Hansemann, David

Born July 12, 1790, in Finkenwerder (Hamburg); died Aug. 4, 1864, in Schlangenbad. Prussian political figure, a leader of the German liberal bourgeoisie in the 1830’s and 1840’s. The son of a priest.

Hansemann began his career in Aachen as a wool merchant and rose to become head of a great enterprise. He formulated the political program of the German liberals: convocation of an all-Prussian representative assembly, strengthening and broadening of the German customs union, and abolition of the privileges of the junker class. During the revolution of 1848, Hansemann was minister of finance of the Prussian bourgeois liberal government from March to June and prime minister from July to September. Expressing the desire of the big bourgeoisie to thwart a deepening of the revolution, he tried to reach an accommodation with Prussian monarchist reaction. After the defeat of the revolution he left political life.