Carlsbad Decrees

( 1819 ) Commentary by Stephen Balzarini, Gonzaga University

“The duty of this commissioner shall be to … observe carefully the spirit with which the professors and the tutors are guided in their public and private lectures; to endeavour, … to give the instruction a salutary direction, suited to the future destiny of the students, and to devote a constant attention to every thing which may tend to the maintenance of morality, good order and decency among the youths.” - “Provisional Decree Relative to the Measures to Be Taken concerning the Universities,” Section 1
“The governments [of the confederation will] … remove from their universities and other establishments of instruction, the professors and other public teachers, against whom it may be proved, that in departing from their duty, in overstepping the bounds of their duty, in abusing their legitimate influence over the minds of the youth … they have shown themselves incapable of executing the important functions entrusted to them.” - “Provisional Decree Relative to the Measures to Be Taken concerning the Universities,” Section 2
“Each government of the confederation is accountable for the writings published under its jurisdiction, and consequently for all those comprehended in the principle regulation of Art. I [Section 1]; and when these writings wound the dignity or safety of another state of the confederation, or make attacks upon its constitution or its administration, the government which tolerates them is responsible, not only to the state which suffers, directly therefrom, but to the whole confederation.” - “Measures for Preventing the Abuses of the Press,” Section 4
“The object of this commission is, to make careful and detailed inquiries respecting the facts, the origins and the multiplied ramifications of the secret revolutionary and demagogic associations, directed against the political constitution and internal repose, as well of the confederation in general, as of the individual members thereof; of which indications more or less conclusive have been already discovered, or may result from ulterior researches.” - “Decree Relative to the Formation of a Central Commission,” Article 2
“The central commission is authorized to examine every individual whom it may judge necessary.” - “Decree Relative to the Formation of a Central Commission,” Article 7

City park, Carlsbad (Library of Congress)

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Carlsbad Decrees

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