Friedrich Kapp facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Friedrich Kapp
|
|
|---|---|
Friedrich Kapp (1824–1884); lithograph, 1880
|
|
| Born | April 13, 1824 Hamm, German Confederation |
| Died | October 27, 1884 (aged 60) Berlin, Germany |
| Pen name | Kapp |
| Occupation | lawyer, writer, politician |
| Nationality | German |
Friedrich Kapp (born April 13, 1824 – died October 27, 1884) was a German-American lawyer, writer, and politician. He was known for speaking out against Germany wanting to create colonies overseas. He believed colonies were not profitable and could harm Germany's relationships with countries like Britain. He shared these ideas in speeches, like at the yearly meeting of German economists.
Friedrich Kapp's Life Story
Growing Up and Family
Friedrich Kapp was born in Hamm, a city in what was then the Province of Westphalia. His father, also named Friedrich Kapp, was a school principal. Friedrich also had an uncle, Ernst Kapp, who was a teacher and thinker. His father's cousin, Friedrich Christian Georg Kapp, was a teacher and politician. He was involved in the uprisings in Westphalia in 1848.
Later, in New York, Friedrich Kapp married Luise Engels. She was the daughter of General Friedrich Ludwig C. Engels. Friedrich and Luise had a son named Wolfgang Kapp. Wolfgang later became known for leading a political uprising called the Kapp Putsch.
His Education Journey
Friedrich Kapp went to the same school where his father was the principal. After finishing school, he studied law and philosophy at the University of Heidelberg from 1842 to 1844. While there, he met the famous philosopher Ludwig Feuerbach through his uncle Christian Kapp. Feuerbach's ideas about religion greatly influenced young Friedrich. He also became friends with people who would become important, like the banker Ludwig Bamberger and the writer Berthold Auerbach.
From 1844, Kapp continued his studies at the University of Berlin. He also spent a year serving in the army. In Berlin, he started working as a journalist for a socialist magazine.
Working as a Judge
In 1845, Kapp returned to his hometown of Hamm. He worked as an intern at the highest court of appeals in Westphalia until 1848. During this time, he started a reading group. In this group, people read foreign newspapers and discussed new ideas that were not allowed by the government's censorship.
Becoming a Journalist in Frankfurt
The uprisings in Germany in March 1848 led Kapp to move to Frankfurt. He started working as a journalist there. His uncle, Christian Kapp, had become a member of the National Assembly in St. Paul’s Church. Friedrich Kapp also got involved in politics, supporting democratic ideas. He became the first secretary of the Frankfurt Parliament.
Because of his involvement in a rebellion in September, Kapp had to leave Frankfurt. He fled to Brussels, where he worked as a private teacher.
Travels and Moving to America
From Brussels, Kapp went to Paris. He continued to work for the Russian writer Alexander Herzen there. In July 1849, the French police made Herzen and Kapp leave Paris. They both went to Geneva, where Kapp met his friend Ludwig Bamberger again. Kapp had thought about moving to the United States since 1846. In Geneva, he finally decided to go. He arrived in New York City in March 1850. His fiancée, Luise Engels, followed him, and they got married.
Life as a Journalist in New York
In New York, Kapp first joined a law firm. But he soon realized he didn't enjoy being a lawyer. From 1852, he started working as a journalist for a new publication called Atlantic Studies. This publication aimed to show a more realistic picture of the U.S. to people in Germany.
In 1855, he became an American citizen. He worked as a lawyer until 1870. He was also a foreign correspondent for a German newspaper in Cologne. He wrote for the early issues of the Nation of New York. From 1855, he also helped publish the New-Yorker Abend-Zeitung, a German newspaper in New York. He wrote several books about the United States and the lives of Germans living there. In politics, he supported the Whigs.
Even though he lived in America, Kapp always stayed connected to his homeland, Germany. He believed in a united German state. This belief shaped his own life and how he raised his son, Wolfgang.
Fighting Against Slavery
In 1856, Kapp bought a house in Mansfield Square. This house became a popular meeting place for Germans in New York to discuss books and politics. After visiting Florida in 1852, he became a strong opponent of slavery in the southern states.
In 1854, he wrote a book about the history of slavery in the United States. He also joined the Republican Party. He actively campaigned for this party in the presidential elections of 1856 and 1860. In 1860, he was even chosen as an elector for Abraham Lincoln. He worked with Carl Schurz to encourage German-Americans to support the Union during the American Civil War. In 1867, he became a member of the New York Board of Immigration. He held this job until he moved back to Germany in 1870.
Writing About German Immigrants
As a political writer, Kapp was a pioneer in studying German-American history. He wrote about how German immigration affected both Germany and the U.S. He wrote biographies of generals like Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben (in 1858) and Johann de Kalb (in 1862). He also explored American topics from a German point of view.
Kapp was proud of his German identity. He wanted to show Americans how much Germans had influenced the U.S. He also tried to convince Germany that it could become a strong, unified nation, using the achievements of German emigrants as an example. In 1855, he described the difficult living conditions of Germans in the "Mainzer Adelsverein" colony in Texas. While still in the United States, the University of Bonn gave him an honorary degree in philosophy in 1868.
Returning to German Politics
After political opponents were granted a general amnesty, Kapp returned to Germany in April 1870. His German friends encouraged him to come back. By October 21 of that year, he was a Prussian citizen again. He quickly became a city representative for Berlin in Otto von Bismarck’s German Empire in 1871-1872.
From 1872 to 1877, and again from 1881 until his death, he was a Member of Parliament for the National Liberal Party in the German Reichstag. He was also a representative in the regional parliament of Prussia from 1874 to 1877. In Berlin, he continued his work as a political writer.
Kapp had always supported a German Free State. He now pushed for policies to encourage Germans to settle in the East to stop them from moving out of Germany. He also worked on creating clear rules for consulates and for all questions about emigration. His book Aus und über Amerika (Out of and about America) was published in Berlin in 1876. This book was very realistic and honest, which led to some negative reviews in the United States.
Writing About German Books
A fellow politician, Eduard Brockhaus, asked Kapp to write a book about the history of the German book trade. This was a very hard task for Kapp because it wasn't his main area of knowledge. Also, there weren't many published sources on the topic at the time. So, Kapp had to do a lot of research in archives. In 1884, he visited the Plantin-Moretus Museum in Antwerp. There, he studied an important document called the "Grand Livre de Francfort," which contained information about the book trade and the Frankfurt Book Fair.
Friedrich Kapp died in Berlin later that year. He had finished four chapters of the book and planned several others. Even though he didn't finish it, he was still named as the author of the first of four volumes.
Friedrich Kapp's Books
- Die Sklavenfrage in den Vereinigten Staaten (The slavery question in the United States; Göttingen, 1854)
- Leben des amerikanischen Generals Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben (Life of American General Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben; Berlin, 1858; English ed., New York, 1859)
- Geschichte der Sklaverei in den Vereinigten Staaten (History of slavery in the United States; Hamburg, 1860)
- Leben des amerikanischen Generals Johann Kalb (Life of American General Johann Kalb; Stuttgart, 1862; English ed., New York, 1870)
- Der Soldatenhandel deutscher Fürsten nach Amerika (The trade in soldiers for America by German princes; Berlin, 1864; 2d revised and enlarged ed., 1874)
- Geschichte der deutschen Auswanderung in Amerika (History of German emigration to America; vol. i., Leipzig, 1868)
- On Immigration and the Commission of Emigration (1870)
- Friedrich der Grosse und die Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika (Frederick the Great and the United States of America; 1871)
