from politics, and for the next few years devoted himself exclusively to his academic and judicial duties. It was not until 1859 that he re-entered public life, when he was elected deputy for Königsberg in the lower chamber of the Prussian Landtag, of which he was president in 1860 and 1861. In the first of these years he attained high judicial office as president of the court of appeal at Frankfurt (Oder). In 1867, having been elected a member of the constituent assembly of the North German Confederation, he again occupied the presidential chair, as he did also in the first regular North German Reichstag and the Reichstag of the German Empire which succeeded it. William I On 18 December 1870, Simson arrived at the head of a deputation in the German headquarters at Versailles to offer the imperial crown to the king of Prussia in the name of the newly elected Reichstag. The conditions under which Prussia might justly aspire to the hegemony in Germany at last appeared to have been accomplished; no obstacles, as in 1849, were in the way of the acceptance of the crown by the leading sovereign of the confederation, and on 18 January 1871 King William I of Prussia was proclaimed with all pomp German Emperor in the Salle des Glaces at Palace of Versailles. Reichsgericht Simson continued as president of the Reichstag until 1874, when he retired from the chair, and in 1877 resigned his seat in the Diet, but at Otto von Bismarck's urging, accepted the presidency of the supreme court of justice (Reichsgericht). He filled this high office with great distinction until his final retirement from public life in 1891. His grave is preserved in the Protestant Friedhof III der Jerusalems- und Neuen Kirchengemeinde (Cemetery No. III of the congregations of Jerusalem's Church and New Church) in Berlin-Kreuzberg, south of Hallesches Tor. Orders and decorations Kingdom of Prussia: Knight of the Royal Order of the Crown, 1st Class, 18 January 1881 Knight of the Order of the Red Eagle, 1st Class (50 years) with Oak Leaves and Enamel Band of the Royal Crown Order, 15 May 1883 Knight of the Order of the Black Eagle, 1888 References Sources 19th-century German politicians Jurists from Königsberg Prussian politicians Members of the Frankfurt Parliament Academic staff of the University of Königsberg Prussian nobility Members of the Reichstag of the German Empire University of Königsberg