The Radical Party and liberals made up of urban bourgeoisie and burghers, which were strong in the largely Protestant cantons, obtained the majority in the Federal Diet in the early 1840s. They proposed a new Constitution for the Swiss Confederation which would draw the several cantons into a closer relationship. In 1843, the conservative city patricians and mountain or Ur-Swiss from the largely Catholic cantons were opposed to the new constitution. In addition to the centralization of the Swiss government, the new Constitution also included protections for trade and other progressive reform measures.
In 1847, the Catholic cantons formed a separate union within the Confederation (the Sonderbund). This led to the Sonderbundskrieg. The Radicals, fearful of a Jesuit takeover, used their control of the national government and ordered the Sonderbund disbanded. When it refused the national army attacked in a brief civil war between the Catholic and the Protestant cantons. The Sonderbund was easily defeated in less than a month; there were about 130 killed. Apart from small riots, this was the last armed conflict on Swiss territory.[5]
As a consequence of the civil war, Switzerland adopted a federal constitution in 1848, amending it extensively in 1874 and establishing federal responsibility for defense, trade, and legal matters, leaving all other matters to the cantonal governments. From then, and over much of the 20th century, continuous political, economic, and social improvement has characterized Swiss history.