of liberalism and nationalism that had underpinned 1848 never completely disappeared, and Duncker was supportive of both aspirations. In 1858 he was one of the founders of the German National Association, serving on its principal committees till 1867. He was also, in 1861, a founder of the liberal-leaning Progressive Party, serving on its national election committee. He joined the Progressive Party executive committee in 1874. Between 1861 and 1877 Duncker sat as a Progressive Party member in the Prussian House of Representatives, representing the Saarbrücken-Ottweiler electoral district initially and, from 1867, the Berlin 4th electoral district. In 1863 he was a member of the "Committee of 36" that convened in Frankfurt am Main in the context of concern on the part of liberals that the German Confederation was increasingly dominated by its two largest member-states, Prussia and Austria, neither of which was seen as a natural ally in the search for a liberal-nationalist future that preoccupied progressive thinkers at the time. During the 1861 Constitutional Conflict he was strongly opposed to militia (Landwehr) reforms because he feared they would lead to a weakening of citizen spirit which till that time had been a unique corrective against resurgent militarism. In the Prussian Assembly he also, in 1873, condemned government tactics in what came to be known as the German Kulturkampf, arguing that demonising those opposed to the government position carried echoes of the way the authorities had persecuted democratic proponents after 1848. Along with his membership of the Prussian House of Representatives, between 1867 and 1878 Duncker also belonged to the national legislature, the Confederation Reichstag and its 1871 successor, the Imperial Reichstag, sitting as a Progressive Party member and representing an electoral district that included the Berlin quarters Spandau and Friedrich-Wilhelm-Stadt. In 1865 Duncker became chairman of the Greater Berlin Artisans' League ("Handwerkerverein"). Together with Max Hirsch and Franz Hermann Schulze-Delitzsch he established the Hirsch-Dunckersche Gewerkvereine, which was a form of liberal trades union movement, founded in 1868. References 1822 births 1888 deaths Businesspeople from Berlin People from the Province of Brandenburg German Protestants German Progress Party politicians Members of the Prussian House of Representatives Members of the 1st Reichstag of the German Empire Members of the 2nd Reichstag of the German Empire Members of the 3rd Reichstag of the German Empire German trade unionists 19th-century publishers (people) German publishers (people) German booksellers 19th-century German businesspeople