RMA Thesis Draft 3

“Our Brothers in Germany” A Transnational Perspective on the Reaction of German America to the Revolutions of 1848 Stephanie Truskowski, 6558267 RMA Thesis July 2nd, 2020 Stephanie Truskowski, 6558267 2 Abstract In the Spring of 1848, revolutions broke out in the German states calling for the liberalization of the monarchies, and for the unification of Germany. When the news of these revolutions came to the United States, the German language press immediately reacted with enthusiasm, and ample displays of support for the liberalization of the “old fatherland.” German America was the largest German speaking population outside of the German states in 1848, but their reaction to the revolutions has been relatively understudied. Historians have emphasized the role of the Forty-Eighters, the revolutionaries who fled the German states after the revolutions, in the formation of German identity in the United States, and deemphasized the German identity that already existed. However, this thesis questions this narrative, and instead analyzes how German Americans saw themselves as German during the revolutions. This thesis treats the revolutions as a political event that prompted the articulation of identity. They served as a focal point around which German Americans could articulate their own relationship to Germany and their own place in the “German nation.” It also inspired community action in the name of the shared goal of aiding the “old fatherland.” The possibility of a unified German state also brought political questions about the structure of a possible nation state to the fore. Though German Americans agreed on the necessity of aiding the revolutionary cause, they were divided on the form a unified Germany should take. This thesis uses a case study of four German language newspapers in the Spring of 1848 to explore the themes of identity, action, and political differences. Through these themes this thesis seeks to provide insight on both the specific case of German America in this period, and on the larger transnational experience of immigrants maintaining a connection to the politics of their country of origin. Stephanie Truskowski, 6558267 3 Acknowledgments This thesis was written under some less than ideal conditions because of the outbreak of COVID-19 and the resulting lockdowns in large parts of the world. Without the help of several people, it would have been very difficult to finish this thesis, so I would like to thank them for their contributions. During the process of writing and researching I had to go back to the drawing board on several occasions because of changing conditions, and there are several people that helped to keep this project alive in the face of adversity. The first person I would like to extend thanks to is Anna Maria Boss at the German Historical Institute in Washington DC. Her help with my questions about literature on German America and the revolutions on 1848 was the first impetus for me to pursue this project. When I was first developing my research idea in the Winter of 2018-19 her help was invaluable. I would also like to thank Professor Allison Clark Efford for having a conversation with me in the Spring of last year about this project, and encouraging me to go forward with this idea. Her input helped me to develop my idea and narrow down the cities I considered looking at to find German language newspapers. I would also like to thank the coordinators of the History RMA at Utrecht University for their flexibility during this process. I would like to thank Professor Britta Schilling for helping to brainstorm work arounds when it appeared that I would not be able to visit the archives I had planned. I also want to thank Professor Willemijn Ruberg for being flexible with the timeline of the thesis, which helped the reduce the stress of the process. Because access to archives was such a substantial problem during this process, I would like to extend the most heartfelt thanks to Bettina Hess, the Special Collections Librarian at the German Society of Pennsylvania. She helped me to collect necessary research materials in Philadelphia in the midst of a pandemic. Without her help this thesis would have been truly dead in the water. I would also like to thank my brother and sister-in-law for providing me with a place to stay during the lockdowns and work on my research and writing. They provided a place for me to stay when my research trip was cut short by the pandemic and I could not return to Europe. The stability they provided created a good environment to work. Lastly, I would like to extend the biggest thanks to my supervisor, Professor Jacco Pekelder for his help throughout this research and writing process. He had a difficult task to supervise a student who was only in the same country for one week of the thesis process. Due to his flexibility and willingness to work through Skype and emails, we were able to work well together despite the distance. Stephanie Truskowski, 6558267 4 Table of Contents: Abstract 2 Acknowledgments 3 Introduction 5 Historiography 6 Sources 13 Research Question 16 Chapter 1: German Identity 18 1.1 Representations of Germany 20 1.2 Representations of the German American Community 27 1.3 Relation Between German and American Identity 33 1.4 Conclusion 38 Chapter 2: Communal Action 40 2.1 Letters 42 2.2 Community Meetings and Fundraising 46 2.3 Associations 54 2.4 Freikorps 59 2.4 Conclusion 63 Chapter 3: Political Divisions 65 3.1 Republic or Monarchy? 68 3.2 Solidarity with Other Revolutions 77 3.3 The “Invasion” of Schleswig 82 3.4 The Frankfurt Parliament 87 3.5 Conclusion 92 Conclusion 93 Bibliography 100 Stephanie Truskowski, 6558267 5 Introduction On the 21st of April, 1848, the steamship Washington departed from New York harbor, destined for Bremen. The ship sailed under the tricolor of the German revolution, and carried money, weapons, and volunteers from the United States to Germany with the goal of supporting the revolution. The German language paper Der Westbote, heralded the ship as the first “German” ship to ever sail across the Atlantic under the flag of a unified Germany.1 Accordingly, it was adorned with the red, black, and gold of the Revolution, and was seen off by crowds of German Americans in New York. The ship had been funded by associations that had been founded by German Americans in reaction to the news that revolutions had started in Germany, who had fundraised enough money to fund a ship to travel to Bremen. The money, letters, and weapons aboard the ship had also been gathered by German American communities across several different states. Historians have emphasized the fragmented nature of German America before the arrival of the revolutionaries exiled from the German states. So, how could a population that did not have a shared German identity and which was supposedly divided by regional differences generate enough funds and support to charter a large vessel to sail to Bremen? The contradiction between this development and the traditional historiographic view of German America calls for a reevaluation of the national identity of German America before the arrival of the so called Forty-Eighters - the revolutionaries who came to America after the failure of the revolutions in 1848. Though German American has been understudied in the period of the revolutions in 1848, there is also a historiographic precedent for examining the Irish diaspora in 1848, which can provide a point of comparison. Coordinated local action was not unique to the German American community, though they were one of the notable groups. The minority populations in the United States had organized meetings and fundraisers in the United States in support of the promise of freedom in their homelands- including the German, Irish, Polish and Hungarian diasporas. Of the involvement of diaspora populations in the United states, the efforts of the Irish Americans to support the bid for Irish independence have been studied in depth by historians. Scholars of Irish 1 “Schwartz-Rot-Gold,” Der Westbote, April 28th, 1848, page 3, Ohio History Connection, https:// cdm16007.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16007coll43/id/1190/rec/239 . Stephanie Truskowski, 6558267 6 America claim that 1848 represented a moment where the Irish were able to put aside political differences and come together on the basis of national identity.2 They have also claimed that the reaction was a part of a longer pattern of Irish translational patriotism and involvement in the political developments in Ireland. There is a rich historiography that treats the Irish reaction, which included public meetings, fundraising, and attempting to organize battalions to go to fight for Irish freedom as an expression of transnational identity. The scholarship argues that this reaction was a clear expression of the idea that immigrants were also Irish. However, the reaction of German Americans to the revolutionary developments in 1848 has yet to be studied through the same lens, despite the similarities. German language papers commented on the similarity between themselves and the Irish, and the shared desire for freedom. The question that this brings to the fore is how the actions of German America represent an expression of a transnational German identity in the same way that Irish patriots in the United states expressed an Irish identity. The similarity in the developments between the groups suggest that there is space to apply an analytical framework based on patriotism and transnational connection. The concrete actions that these groups took stemmed from a sense of shared identity with each other and a connection to the country of their origin. Historiography Though there has been scholarship on German America, much of it has either dismissed the 1840s or touched on them only briefly to provide a background to later developments.

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