1890-1892); A. von Tillier, Geschichte der
Eidgenossenschaft waehrend der sogen.
Restaurationsepoche, 1814-1830, 3 vols. (Bern and
Zuerich, 1848-1850); ibid., Geschichte der
Eidgenossenschaft waehrend der Zeit des
sogeheissenen Fortschritts, 1830-1846, 3 vols.
(Bern, 1854-1855).]

*451. Attempted Constitutional Revision: the Sonderbund.*--The period
between 1830 and 1848 was marked by not fewer than thirty revisions of
cantonal constitutions, all in the direction of broader
democracy.[588] The purposes of the liberal leaders of the day,
however, extended beyond the democratization of the individual
cantons. The thing at which they aimed ultimately was the
establishment, through the strengthening of the Confederation, of a
more effective nationality. On motion of the canton of Thurgau, a
committee was authorized in 1832 to draft a revision of the Pact. The
instrument which resulted preserved the federal character of the
nation, but provided for a permanent federal executive, a federal
court of justice, and the centralization of the customs, postal
service, coinage, and military instruction. By a narrow majority this
project, in 1833, was defeated. It was too radical to be acceptable to
the conservatives, and not sufficiently so to please the advanced
liberals.

[Footnote 588: McCracken, Rise of the Swiss
Republic, 325-330.]

The obstacles to be overcome--native conservatism, intercantonal
jealousy, and ecclesiastical heterogeneity--were tremendous. More than
once the Confederation seemed on the point of disruption. In
September, 1843, the seven Catholic cantons[589] entered into an
alliance, known as the Sonderbund, for the purpose of defending their
peculiar interests, and especially of circumventing any reorganization
of the confederacy which should involve the lessening of Catholic
privilege; and, in December, 1845, this affiliation was converted into
an armed league. In July, 1847, the Diet, in session at Bern, decreed
the dissolution of the Sonderbund; but the recalcitrant cantons
refused to abandon the course upon which they had entered, and it was
only after an eighteen-day armed conflict that the obstructive league
was suppressed.[590]

[Footnote 589: Lucerne, Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden,
Zug, Freiburg, an