from the basic ideas of the Prussian reformers. It provided for the election of district councils which were basically drawn from the circle of the landed nobility and gave the people of the districts only a right to present their views for consideration; the appointment was reserved for the king. Equally untimely was the revised civic ordinance () of 1831, which heavily restricted the voting right for town councils and provided for organs of self-government which were really just offices of the central government. The municipality ordinance () was similar. Lead-up to the 1848 Revolution During the Vormärz, the period leading up to the German revolutions of 1848–1849, the importance of the constitutional question in Westphalia was not matched by interest in German unification, which was very low. The mayor of Rhede in Münsterland wrote in 1833, "The Hambach Festival and Burschenschaft colours have no meaning to the peace-loving inhabitants of this land." Public feeling in Sauerland and Minden-Ravensberg seemed similar. German nationalism only became a force in Westphalia in the 1840s. In many municipalities, singing clubs were formed, which nurtured national myths. Westphalian participation in the Cologne Cathedral construction festival and the gatherings in support of the Hermannsdenkmal was considerable. A lively mass of associations and clubs developed. In addition to the disappointment about the failure of the promised reforms to materialise, the arrest of Archbishop of Cologne Clemens August Droste zu Vischering in 1837, during the "" led to a greater politicisation of Westphalian Catholicism. The liberal Catholic journalist, Johann Friedrich Joseph Sommer wrote "contemporary events, like those of the last ten years, have stirred up the docile Westphalian and have contributed no little degree to bring a kind of religious somnolence to an end." At the same time, Sommer saw the mass unrest in connection with the riots as a precursor of the revolutions of 1848. The "state must give way, for the first time, power quakes before the popular mood." In the 1830s and 1840s, the discussion circles of liberals, democrats, and even some socialists consolidated (e.g. the journal ). In addition, the agrarian reforms which were negatively received by many rural groups, led to growing dissatisfaction. To this were added several bad harvests in the 1840s, which caused the price of food to rise notably, particularly in the cities. Traditional manufacturing also faced a stark structural crisis. A consequence of the difficult social situation was