<h4>Chapter 250: More Constitutional Reforms</h4>


    A new day had arrived, and with it, Berengar had found himself thrust headfirst into work and approving his reforms. The first order of business was redrafting his Constitution so that it could apply to the entirety of the Duchy. As the Duke of Austria who had just put down the rebellion of his most disloyal subjects not long ago. Berengar was in a unique position to overhaul his territory.


    As such, he was currently in the process of fixing some of the errors of his Constitution that he had previously established. For example, he was moving away from the House of Commons and House of Lords to implement a more streamlined bicameral legition partially based upon the early days of the United States Constitution from his past life.


    A House of Representatives was established as the lower house of his bicameral legiture. These representatives would be voted in by those people who met the qualifications to vote. Such as German men of upstanding character and proven intellect.


    The second department of his legiture was the Senate which was voted in by the County Legitures. Much like America, the House of Representatives would be determined by the total poption, while the Senate would have two individuals per State or in this case, County as Senators.


    These representatives and senators had a term limit of four years. If deemed ipetent, corrupt, or any other number of charges could be removed by the executive and reced with a person of his choosing until the next election.


    The House and Senate worked was simr to that of the United States but functioned in a more streamlined manner. Those would first introduce a bill, which would be sent to the Senate for retirement or eptance when passed by a majority vote.


    From there, it would be given to the Duke where he could either sign it intow, revise it to his wishes and then send it back to the Senate for approval once more, or veto it.


    Unlike the American Constitution, there was no overriding of a Duke''s Veto, though the bill could still be reintroduced through the legitive process. However, a veto was usually considered a firm stance by the Duke that he did not desire such aw.


    The so-called House of Lords would be repurposed as the Duke''s Council, which essentially acted as a cab. Their responsibility would be to help lead Berengar''s reforms while serving under him. The Duke''s council could be appointed and dismissed at any time ording to the reigning Duke''s determination.


    Part of the Duke''s Council''s responsibilities were selecting a sessor to the Duke in the event that the Duke had passed away without appointing a sessor himself. The process to this was voting upon eligible members of the von Kufstein Dynasty for the position. Whoever had the most votes was chosen.


    This was a fail-safe, established so that the mostpetent sessor would be chosen in the event that the Duke was to pass away before selecting the best candidate from his Dynasty to rece him. The Duke''s Council would only choose the sessor in very limited circumstances.


    The Executive Branch of government was ruled by the Duke at a federal level, as for a State and Local level, the reigning Noble of the territory would act as governor. They would still need to introduce a localized form of government such as a State Legiture, and Court System, to aid them in their reign.


    The nobility who ruled over their territories were allowed to continue to do so as governors, though the sessionws that applied to the Duke were also applied to all Governors. This was to ensure the mostpetent person was selected as the Governor of their region.


    Of course, each Duke had executive powers, which allowed them to pass legition without the approval of the federal and county legitures. However, these could just as quickly be repealed by the next Duke. This was to ensure the political power of Berengar and his descendants so that they did not just be another powerless figurehead.


    With the Legitive, and Executive branches refined, the Judicial branch was further borated and based upon the American Republic from Berengar''s previous life. With a supreme court, which determined what was legal based upon the Constitution.


    As with all judges, these supreme court justices were appointed by the Duke and served for life. However, if the Duke determined that they had failed to fulfill their duties ording to thew and instead operated on some form of personal agenda, he could have them removed and reced.


    This Constitutional system allowed for some semnce of freedom while still retaining significant control of the government in the hands of Berengar and his Dynasty. In doing so, he created a Semi-Constitutional Monarchy; as in practice, Berengar still had the power to effectively make any decision he pleased and could stack the government in his favor.


    He also maintained a strict stance of a small, intelligent electorateprised of full-bloodedw-abiding German males, preventing any foreign influence in his elections as the non-german minority had no voting rights whatsoever. Thus maintaining the idea of a united German fathend for years toe.


    Of course, he once more allowed a transitional period of ten years where he still ruled as an absolute monarch. This transitional period could be further extended by the Duke if deemed necessary. This way, he could slowly assimte his territory into his new style of government.


    After drafting these constitutional reforms, Berengar sighed heavily; he had spent a lot of time and effort revising his Constitution. It would also likely change in the future when he went from Duke to King, to Emperor. For now, this was the best effort he could put forth.


    With this, Linde arrived in his room and ced a gon of beer on Berengar''s desk, and in her own hands was a goblet filled with milk. She took a look at the reforms and noticed the exhausted expression on her lover''s face. After doing so, she sighed beforementing on Berengar''s work.


    "You do realize that when word of this gets out, the neighboring Duchies and Kingdoms will be even more upset with you than they currently are. You are single-handedly overhauling centuries of governance into something new which greatly strips away the nobility''s power."


    To this, Berengarughed as he grabbed ahold of Linde''s perfectly shaped face before expressing his views on the matters at hand.


    "Sure, the nobility loses their ability to draft troops, issue their currency, and own all of thends. However, they will still act as de facto governors of their territory and will have more wealth than before when my reforms go into ce.


    At the moment most noblemen gain their wealth by taxing poor peasants. With the industrial age upon us, businesses will boom, and goods will be sold. Themon people will grow wealthier and afford nice houses, which the currency they use to purchase thend to build those houses upon will go into the hands of the nobility, who currently own thatnd.


    It is not like I am taking all of thends of nobles away from them. They will still have vast swaths of territory, and they will more than make up the loss ofnd with shares in the businesses that are bound to sprawl across Austria in theing years.


    The nobles may not hold all of the wealth of the Duchy in their hands, but they will be wealthier than they were before, and that is all that matters. When the neighboring Kingdoms realize that our realm''s nobility is more affluent than they are, they will grow envious and spiteful.


    They mightsh out against us, but we have the power of industry on our side, and their feudal armies have already proven not to be the match of my professional army."


    Hearing Berengar''s long-winded speech about the forting age, Linde grew wide-eyed as she imagined what it would be like. She greatly admired Berengar''s vision for the future and the lengths he was willing to go to to achieve it.


    Thus she wrapped her arms around her lover, and gazed at thetest draft of the Constitution, and asked another question that was on her mind.


    "In the end, all the power rests in your hands, doesn''t it? Everything else is just a ruse to appease themoners and the nobles. ording to this Constitution, you can pretty much rece anyone you don''t like in the government with someone who supports you."


    To this, Berengar smiled and took a sip from his beer; after doing so, he thought about it deeply for some time before responding.


    "The average person can''t be trusted with any semnce of political power. Even if I were to make my poption fully literate, the masses would never understand the inner workings of government. They inevitably will vote into power people who promise to give them the most benefits at the expense of the Nation.


    With that, corruption will take hold of society, and the Nation will slowly decline into total copse. Only by maintaining an educated and intelligent electorate can a Republican-style government genuinely thrive. However, the more literate people be, the more they will ultimately want representation.


    Thus if I try to hold onto all the power like a Despot, there will inevitably be a revolution. Creating asting Empire is built uponpromise. With this, I hope to make a longsting system where our descendants maintain power, and those intelligent enough to understand how the government works are cated with appropriate representation of their interests."


    Hearing this, Linde nodded her head, and a sly smile appeared on her face.


    "In other words, the Duke knows best, right?"


    To this, Berengar chuckled before responding.


    "I suppose you could say that…."


    Thus with this, the Constitution of the Duchy of Austria was drafted, in a system that somewhat resembled a limited republic, while still giving significant control to the nobility and the Duke.


    Berengar had carefully drafted a constitution that he felt limited the negative effects of constitutional republics, and monarchies alike while still maintaining a significant degree of control for himself, and his Dynasty.