DEUTSCHE BUNDESPOST in 1976 issued a commemorative stamp honouring German-American Carl Christian Schurz (1829-1906) who was a German revolutionary, lawyer, newspaper editor, American Major General during the U.S. Civil War, U.S. Ambassador to Spain, American statesman, U.S. senator and reformer. He was featured in this stamp with the caption "Fur die Freiheit in Deutschland und Amerika" (For freedom in Germany and America"). The stamp was released in conjunction with the celebration of the U.S. bicentennial in 1976. He was previously honoured in a 20 pfennig West Germany stamp in 1949 and a 4 cent U.S. postage stamp in 1982.
Born in the Kingdom of Prussia's Rhine Province, Schurz fought for democratic reforms in the German revolutions of 1848–49 as a member of the academic fraternity association Deutsche Burschenschaft. While at Bonn, Schurz befriended his professor, Gottfried Kinkel. Together they created a newspaper that pushed for democratic reforms following the German revolutions of 1848. Schurz then answered the call to take up arms to defend the new German constitution. He served in the revolutionary army and fought several battles against the Prussian Army. During that fighting, he was the adjunct officer of the commander of the artillery. In 1849, Schurz and the revolutionaries were defeated at the fortress of Rastatt. Schurz escaped before the Prussians began killing prisoners and fled to Zurich.
After Prussia suppressed the revolution Schurz fled to France. When police forced him to leave France he migrated to London. Like many other "Forty-Eighters," he then immigrated to the United States, settling in Watertown, Wisconsin, in 1852. After being admitted to the Wisconsin bar, he established a legal practice in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He also became a strong advocate for the anti-slavery movement and joined the newly organized Republican Party, unsuccessfully running for Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin. After briefly representing the United States as Minister (ambassador) to Spain, Schurz served as a general in the American Civil War, fighting in the Battle of Gettysburg and other major battles.
After the war, Schurz established a newspaper in St. Louis, Missouri, and won election to the U.S. Senate, becoming the first German-born American elected to that body. Breaking with Republican President Ulysses S. Grant, Schurz helped establish the Liberal Republican Party. The party advocated civil service reform and opposed Grant's efforts to protect African-American civil rights in the Southern United States during Reconstruction. Schurz lost his own 1874 re-election bid and resumed his career as a newspaper editor.
After Republican Rutherford B. Hayes won the 1876 presidential election, he appointed Schurz as his Secretary of the Interior. Schurz sought to make civil service based on merit rather than political and party connections and helped prevent the transfer of the Bureau of Indian Affairs to the War Department. Schurz moved to New York City after Hayes left office in 1881 and briefly served as the editor of the New York Evening Post and The Nation and later became the editorial writer for Harper's Weekly. Although he opposed William Jennings Bryan for president in 1896, four years later he supported William Jennings Bryan's anti-imperialist position.
His wife, Margarethe Schurz nee Meyer, opened the first kindergarten in the United States.
He remained active in politics until his death at age 77, in 1906.
After the war, Schurz established a newspaper in St. Louis, Missouri, and won election to the U.S. Senate, becoming the first German-born American elected to that body. Breaking with Republican President Ulysses S. Grant, Schurz helped establish the Liberal Republican Party. The party advocated civil service reform and opposed Grant's efforts to protect African-American civil rights in the Southern United States during Reconstruction. Schurz lost his own 1874 re-election bid and resumed his career as a newspaper editor.
After Republican Rutherford B. Hayes won the 1876 presidential election, he appointed Schurz as his Secretary of the Interior. Schurz sought to make civil service based on merit rather than political and party connections and helped prevent the transfer of the Bureau of Indian Affairs to the War Department. Schurz moved to New York City after Hayes left office in 1881 and briefly served as the editor of the New York Evening Post and The Nation and later became the editorial writer for Harper's Weekly. Although he opposed William Jennings Bryan for president in 1896, four years later he supported William Jennings Bryan's anti-imperialist position.
His wife, Margarethe Schurz nee Meyer, opened the first kindergarten in the United States.
He remained active in politics until his death at age 77, in 1906.
Source: Wikipedia
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