Kingdom of Norway (1814-1905) - The Zenith of The Union 1844-1860

The Zenith of The Union 1844-1860

The middle years of the 19th century were peaceful ones for the Union. All the symbolic questions had been settled, Norway had obtained more influence on foreign policy, the office of viceroy or governor was kept vacant or filled by Norwegian Severin Løvenskiold, and trade between the countries prospered from treaties (mellomriksloven) that promoted free trade and effectively abolished protective tariff walls. The completion of the Kongsvinger Line, the first railway connection across the border, greatly speeded up communications. A political climate of conciliation was advanced by Swedish concessions on the issue of equality between the countries.

Scandinavism was at its height during this period and contributed to increasing rapprochement between the Union partners. It supported the idea of Scandinavia as a unified region or a single nation, based on the common linguistic, political and cultural heritage of the Scandinavian countries. (These three countries are referred to as "three brothers" in the sixth stanza of the national anthem of Norway.) This elite movement was initiated by Danish and Swedish university students in the 1840s. In the beginning, the political establishments in the two countries were suspicious of the movement. However, when Oscar I became king of Sweden and Norway in 1844, the relationship with Denmark improved and the movement started to gain support. Norwegian students joined in 1845 and participated in annual meetings alternating between the countries. During the war between Denmark and Prussia in 1848, king Oscar offered support in the form of a Norwegian-Swedish expeditionary force, though the force never actually saw combat. The movement received a blow from which it never fully recovered after the second Danish-German war over Schleswig in 1864, when the Swedish and Norwegian governments jointly forced king Charles XV to retract the promise of military support that he had given to the king of Denmark without consulting his cabinets.

By then, the Union had lost its support among Norwegians because of the setback caused by the question of finally abolishing the office of viceroy. King Charles XV was in favour of this Norwegian demand, and after his accession in 1859 promised his Norwegian cabinet that he would sanction a decision of the Storting to this effect. The proposition to do away with this detested symbol of dependency and replace it with the office of a prime minister in Christiania was nearly unanimously carried. When the king returned to Stockholm, he was met by an unsuspectedly strong reaction from the Swedish nationalist press. Nya Dagligt Allehanda cried out that Norway had strayed from the path of lawfulness and turned toward revolution. The Riksdag demanded to have its say on the question. The crux of the matter was whether it was purely Norwegian or of concern to both countries. The conservative Swedish majority proclaimed Sweden's "rightful superior position in the Union". King Charles was forced to retreat when the Swedish cabinet threatened to resign. He chose not to sanction the law, but as a concession to wounded Norwegian sentiments, he did it in a Norwegian cabinet meeting. But he had inadvertently confirmed that he was more Swedish than Norwegian, despite his good intentions.

On 24 April 1860, the Norwegian Storting reacted to the Swedish claim to supremacy by unanimously resolving that the Norwegian state had the sole right to amend its own constitution, and that any revision of the conditions of the Union had to be based on the principle of complete equality. This resolution would for many years block any attempts to revise the Act of Union. A new joint committee was appointed in 1866, but its proposals were rejected in 1871 because it did not provide for equal influence on foreign policy, and would pave the way for a federal state.