The uprising which had erupted in March 1848 and its political aftermath continued to resonate across the Grand Duchy through the rest of 1848 and the first half of 1849. During the first week of June 1849 a large number of senior and middle level members of the government were removed resigned. After several weeks of intensifying uncertainty, on 21 June 1849 Anton Stabel filled one of the resulting vacancies: he accepted a position as President of the Ministry for the Interior and Justice. He took over his new responsibilities at a difficult time. The so-called May revolution had upended the national order, and the putting down of the insurrection was far from complete. Karlsruhe and Rastatt were still controlled by republican insurrectionists till July 1849, when troops from Prussia enforced the return of Karlsruhe to the control of the Grand Duke and his government. Despite immediate pressure for a reactionary backlash, the next few years were years of progressive reform and modernisation of the justice system, much of it responding to the demands that liberal revolutionaries had put forward in 1848. Stabel took a leading role in the implementation of reforms, both during his two year stint at the justice ministry and subsequently.