Canton of Linth

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Kanton Linth Canton of Linth Canton of the Helvetic Republic ↓ 1798 – 1803 →   →   → Coat of arms Cantons of Säntis (orange) and Linth (green) Capital Glarus History  - Helv. Rep. proclaimed April 12, 1798  - Canton established June 17, 1798  - Helv. Rep. disestablished February 19, 1803 Preceded by Succeeded by Canton of Glarus Canton of Schwyz County of Uznach County of Toggenburg County of Werdenburg County of Sargans Imperial Abbey of Pfäfers Lordship of Sax Vogtei of Gams Vogtei of Windegg Canton of St. Gallen Canton of Glarus Canton of Schwyz

Linth was a canton of the Helvetic Republic from 1798 to 1803, consisting of Glarus and its subject County of Werdenberg, the Höfe and March districts of Schwyz and the Züricher subject Lordship of Sax, along with a handful of shared territories.

The canton held 78,000 inhabitants and was administered in seven districts — Werdenberg, Mels, Neu Sankt Johann, Glarus, Schwanden, Schänis and Rapperswil; as with all cantons of the Helvetic Republic, Linth was established and administered on a French Revolutionary model. The brief tenure of office of the cantonal heads Joachim Heer (1798), Johann Jakob Heussi (1798–99), Felix Christoph Cajetan Fuchs (1799), Niklaus Heer (1799–1802) and Franz Josef Büeler (1802–03) reflected the military and political turmoil plaguing the region, which was under French occupation from 1799, during the War of the Second Coalition, with serious effects on the local economy.

The mainly-Roman Catholic canton acquired a strong aversion to the centralised nature of the government of the Helvetic Republic, even though the canton was mainly composed of territories previously subject to the Old Swiss Confederation, rather than any of the Dreizehn Orte, and even though all citizens of the republic had equal rights. The canton sided only very reluctantly with the French Revolutionary Army. Initial fervour for public education waned as the pressure from the central government was relaxed.

Upper Toggenburg was transferred to the canton of Säntis in 1801, but the canton as a whole existed until the Act of Mediation on March 10, 1803.

Eastern Switzerland in 1798, with shared territories in grey and associate members of the Confederacy outlined

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        Canton of Glarus and the County of Werdenberg         Canton of Schwyz         Canton of Zürich and Lordship of Sax         Appenzell Ausserrhoden         Appenzell Innerrhoden         Shared territories of the Confederacy

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        Imperial Abbey of St. Gall         Free Imperial City of St. Gallen         Three Leagues

[edit] References and external links

• Canton of Linth in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.