On March 1, 1848, under the leadership of the liberal politician August Hergenhahn, the nine "demands of the Nassau people" were formulated and made known throughout the country the very next day from Wiesbaden through leaflets and word of mouth. On March 4, Duke Adolf was forced to accept the demands in front of around 30,000 people who had rushed to Wiesbaden especially for the occasion. Among other things, this guaranteed popular armament, freedom of the press, the convening of a parliament and freedom of association and religion.

On April 16, 1848, Hergenhahn was appointed Prime Minister of the Duchy. In the summer of the following year, this early attempt to establish a parliamentary democracy in Germany was violently crushed by the reaction. Many revolutionaries fled abroad, others gave their lives for freedom, including Georg Böhning, co-founder of the first workers' association in Wiesbaden, who was shot by summary execution in Rastatt after the Baden uprising on August 17, 1849.