The 1830 July Revolution which swept aside the reactionary French King Charles X, sparked the Regeneration movement in Switzerland. Many of the cantons established representative governments and instituted freedom of the press, and of trade and industry.

But despite the growing acceptance of progressive ideas, attempts to revise or abolish the 1815 pact were thwarted by the opposition of the conservative cantons and the European powers. The pact was part of the European treaty system and therefore any alteration to it had to be agreed by all the signatories.