Carl Schurz: German-American and GOP Hero

Schurz Helped Found the Republican Party 

Carl Schurz debarked the City of London with his wife Margarethe on September 17, 1852. Arriving in New York, Schurz, only twenty-three, left behind enough adventure for an entire lifetime. An exile in the wake of the European Revolutions of 1848 – in which he figured prominently, Schurz’s passion for politics, debate, and equality would lead to a career as a journalist, United States Senator, Cabinet Secretary, and the conscience of the Republican Party in the post-Civil War years.

 

Early Career as a Student Revolutionary

 

Revolutionary activity spread throughout Europe following the overthrow of the French government under Louis Philippe. This was particularly true within the German Confederation. German university students had a history of protest, rooted in the reactionary policies of Austria’s Prince Metternich and the 1815 Congress of Vienna. The seeds of liberal dissent were frequently associated with the student fraternities or unions – Burschenschaften, of which Carl Schurz was a member in Bonn.

 

As a leader in the Democratic Society and inspired by his mentor-professor Gottfried Kinkel, Schurz abandoned his studies to write revolutionary articles and help bring about a unified German state under the principles of liberal constitutionalism. Ultimately, he rejected any compromise with monarchy and favored a democratic republic.

 

In 1849 Schurz joined the Revolutionary Army, although his military experience was practically non-existent. When the Prussian army invested Rastatt, Schurz and two friends managed to escape to France and then on to Switzerland. His friend and mentor, Professor Kinkel, however, had been captured, tried and convicted, and imprisoned in Berlin at the Spandau prison.

 

The Daring Rescue and Flight to America

 

Schurz risked his own life to return to Germany. With assistance from friends and Kinkel’s wife, as well as money from wealthy sympathizers, Schurz bribed a prison guard and freed his teacher. Fleeing Germany, they settled in London, returning to Europe briefly to visit France and Switzerland. But by 1851, the new French leader who was to become the Emperor Napoleon III was already preparing the end of liberal government.

 

Returning to London, Schurz conversed with other European revolutionaries like Giuseppe Mazzini, Louis Kossuth, and Louis Blanc. He met and married Margarethe Meyer and made the decision to immigrate to America. The United States in 1852 was a political cauldron of sectional rivalries that began in earnest following the 1848 Mexican Cession. The Compromise of 1850 was only two years passed when Schurz arrived.

 

1852 was a presidential election year and the waning Whig Party had nominated the aging General Winfield Scott to oppose the Democrat, Franklin Pierce. It was also the year Harriet Beecher Stowe published Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Within the next four years a new party would emerge, the Republicans, and Schurz would be one of the rising stars.

 

Military and Political Career

 

During the Civil War, several German immigrants that had fought in the 1848 revolutions would be given commands. Schurz, a friend of President Lincoln, was named a general but his performance was poor. The late historian T. Harry Williams referred to Schurz as “ebullient and incompetent.”

 

Schurz became far more successful as a leader in the post-war Republican Party. He stood against the corruption of the Grant administration and led the mugwumps or conscience Republicans, moderates determined to reform the party. Under President Rutherford B. Hayes, Schurz joined the Cabinet. The late Harvard historian Frederick Merk called him “the great reform Secretary of the Interior” for his role in fighting for Native American rights.

 

When the United States embraced imperialism in the late 19^th century, Schurz supported the Anti-Imperialist League. Commenting on the Spanish-American War in Harper’s Weekly (April 16, 1898), Schurz referred to the “ostentatious pretense of superior patriotism” and reminded his readers that the real patriot was one who endeavored to save “his country from a great calamity.”

 

Schurz died in New York in 1906. Had he been born in America, he might have become a U.S. President. As an immigrant and a fiercely loyal patriot, Schurz once wrote: “Our country, right or wrong. When right, to be kept right; when wrong, to be put right.”

 

Sources:

 

Charles Breunig, The Age of Revolution and Reaction, 1789-1850 (W.W. Norton & Company, 1970)

Hans L. Trefousse, Carl Schurz (Fordham University Press, 1998)

 

Quotes about Schurz:

 

 Frederick Merk, History of the Westward Movement (W.W. Norton, 1978)

T. Harry Williams, Lincoln and His Generals (Alfred A. Knopf, 1952)

[Article first published March 2010 in Suite101. Copyright owned by Michael Streich and or his estate; any reprints require written permission.]