The revision of the Constitution and the referendum
Bern
Further reading: Federal Constitution of Switzerland (Wikipedia)
On 19 April 1874 the people and the cantons approved the total revision of the Federal Constitution. The Confederation received new powers: the army, commercial law, the railways, the protection of forests.
The most important innovation was the optional referendum: with 30,000 signatures citizens can put a law passed by Parliament to a popular vote. In 1891 came the popular initiative, for proposing amendments to the Constitution. This is how the instruments of Swiss direct democracy came into being.
The 1874 Constitution also made primary school compulsory and free of charge, under the direction of the civil authorities.
Commemorative sheet for the vote on the Federal Constitution of 19 April 1874
Ernst Conrad, Zentralbibliothek Zürich, Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Albert Anker, Die Schulreise, 1872
Wikimedia Commons, public domain