Clearly. But the country was dominated by its heritage of a feudal system. Bonaparte broke it up. 

TomK

Yes, of course. Especially the  alliance of nordic cities, called ''Hanse'' tried to break ties with their feudal heritage. But socio-politically it was a shift of power towards a new class of entrepreneurs that copied aristocratic life and made sure to never give up power to the masses until the revolution of 1848 that had its roots in the ''Hambacher Fest'' of 1830, the aftermath of the liberation of Napoleon. Prussia brought the majority of the free cities under its control in the years after the disappointment of 48.

I am not that deep into German history but it looks like a stretch. There were free cities before Napoleon. In fact what looks like nationalism seems to be more appropriate to Prussia which is not the whole Germany and already since XVIII tried to lead among German kingdoms. 