Mecklenburg-Strelitz adopted the constitution of the sister duchy by an act of September 1755. In 1806 it was spared the infliction of a French occupation through the good offices of the king of Bavaria; in 1808 its duke, Charles (d. 1816), joined the confederation of the Rhine, but in 1813 he withdrew therefrom. Having been a member of the alliance against Napoleon he joined the Germanic confederation in 1815 and assumed the title of grand duke.
  In 1866 both the grand dukes of Mecklenburg joined the North German confederation and the Zollverein, and began to pass more and more under the influence of Prussia, who in the war with Austria had been aided by the soldiers of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. In the Franco-German War also Prussia received valuable assistance from Mecklenburg, Duke Frederick Francis II. (1823-1883), an ardent advocate of German unity, holding a high command in her armies. In 1871 the two grand duchies became states of the German Empire. There was now a renewal of the agitation for a more democratic constitution, and the German Reichstag gave some countenance to this movement. In 1897 Frederick Francis IV. (b. 1882) succeeded his father Frederick Francis III. (1851-1897) as grand duke of

  See F. A. Rudloff, Pragmatisches Handbuch der mecklenburgischen Geschichte (Schwerin, 1780-1822); C. C. F. von Lützow, Versuch einer pragrnalischen Geschichte von Mecklenburg (Berlin, 1827-1835); Mecklenburgische Geschichle in Einzeldarstellungen, edited by R. Beltz, C. Beyer, W. P. Graff and others; C. Hegel, Geschichte der mecklenburgischen Landstande bis 1555 (Rostock, 1856); A. Mayer, Geschichte des Grossherzogturns Mecklenburg-Strelitz 1816-1890 (New Strelitz, 1890); Tolzien, Die Grossherzoge von Mecklenburg-Schwerin (Wismar, 1904); Lehsten, Der Adel Mecklenbicrgs seit dem landesgrundgesetzlichen Erbvergleich (Rostock, 1864); the Mecklenburgisches Urkundenbuch in 21 vols. (Schwerin, 1873-1903); the Jahrbzicher des Vereins fzir mecklenburgische Geschichte und Alterturnskunde (Schwerin, 1836 fol.); and W. Raabe, Mecklenburgische Vaterlandskunde (Wismar, 1894-1896); von Hirschfeld, Friedrich Franz II., Grossherzog 'von Mecklenburg-Schwerin und seine Vorgringer (Leipzig, 1891); Volz, Friedrich Franz II. (Wismar, 1893); C. Schroder, Friedrich Franz III. (Schwerin, 1898); Bartold, Friedrich Wilhelm, Grossherzog von Mecklenburg-Strelitz und Augusta Carolina (New Strelitz, 1893); and H. Sachsse, Mecklenburgische Urkunden und Daten (Rostock, 1900).