Canton of Baden
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The Canton of Baden (German: Kanton Baden) was a canton of the Helvetic Republic (a Napoleonic-era precursor of modern-day Switzerland). Its capital was the town of Baden.
The canton was created in 1798 from the merger of the County of Baden with the Freie Ämter (free bailiwicks), both of which had until then been condominiums (gemeine Herrschaften) of the Old Swiss Confederation.
The canton was into five districts — Baden, Bremgarten, Muri, Sarmenstorf and Zurzach. The canton, like the others of the Helvetic Republic, was administered by a governor (German: Statthalter) and an administrative chamber (German: Verwaltungskammer), a vice-governor (German: Unterstatthalter) in each district, as well as agents in the municipalities. In 1799, there were 45,982 residents, though the Jewish population was not counted in the census.
Since the majority of Roman Catholic, conservative population were indifferent to the new state, officials and politicians had to be imported from neighboring cantons. The canton was divided and some municipalities sought affiliations with other cantons: the Lutheran congregations in the Limmattal wanted to affiliate with Zürich, the Amt of Hitzkirch with Lucerne, and the upper Freiamt with Zug or Schwyz.
The canton was not politically viable, notably due it's the lack of an economic base; in both 1801 (Constitution of Malmaison) and 1802 (Second Helvetic Constitution), it was decided to merge the canton into the Aargau, but the move was not completed. Napoleon Bonaparte signed the Act of Mediation on 19 February 1803 and, in the process, the canton of Baden was dissolved and united with the cantons of Aargau and Fricktal. The Amt of Hitzkirch was added to the canton of Lucerne, whilst Hüttikon, Oetwil an der Limmat, Dietikon and Schlieren went to Zürich. In return, Lucerne's Amt of Merenschwand was transferred to the Aargau.
[edit] References
- This article is based on a translation of an article from the German Wikipedia.
- Canton of Baden in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
