Francis Lieber

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Francis Lieber
Born Franz Lieber
(1798-03-18)March 18, 1798/1800
Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia
Died October 2, 1872(1872-10-02) (aged 72-74)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Alma mater University of Jena
Notable work(s) Lieber Code
Signature

Francis Lieber (March 18, 1798[1] or 1800 – October 2, 1872), known as Franz Lieber in Germany, was a German-American jurist, gymnast and political philosopher. He edited an Encyclopaedia Americana. He was the author of the Lieber Code during the American Civil War, also known as Code for the Government of Armies in the Field (1863), which laid the foundation for conventions governing the conduct of troops during wartime.[2]

Biography

Franz Lieber was born in Berlin, the capital of the Kingdom of Prussia. While still in Germany, Lieber joined the Colberg Regiment of the Prussian Army in 1815 during the Napoleonic Wars, and was wounded during the Battle of Waterloo.[3] The year of his birth has been debated because he lied about his age in order to enlist.[4]

Education in Germany

Franz did not receive anything like a normal gentleman's education. Returning to Berlin after the Napoleonic wars (post 1815) where he was wounded at Waterloo,[5] Franz studied hard to pass the entrance exams to the University of Berlin. But being member of the Berliner Burschenschaft, which opposed the Prussian monarchy, he was denied admission. Moving to Jena he matriculated in 1820 to the University of Jena and within a span of four months finished writing a dissertation in the field of mathematics.[6] As the authorities caught up with him, he left Jena for Dresden to study topography with Major Decker. His studies in Dresden were very brief, for as soon as the Greek Revolution of 1821 broke out, he volunteered his services.[3]

European activities

He fought briefly in the Greek War of Independence, and then spent one year, 1822–1823, in Rome in the family of the historian Niebuhr, then Prussian ambassador, as tutor to his son. While there, he wrote on his sojourn in Greece. The result was published in Leipzig in 1823 and also in Amsterdam under the title The German Anacharsis. He returned to Germany on a royal pardon, but was soon imprisoned once again, this time at Köpenick. There he wrote a collection of poems entitled Wein- und Wonne-Lieder (Songs of wine and bliss), which on his release, through the influence of Niebuhr, were published in Berlin in 1824 under the pen name of “Franz Arnold.” He fled to England in 1825, and supported himself for a year in London, giving lessons and contributing to German periodicals. He also wrote a tract on the Lancasterian system of instruction, and met his future wife, Mathilda Oppenheimer.[1] Then he was invited to assume the administration of a gymnasium in Boston, and also establish a swimming program.

American educator and writer

Lieber moved to Boston in 1827. He came with recommendations from Jahn, as well as from General Pfuel who ran a swimming program in Berlin. Lieber was also acquainted with the outgoing gymnasium administrator, Charles Follen, both believing thoroughly in the importance of training the body along with the mind. Follen had established the pioneer gymnasium in 1826. Lieber's Boston swimming school of 1827, a new departure in the educational field in the United States, became such a feature that John Quincy Adams, then President of the United States, went to see it.[7][8][9] The gymnasium had a difficult time once the novelty had worn off and in the face of caricatures in the newspapers. It closed its doors after two years.[9]

In Boston, Lieber edited an Encyclopaedia Americana,[10] after conceiving of the idea of translating the Brockhaus encyclopedia into English. It was published in Philadelphia in 13 volumes, between the years 1829 and 1833.[11] At this time, he also made translations of a French work on the revolution of July, 1830, and of Feuerbach's life of Kaspar Hauser. He was also a confident to Alexis de Tocqueville on the customs of the American people.

In 1832, he received a commission from the trustees of the newly founded Girard College to form a plan of education. This was published at Philadelphia in 1834.[11] He resided in Philadelphia from 1833 until 1835.

Then he became a professor of history and political economics at South Carolina College (now the University of South Carolina), where he remained until 1856. During his 20 years at the College, he produced some of his most important works. Such writers and jurists as Mittermaier, Johann Kaspar Bluntschli, Édouard René de Laboulaye, Joseph Story and James Kent, recognized in him a kindred mind. The spirit of Lieber's work is indicated in his favorite motto, Nullum jus sine officio, nullum officium sine jure (“No right without its duties, no duty without its rights”).[12]

From 1856 until 1865, he was professor of history and political science at Columbia University (then Columbia College). His title was chosen by himself, and made him the first officially designated political scientist in the United States.[1] In 1860, he also became professor of political science in the law school, which post he held until his death. His inaugural address as professor at Columbia, on “Individualism and Socialism or Communism,” was published by the college.

Civil War activities

Lieber sided with the North during the American Civil War, even though he had been a resident of South Carolina. As early as 1851, he delivered an address in South Carolina warning the southern states against secession. One of his sons, geologist Oscar Montgomery Lieber (see below), joined the Confederate army and died at the Battle of Eltham's Landing. During the conflict, Francis Lieber was one of the founders and served as the head of the Loyal Publication Society of New York, compiling news articles for dissemination among Union troops and Northern newspapers. More than one hundred pamphlets were issued by it under his supervision, of which ten were by himself. He also assisted the Union War Department and President Abraham Lincoln in drafting legal guidelines for the Union army, the most famous being General Orders Number 100, or the "Lieber Code" as it is commonly known. The Lieber Code would be adopted by other military organizations and go on to form the basis of the first laws of war. Lieber's contributions and legacy are detailed in the 2012 non-fiction account entitled, ironically, Lincoln's Code.[13]

An abridged version of the Leiber Code was published in 1899 in The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies in 1899.[14]

Preserving Confederate documents

After the Civil War, Lieber was given the task of accumulating and preserving the records of the former government of the Confederate States of America. While working in this capacity, Lieber was one of the last known people to possess the infamous Dahlgren Affair papers. Shortly after obtaining them, Lieber was ordered to give them to Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, who likely disposed of them, as they have not been seen since.

Diplomacy

From 1870 until his death in New York City, aged 72, Francis Lieber served as a diplomatic negotiator between the United States and Mexico.[15] He was chosen, with the united approval of the United States and Mexico, as final arbitrator in important cases pending between the two countries. This work was not completed at his death.[11] Lieber was a member of the French Institute and of many learned societies in the United States and elsewhere.[10]

Family

His son Oscar Montgomery Lieber was a geologist. During the Civil War, he was killed in action as a member of the Confederate army.

A second son, Hamilton Lieber (7 June 1835, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - 18 October 1876, Baden-Baden, Germany), entered the volunteer army at the beginning of the civil war as 1st lieutenant, 9th Illinois Regiment, and was badly wounded at Fort Donelson. Afterward he was appointed a captain in the veteran reserve corps, and served during the draft riots in New York City in 1863. In 1866 he was made a captain and military storekeeper in the regular army, and was retired on account of disabilities contracted in the line of duty.

A third son, Guido Norman Lieber, was a United States Army lawyer and jurist. During the Civil War, he served in the Union army and later became a career officer.

Works

Writings on penal legislation

  • “Essays on Subjects of Penal Law and the Penitentiary System,” published by the Philadelphia prison discipline society
  • “Abuse of the Pardoning Power,” republished by the legislature of New York
  • “Remarks on Mrs. Fry's Views of Solitary Confinement,” published in England
  • Letter on the Penitentiary System. 1838.  published by the legislature of South Carolina

Occasional papers

  • “Letter on Anglican and Gallican Liberty”
  • a paper on the vocal sounds of Laura Bridgman, the blind deaf mute, compared with the elements of phonetic language, published in the “Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge”
  • “Individualism and Socialism or Communism” His inaugural address as professor in Columbia College. He regarded these as the two poles on which all human life turns.
  • “The Ancient and the Modern Teacher of Politics” His introductory discourse to a course of lectures on the state in the college law school.

Numerous addresses on anniversary and other occasions.

Translations

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 James Farr (1999). "Lieber, Francis". American National Biography. New York: Oxford University Press. 
  2. ↑ Sheehan-Dean, Aaron. The American Civil War: Total or Just?. Teachinghistory.org, accessed 18 December 2011.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 George Ripley and Charles Anderson Dana (ed.). "Lieber, I. Francis". The American cyclopaedia: a popular dictionary of general knowledge 10. 
  4. ↑ Francis Lieber. Hermenutics and Practical Reason. John Catalano University Press of America. 2000
  5. ↑ Harley, Lewis R (January 1898). "Sketch of Francis Lieber". Popular science monthly: 407. Retrieved 13 May 2013. 
  6. ↑ Francis Lieber. Hermenutics and Practical Reason. John Catalano University Press of America. 2000. p. 2.
  7. ↑ Albert Berhardt Faust, The German Element in the United States (2 vols.), Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1909, v. 2, chap. 5, p. 216.
  8. ↑ Feintuch, Burt; Watters, David H., eds. (2005). The Encyclopedia of New England. Yale University Press. p. 282. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Fred Eugene Leonard (1923). A Guide to the History of Physical Education. Philadelphia and New York: Lea & Febiger. pp. 239–242. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1  Rines, George Edwin, ed. (1920). "Lieber, Franz". Encyclopedia Americana. 
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Lieber, Francis". The American Cyclopædia. 1879. 
  12. ↑  "Lieber, Francis". New International Encyclopedia. 1905. 
  13. ↑ Witt, John Fabian (2012). 's-Code/John-Fabian-Witt/9781416570127 Lincoln's Code The Laws of War in American History. New York, NY: Free Press Simon & Schuster. ISBN 1416570128. 
  14. ↑ United States. War Department. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Series 2. Vol. 5. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1899, pp. 671-682.
  15. ↑  Wilson, James Grant; Fiske, John, eds. (1892). "Lieber, Francis". Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton 

References

Further reading

External links

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