Ulrich Ochsenbein (November 24, 1811 - November 3, 1890) was a Swiss politician.

Professional life

He studied law and from 1835 he had a law firm together with this brother-in-law Eduard Sury . He headed the Radicals of Bern (Berner Radikale) together with Jakob Stämpfli. The Radicals later became the Free Democratic Party.

Political career

Ulrich Ochsenbein was a member of the Grossrat in the canton of Bern from 1845 to 1846, president of the Verfassungsrat in 1846 and a member of the Regierungsrat from 1846 to 1848. 1847 to 1848 he represented the canton of Bern at the Tagsatzung (diet) which he presided in 1847. He played an important role that the Swiss constitution was accepted by the Swiss population in 1848.

He was elected to the Federal Council of Switzerland on November 16, 1848 and handed over office on December 31, 1854 after being voted out of office. He is one of only a few federal councilors to be voted out of office. During his time as a federal councilor a fight broke out between the conservatives and a group of the radical party. Not willing to take positions, he lost trust of both sides. During his office time he held the Military Department (department of defence).

External links

All of the following links are German.

• http://www.nzz.ch/dossiers/nzz1847/nzz1847_970203.html
• http://www.zuerich98.ch/woche42_l02.html
• http://www.stub.unibe.ch/extern/hv/gkb/ii/zwei.html