The new constitution was declared on 12 September 1848. The new constitution created, for the first time, Swiss citizenship in addition to cantonal citizenship. A federal central government was set up to which the cantons gave up certain parts of their sovereign rights, retaining the rest. The Federal Assembly was made up of two houses- Council of States ("Ständerat"), composed of two deputies from each canton (44 members at the time) and the National Council ("Nationalrat") made up of deputies elected three years, in the proportion of one for every 20,000 citizens or fraction over 10,000 from each canton. The Federal Council or executive ("Bundesrat") consisted of seven members elected by the Federal Assembly. In the 1848 Constitution, the entire Federal Council was granted the "supreme executive and directorial authority of the Confederation". Each member of the Federal Council heads one of seven executive departments. The chairman of the Council also holds the title of President of the Swiss Confederation for a one-year term, with the position rotating among the members of the Federal Council. The judiciary ("Bundesgericht") was made up of eleven members elected for three years by the Federal Assembly. The "Bundesgericht" was chiefly confined to civil cases in which the Confederation was a party, but also took in great political crimes. All constitutional questions are however reserved for the Federal Assembly. A federal university and a polytechnic school were to be founded. All capitulations were forbidden in the future. All cantons were required to treat Swiss citizens who belonged to one of the Christian confessions like their own citizens. Previously, citizens of one canton regarded citizens of the others as the citizens of foreign countries. All Christians were guaranteed the exercise of their religion but the Jesuits and similar religious orders were not to be received in any canton. German, French and Italian were recognized as national languages. Although there was now a fully organized central government, Switzerland was a very decentralized federation. Most authority remained with the cantons, including all powers not explicitly granted to the federal government. One of the first acts of the Federal Assembly was to exercise the power given them of determining the home of the Federal authorities (the "de facto" capital of the newly created confederation), and on 28 November 1848 Bern was chosen. The first Federal Council sat on 16 November 1848, composed entirely of members of the Free Democratic Party. Some of the first acts of the new Federal Assembly were to unify and standardize daily life in the country.