In the course of the 19th century, the monarchs of the individual states of the German Confederation enacted a large number of different written constitutions. With these, they considerably limited their powers. This is astonishing as they had only recently made the transition to absolutism. This thesis examines why the monarchs enacted these constitutions, in which areas they restricted themselves in which manner, and it investigates the relationship of the constitutions to the law of the German Confederation. For the first time, the regulations of all constitutions that were enacted during the period of the German Confederation in a monarchy are comprehensively included, evaluated and compared.