German "Forty-Eighters" Impact the Civil War and Nation.

Willich

Ole nailed it above. I have done a lot of work on the 48ers in the Army of the Cumberland, particularly August Willich, btw he dropped the Von since it was a sign of aristocracy. Willich wrote some very heated editorials before the war about slave holding, etc. and was an unashamed supporter of John Brown's. A few tidbits on him, he was known as the Redest of the Red, having red hair, also the use of Red flags were by his force during the 1848 revolt. Later on Willich would actually vie with Marx over leadership of the movement, also clashing with Marx on other things among them flirting with Mrs. Marx. Marx would call him a "twice cockeled jackass".
 
Fracture--

The Forty-Eighters like Alexander Schimmelfennig of the 11th Corps while in London before coming to America was part of the German Democratic Movement that bitterly oppose Karl Marx...

The Forty-Eighters after the failed revolution of 1848 fracture into different political movements....
 
In that book I recently read, Two Germans in the Civil War, more Germans immigrants served in the Civil War than Irish immigrants.
 
In that book I recently read, Two Germans in the Civil War, more Germans immigrants served in the Civil War than Irish immigrants.
Gary,
it may be because many other ethnicities were classified in the Civil War era as Germans. For example Poles, Czechs, Hungarians, etc.

Even among the prominent Forty-Eighters, there were people of various ethnicity:
Poles: Ivan Tyssowski, Appolonia Jazella, Major Józef Jerzmanowski, Albin Francis Schoepf (he was of Polish and Austro-Hungarian background), Józef Karge, Włodzimierz Krzyzanowski, Franz Adolph von Moschzisker (Mościciki), Adam Gurowski (I posted more information about him in the "Count Gurowski" thread), etc.
Italians: Father Allesandro Gavazzi;
Czechs: Carl Adam;
Hungarians: Louis Kossuth, Laszlo Ujhazy, George Pomutz, Paul Kercnji, Ignatius Hainer, Frank Varga, Stephen Radnich, Nicholas Fejervary, Julian Kune, John Xantus, Lazarus Meszaros, Arthur Kozlay, Alexander Kocsis, etc.
Jews: Michael Heilprin, Sigismund Kaufmann, Abraham Jacobi, August Bondi, Benjamin Szold, Isidor Busch, etc.
 
Forty-eighters and beer

Although there was a diversity of political and religious beliefs among the Forty-eighters, there was one topic that united all of them :smile:

"They all opposed legislation to make Sunday a 'day of gloom.' The clash between the Continental Sunday, and the controversy over the right to drink beer whenever and wherever one wished, became an issue of fundamental personal liberty for the entire German element, and Forty-eighters were among the most vocal opponents of temperance legislation and blue laws.
(...)
What Germans meant when they defended their 'personal liberty' to drink beer was clear, and there can be no doubt about the unanimity of the German element on this issue. Opposition to "temperance legislation" cut across all party and class lines, and was an important issue in local and national campaigns for several decades. Forty-eighters helped make the freedom of man and "the freedom of lager" synonymous terms in the minds of many Americans. In 1855, Weitling, who ordinarily set his mind on higher goals, blasted in his Die Republik der Arbeiter against 'Protestant Jesuitism,' and temperance and Sunday laws, under the title, 'The Republic in Peril.' He regarded American interference with personal liberty and individual habits as worse than the restrictions he had known in the despotic German states. He spoke of the tyranny of majorities over minorities in a democracy, and although he urged Germans to reduce their consumption of beer, he was enraged by what he termed the attempt 'to rob us of our social and civil liberties,' and believed that to admit any restrictions on personal liberty only invited further regulations. In a similar vein, Esselen wrote, 'the temperance question is not a question of beer, but of personal liberty,' and the Milwaukee Banner and Volksfreund disposed of 'the temperance swindle' as 'an outflow of Puritan bigotry.' Champions of the working class made the additional point that taverns and workers' halls where beer was served were the only clubs where the underprivileged could develop a well-rounded 'German social life.'"

From: C. Wittke, Refugees of Revolution..., pp. 139-141.
 
Progressive is a relative term..The American Revolution was in the words of it's leaders a liberal cause.
The idea of free speech, and the right to bear arms were at that time radically liberal.
Today's progressive's would be split on those two issues.
Trying to discuss political issues without digressing into a political argument can be challenging, I am not picking any side, just making an observation, what would be considered liberal at one time in history may become a conservative ideal in another.
Viewing the political spectrum as a linear line, flowing from right to left in a straight line with a center is a flawed thinking. Try to think of it as a triangle with center high point as the middle, the left and right lower corners as you would the ends of the straight line idea, left (liberal) right (conservative), and the bottom straight line as that political ground where reactionaries and tyrants rise. At the middle of the bottom line is where Stalin and Hitler and Pol Pot would be found. Anyone unlucky enough to live under the rule of either of those would be hard pressed to tell the difference between communism and fascism. In either case they become dictatorial regardless of the political ideal they are based upon.
 
In that book I recently read, Two Germans in the Civil War, more Germans immigrants served in the Civil War than Irish immigrants.
McPhearson in Battle cry of Freedom makes note that German and Irish Catholics enlisted at a lower rate then other ethnic groups. Due to discrimination and and open hatred of the Irish such has signs in some Boston salons " no Irishmen or dogs allowed" it is not a surprise that many young Irish men did not want to enlist and many rioted against the draft in Boston and NYC.
Of course many Irishmen did enlist and fought bravely for the Union although the cause of Irish enlistment was not helped when many Irish regiments where uselessly slaughtered by Gen. Burnside in the battle of Fredricksbug
Leftyhunter
 
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In 1848, political revolution swept across Europe, the leaders of this movement were called "Forty-Eighters". The revolution of 1848 in Germany had early successes but it failed in the end. Many of the leaders of the German 1848 revolution after its failure left or fled to America, where they had an impact on our nation and our Civil war. Many of the names listed below will be recognized by many on this board.


The Forty-Eighters were Europeans who participated in or supported the revolutions of 1848 that swept Europe. In Germany, the Forty-Eighters favored unification of the country, a more democratic government, and guarantees of human rights.[1] Disappointed at the failure of the revolution to bring about the reform of the system of government in Germany or the Austro-Hungarian Empire and sometimes on the government's wanted list because of their involvement in the revolution, they gave up their old lives to try again abroad. Many emigrated to the United States, Canada, and Australia after the revolutions failed. They included Germans, Czechs, Hungarians, and others. Many were respected, wealthy, and well-educated; as such, they were not typical migrants. A large number went on to be very successful in their new countries.

Forty-Eighters in the USA

In the United States, many Forty-Eighters opposed nativism and slavery, in keeping with the liberal ideals that had led them to flee Germany. Several thousand enlisted in the Union Army, where they became prominent in the Civil War.
Many Forty-Eighters settled in the Texas Hill Country in the vicinity of Fredericksburg, and voted heavily against Texas's secession. In the Bellville area of Austin County, another destination for Forty-Eighters, the German precincts voted decisively against the secession ordinance. [2]
More than 30,000 Forty-Eighters settled in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. There they helped define the distinct German culture of the neighborhood, but in some cases also brought a rebellious nature with them from Germany. During violent protests in 1853 and 1854, Forty-Eighters were responsible for the murders of two law enforcement officers.[3]
After the Civil War, Forty-Eighters supported improved labor laws and working conditions. They also advanced the country's cultural and intellectual development in such fields as education, the arts, medicine, journalism, and business.
Famous German Forty-Eighters in the US
These German "Forty-Eighters" had an impact on our nation and on our Civil War. These last paragraphs were taken form Wiki---


Why is it always the liberals that change the world for the better....

A thought to ponder...
Perhaps the main contribution the 48'ers made to the Union victory was they kept Mo from joining the CSA. Immigrants from Germany made up a large percentage of the enlisted men in Mo Union regiments and the MSM. The German pre civil war militias formed the muscle for Gen.Lyons to prevent pro CSA militia from capturing the US govt arsenal at St.Louis, Mo.
Leftyhunter
 
The German Forty-Eighters in America: 150th Anniversary Assessment

Much has been written about the German Forty-eighters in America, and much more will no doubt appear in the next several years due to the 150th anniversary of the 1848 Revolution in 1998. Although small in number, perhaps ten thousand at the most, 48ers wielded great influence on the social, cultural, and political life of the German element in the U.S. In appraising the significance of the Forty-eighters as we approach the 150th anniversary, it is well to examine how they were assessed 50 years ago on the occasion of the centennial of the 1848 Revolution. In 1947, A.E. Zucker wrote.


  • "The Forty-eighters, as they are generally called, contributed to American life a large number of individuals of whom every American can be proud. The American background during the fifties and sixties of the nineteenth century was such that these ardent lovers of freedom found a fine field for their activities here after their effort to establish a republic in Germany, largely on the basis of the ideals of Washington and Jefferson, that had fallen victim to Prussian reaction. This interaction of the German emigre group on American life and on the American background on them constitutes a fascinating and an unusually fortunate moment in history."
According to Carl Wittke, the men and women of 1848 were the heirs of the liberal tradition of Kant, Fichte, Schiller, and others, who contributed to the flowering of German culture in America. Although the Forty-eighters themselves formed a recognizable group in German-American history, they were also a rather diverse group representing a wide spectrum of individuals and perspectives. It is generally known that the Forty-eighters played an important role in German-American history, but what exactly were their major areas of influence? Identifying such areas where the Forty-eighters exerted an influence may assist us in assessing their role in American history in general and German-American history in particular. Indeed, it may even result in the identification of other areas, which are in need of examination. In an initial attempt at identifying some of the major areas of impact, the following cursory list has been assembled
 
What does bumped mean

It just means he's posting to the thread to bring it back into the list of current threads, out of the oblivion its been sitting in for a long time (in this case two years).
 
Some excerpts from a speech by Carl Schurz in 1859:

I will speak of Americanism as the great representative of the reformatory age, as the great champion of the dignity of human nature, as the great repository of the last hopes of suffering mankind. I will speak of the ideal mission of this country and of this people.

...
This general identity of interests is the only thing that can guarantee the stability of democratic institutions. Equality of rights, embodied in general self-government, is the great moral element of true democracy; it is the only reliable safety-valve in the machinery of modern society. There is the solid foundation of our system of government; there is our mission; there is our greatness; there is our safety; there, and nowhere else! This is true Americanism, and to this I pay the tribute of my devotion.

Shall I point out to you the consequences of a deviation from this principle? Look at the slave States. There is a class of men who are deprived of their natural rights. But this is not the only deplorable feature of that peculiar organization of society. Equally deplorable is it, that there is another class of men who keep the former in subjection. That there are slaves is bad; but almost worse is it, that there are masters. Are not the masters freemen? No, sir! Where is their liberty of the press? Where is their liberty of speech? Where is the man among them who dares to advocate openly principles not in strict accordance with the ruling system? They speak of a republican form of government — they speak of democracy, but the despotic spirit of slavery and mastership combined pervades their whole political life like a liquid poison. They do not dare to be free, lest the spirit of liberty become contagious. The system of slavery has enslaved them all, master as well as slave. What is the cause of all this? It is that you cannot deny one class of society the full measure of their natural rights without imposing restraints upon your own liberty. If you want to be free, there is but one way: it is to guarantee an equally full measure of liberty to all your neighbors. There is no other.

...
With this banner we stand before the world. In this sign — in this sign alone, and no other — there is victory. And thus, sir, we mean to realize the great cosmopolitan idea, upon which the existence of the American nation rests. Thus we mean to fulfill the great mission of true Americanism — thus we mean to answer the anxious question of down-trodden humanity — "Has man the faculty to be free and to govern himself?" The answer is a triumphant "Aye," thundering into the ears of the despots of the old world that "a man is a man for all that"; proclaiming to the oppressed that they are held in subjection on false pretences; cheering the hearts of the despondent friends of man with consolation and renewed confidence.

This is true Americanism, clasping mankind to its great heart. Under its banner we march; let the world follow.

- Carl Schurz, April 18, 1859
You can see the whole thing here:
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Speeches_of_Carl_Schurz/03_True_Americanism
 
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What does bumped mean, oh wise one?

Poster Mike Griffith asserted they were socialists in the thread ISR Article on Lincoln's Socialist/Marxist Associations and Leanings which appears to mention the '49ers' in an historical inaccurate way. The thread looked interesting so it got bumped to the top of the recent threads list.
 
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