Lewis & Clark College

Schurz, Carl

Carl Christian Schurz was a German revolutionary, American statesman and reformer, U.S. Minister to Spain, Union Army General in the American Civil War, U. S. Senator, and Secretary of the Interior. He was also an accomplished journalist, newspaper editor and orator, who in 1869 became the first German-born American elected to the United States Senate. Schurz, a native of Liblar, Germany, attended a Gymnasium in Cologne and then enrolled in the University of Bonn in 1847. He was studying to obtain a doctorate degree and to become a professor of History when his studies were interrupted by the German Revolution. He joined the revolutionary army, fighting in several battles against the Prussian Army.] When the revolutionary army was defeated at Rastatt in 1849, Schurz escaped to Switzerland, knowing that the Prussians intended to kill their prisoners. He returned to Germany, where he led a secret mission that freed Gottfried Kinkel from prison. Schurz then resided in Paris, until he was expelled by French authorities in 1851. He emigrated to the United States, originally residing in Philadelphia., Schurz and his wife moved to Wisconsin, where he joined and campaigned for the Republican Party. In 1861, President Abraham Lincoln appointed Schurz Minister to Spain. After returning from Spain in 1862, Schurz was appointed Union Brigadier General by Lincoln. During Reconstruction, Schurz was opposed to federal military enforcement and protection of African American civil rights, and held nineteenth century ideals of Anglo superiority and fears of miscegenation. In 1870, Schurz formed the Liberal Republican Party, which opposed President Ulysses S. Grant's annexation of Santo Domingo, and his use of the military to destroy the Ku Klux Klan in the South under the Force Acts. Schurz lost the 1874 Senatorial election to Democratic Party challenger and former Confederate, Francis Cockrell. After leaving office, he worked as an editor for various newspapers. In 1877, Schurz was appointed Secretary of Interior by President Rutherford B. Hayes. Although Schurz honestly attempted to reduce the effects of racism toward Native Americans his solutions towards American Indians were repressive. Indians were forced to move into low quality reservation lands that were unsuitable for tribal economic and cultural advancement. Promises made to Indian chiefs at White House meetings with President Rutherford B. Hayes and Schurz were not always kept.

Politicians

1877

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Nineteenth Century Political Party Photograph Collection