Having already gained a good knowledge of rural issues during his time in Frederiksværk, Tscherning became president of the Society of the Friends of Peasants on its foundation in 1846. This was a grouping that came together to press the case for political reform, with many of the features of a political party: Tscherning's acceptance of its leadership marked an important step along his path to a more overtly political role. He now played a leading part in events which culminated in what amounted to a quiet revolution in 1848/49. When King Christian died in January 1848 he was still an "absolutist monarch": After the wranglings that led to adoption of the written "June constitution" in 1849 his son, the popular Frederick VII, could be regarded as a "constitutional monarch". Following the dismissal of the Stemann government in March 1848, having promoted the constitutional conference of 1848, it was natural that Tscherning should be invited to join the new administration under Adam Wilhelm Moltke, and his public profile over military reform meant that the War Ministry was the appropriate department for him to take over, albeit in the face of opposition from the conservative military establishment. The king promoted him to the rank of colonel in the wake of victory against at Bov in April 1848, which was considered more appropriate than that of captain for the government's Minister for War (although relations between Tscherning and the king subsequently soured).