved from its
oath to the mighty, high born Prince, Frederik the Sixth … [is] … accordingly given back the full right of a free and independent people to decide itself its constitution of government.”
• A declaration of independence and call for a constitutional assembly
• The Constitution to be adopted by the “people” with no formal role of the regent Christian Frederik
– Law professor in Copenhagen, teacher of the founding fathers
• «A people who has transferred the sovereignty, cannot take it back because that would in itself be an act of sovereignty… The one who holds the sovereignty, may voluntarily return it again, if the people will accept it. To others than the people, he may not transfer it, because it is a restricted personal right (jus mere personale)…»
Christian Frederik’s declaration of 19 February 1814• “The Norwegian people, absolved from its
oath to the mighty, high born Prince, Frederik the Sixth … [is] … accordingly given back the full right of a free and independent people to decide itself its constitution of government.”
• A declaration of independence and call for a constitutional assembly
Was this possible effect known in Kiel?• Yes• Norway could not be ceded to Sweden without
consent from the Norwegian and Danish estates– Letter 10 April 1813 from Frederik 6 to the Swedish chargé
d’affaires
• Also the instructions dated 31 December 1813 to the Danish negotiator Bourke in Kiel appears to assume the effect of absolving the Norwegians from their oath
• And, there was also a related law of nations argument – Grotius, Pufendorf, Emer de Vattel