Page "Deutschlandlied" Paragraph 9

The German Confederation or German Union ( Deutscher Bund ) was a loose confederation of thirty-five monarchical states and four republican ( but hardly democratic ) free cities, with a Federal Assembly in Frankfurt.

They began to remove internal customs barriers during the Industrial Revolution, though, and the German Customs Union Zollverein was formed among the majority of the states in 1834.

In 1840 Hoffmann wrote a song about the Zollverein, also to Haydn's melody, in which he praised the free trade of German goods which brought Germans and Germany closer.