Carl Schurz

Carl Schurz (March 2, 1829 – May 14, 1906) was a German revolutionist, American statesman and reformer, and Union Army general in the American Civil War. His wife Margaretta Schurz was instrumental in establishing the kindergarten system in the U.S.

Postbellum politics

In the summer of 1865, President Andrew Johnson sent Schurz through the South to study conditions; they then quarrelled because Schurz approved General H.W. Slocum's order forbidding the organization of militia in Mississippi. Schurz's report, suggesting the readmission of the states with complete rights and the investigation of the need of further legislation by a Congressional committee, was ignored by the President. In 1866-1867 he was chief editor of the Detroit Post and then became editor and joint proprietor with Emil Praetorius of the Westliche Post (Western Post) of St. Louis. In the winter of 1867-1868 he travelled in Germany – the account of his interview with Otto von Bismarck is one of the most interesting chapters of his Reminiscences. He spoke against "repudiation" and for "honest money" during the Presidential campaign of 1868.

Related Topics:
1865 - Andrew Johnson - H.W. Slocum - Mississippi - 1866 - 1867 - Detroit Post - Emil Praetorius - St. Louis - 1868 - Otto von Bismarck

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From 1869 to 1875 he was United States Senator from Missouri, and made a great reputation with his speeches urging financial responsibility. During this period he broke with the administration: he started the Liberal Republican movement in Missouri in 1870 which elected B. Gratz Brown governor; and in 1872 he presided over the Liberal Republican convention which nominated Horace Greeley for President (Schurz's own choice was Charles Francis Adams or Lyman Trumbull). The convention did not represent Schurz's views on the tariff. He opposed Grant's Santo Domingo policy – after Fessenden's death Schurz was a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs – his Southern policy, and the government's selling arms and making cartridges for the French army in the Franco-Prussian War. But in 1875 he campaigned for Rutherford B. Hayes, as the representative of sound money, in the Ohio governor's campaign.

Related Topics:
1869 - 1875 - Senator - Missouri - Liberal Republican - 1870 - B. Gratz Brown - In 1872 - Horace Greeley - Charles Francis Adams - Lyman Trumbull - Santo Domingo - Franco-Prussian War - Rutherford B. Hayes - Ohio

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In 1876 he supported Hayes for President, and after winning, Hayes named him Secretary of the Interior and followed much of his advice in other cabinet appointments and in his inaugural address. In this department Schurz put in force his theories in regard to merit in the Civil Service, permitting no removals except for cause, and requiring competitive examinations for candidates for clerkships; he reformed the Indian Bureau and successfully opposed a bill transferring it to the War Department; and he prosecuted land thieves and attracted public attention to the necessity of forest preservation.

Related Topics:
1876 - Secretary of the Interior - Civil Service - War Department

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