Friedrich Kapp

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Friedrich Kapp
German

Friedrich Kapp (13 April 1824 – 27 October 1884) was a

German-American lawyer, writer, and politician. He was an outspoken opponent of Germany's colonization fervor during his time as a National Liberal Reichstag deputy. This was exemplified in his speech to the annual Congress of German Economists
. Kapp stressed both the unprofitability of colonies and their negative impact on Anglo-German relations.

Biography

Family life

Kapp was born in Hamm, Province of Westphalia, as the son of the Gymnasialdirektor Friedrich Kapp (1792–1866). He was the nephew of educator and philosopher Ernst Kapp (1801–1896). His father, Friedrich Christian Georg Kapp (1798–1874), was a teacher and politician who took an active part in the revolutionary events in Westphalia in 1848.[1][2]

In New York, he married Luise Engels, the daughter of General Friedrich Ludwig C. Engels (1790–1855), commander of Cologne (1847–1855). His son, Wolfgang Kapp (1858–1922), was the nominal leader of the Kapp Putsch.

Education in Heidelberg

Kapp received his

utopian socialist
magazine called "Westfälisches Dampfboot" (Westfalian Steamboat).

Judge in Hamm

In 1845, he returned to his hometown

Hegelian intellectuals read foreign newspapers, which were not affected by Prussian censorship, as well as the texts of the Young Hegelians
, and German and West European socialists," according to historian Hans-Ulrich Wehler.

During his time at the High Court of Appeal in Hamm, Kapp was anything but popular: The court's president could only grant him access to the assessor's exam under certain conditions.

Journalist in Frankfurt

The

St. Paul’s Church over the intervening years. In Frankfurt, Kapp was also politically involved by working for the democratic-republican left. He became the first secretary of the Frankfurt Parliament
.

Kapp worked as a political journalist in Frankfurt, but due to his involvement in the September Rebellion he had to flee to Brussels. There he worked as a private teacher for the son of Russian writer Alexander Herzen.

Paris, Geneva and departure for the United States

From Brussels, he went to Paris where he continued to work for Herzen and translated two of his employer's books. In July 1849, the French police forced Herzen and Kapp to leave Paris. Both of them went to Geneva, where Kapp ran into an acquaintance of his, Ludwig Bamberger. In 1846 Kapp had first thought about emigrating to the United States, but not until he arrived in Geneva did he make the final decision to leave. He reached New York City in March 1850. Later, he married his fiancée Luise Engels, who had followed him to the United States soon afterwards.

Journalist in New York

In New York, Kapp joined the law firm of

Zitz, Kapp and Froebel. Despite early successes, he found he had no liking for the law.[3]
Starting in 1852, Kapp worked as a journalist for the newly founded
Whigs.[3]

In contrast to many other

German-Americans, however, he always kept strong ties to his homeland
. His loyalty towards Germany and his belief in a unified German state not only continued to dominate his own life but also the upbringing of his son Wolfgang.

Activities against slavery in Florida

In 1856, Kapp bought a house in

elector for Abraham Lincoln. Alongside Carl Schurz, he was one of the most prominent activists to win German-Americans over to the Union cause.[3] In 1867, he became a member of the New York Board of Immigration. It was a position he held until he returned to Germany in 1870.[3]

Writing biographies of German immigrants in the U.S.

As a political writer he can be regarded as a pioneer of German-American historical science. He described the effects of German immigration on both countries, wrote the biographies of the generals Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben (1858) and Johann de Kalb (1862), and explored various American topics from a German point of view. Being very aware of his German identity, he wanted to show Americans the significance of German influence on the US. In a similar manner, he tried to convince his home country of its capability to form a unified German nation, using the achievements of German emigrants as a role model. In 1855, he described the fairly poor living conditions of his fellow Germans in the Texan colony of the "Mainzer Adelsverein". While still in the United States, the University of Bonn conferred an honorary degree of philosophy on him on 4 August 1868.

City representative of Berlin

After a general

regional parliament of Prussia
from 1874-1877. In Berlin he also continued his work as a political writer.

As Kapp had always been in favor of a German

Free State, he now pushed for a vigorous policy of settlement in the East in order to stop Germans from emigrating. At the same time he was engaged in developing uniform regulations for the consular system as well as for all kinds of emigration questions. His book Aus und über Amerika (Out of and about America) was published in Berlin in 1876. Its realism and candid opinions earned it unfavorable reviews in the United States.[3]

Writing for the history of the German book trade

Fellow party member and Member of Parliament

Plantin-Moretus Museum in Antwerp in 1884, where he was able to study the "Grand Livre de Francfort", an important source about the book trade in general as well as the Frankfurt Book Fair
. When Kapp died in Berlin later that year, he had just finished four chapters and outlined several others. Nevertheless, he was mentioned as author of the first of a total of four volumes.

Works

Notes

  1. ISBN 978-1-57181-164-6
    .
  2. ISBN 978-1-4039-2034-8
    .
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Frank Monaghan (1933). "Kapp, Friedrich". Dictionary of American Biography. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.

References

  • Hans-Ulrich Wehler (ed. & preface): Friedrich Kapp: Vom radikalen Frühsozialisten des Vormärz zum liberalen Parteipolitiker des Bismarckreichs, Briefe 1843-1884, Insel-Verlag, Frankfurt (Main) 1969.
  • Report by Dr. Kapp, in M. Broemel, ed., Bericht über die Verhandlungen des 19. Kongresses Deutscher Volkswirte in Berlin am 21., 22. und 23. Oktober 1880. Berlin, 1880, pp. 110–49 Trans. Erwin Fink.
  • Ripley, George; Dana, Charles A., eds. (1879). "Kapp, Friedrich" .
    The American Cyclopædia
    .
  • Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1892). "Kapp, Friedrich" . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.

Note: Most biographical information translated from the German language article.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Friedrich_Kapp&oldid=1208663981"