The Restoration of the Electorate of Hesse (Hessen) after the Defeat of Napoleon in 1813

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What is more, Elector Wilhelm I also permitted his bureaucrats to cook up a series of projects which tied in with the reforms initiated during the French occupation. However many of these schemes fell through, for example a reform in the French manner, of the agricultural Allis, which never got out of the planning stage. In other cases, the contemplated innovations were pushed through, however they survived only in a much weaker form. So for example the order declaring the emancipation of the Jews (May 1816)sought to bring about an equality before the law between Jews and Christians, however in the end it was riddled with exceptions. Sometimes the sought for modernizing reforms, however, did manage to water down the restoration, such as in the law pertaining to the guilds of March 1816, which revived the guilds, and indicated a certain liberalization compared to the administration before the French occupation. Although in this case, just as in the others, tradition had the upper hand, change was creeping into the country.

The political context in which the Elector was working had changed. The dual hegemonies of Austria and Prussia demanded that the medium and small size German states join together to form a "Third Germany", and the role to be played by the German Confederation (Deutscher Bund), a loose confederation of 39 states formed in 1815, was not yet clearly defined. Given the readily visible balance of power in the German-speaking lands at that time, the Elector (Kurfürst) Wilhelm I gave special attention to the outside perception of his political situation and sovereignty, not least by means of the symbols he used. This included efforts at increasing his rank. Since his return from exile he had made use of the honorific, "His Royal Highness", and now he put out feelers at the federal level to find out if there was any possibility of increasing the rank of his lands to a "Kingdom" -- but without success. And he continually emphasized with reference to Darmstadt, his right to represent both the Hessian states. Moreover he ordered his architect Jussow to replace a city palace in Kassel that had been destroyed by fire during the French occupation. A monumental palace called the "Chattenburg" would be built - a reference to the oldest known name of the inhabitants of the area Hessen. The palace would present the foundation mythology and legitimacy, the power and glory of the Electorate of Hesse (Hessen), and show it to be the legitimate heir of German history and power in Hessen. The complex did not get farther than the foundation walls before Wilhelm I 's death, and in 1821 his son Wilhelm II stopped construction.

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