Grund, Franz Josef b. 1798; Klosterneuburg,Austria d. September 29, 1863; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
German American statesman, respected and influential journalist, and arguably the first national spokesperson for the German American community, Franz Josef Grund was often referred to as the Carl Schurz of the first half of the nineteenth century.
After studying mathematics and philosophy at the University of Vienna, he emigrated in 1827 to escape the suffocating social and political climate in Austria under Baron Metternich. He settled in Boston, taught school, and over the next ten years published many highly regarded textbooks for algebra, chemistry, and the natural sciences.
Grund’s rise to national prominence can be attributed to the Pittsburgh Convention in 1837, the first national meeting of German American leaders. He was elected by the other thirty delegates from seven states to chair the historic conference, during which German American community leaders discussed politics, German immigration, the role of German in schools, and higher education. After the conference, Grund came to be viewed as the spokesperson for the German American community.
In 1836 Grund published the first of two influential books on the United States; The Americans in their Moral, Social, and Political Relations, in which he attempted to correct what he considered a flawed portrayal of the United States in European, especially English, travel literature of the period. An ardent defender of American democracy and liberalism, Grund sought to defend his new homeland against attacks that Americans were crass and materialistic, lacked culture and patriotism, and were generally provincial and distrustful of everything and everyone. Grund achieved his defense by offering a detailed, systematic exposition of practically every aspect of American life in order to underscore American values, ideals, beliefs, and above all a national character.
With sections on such diverse topics as “American Manners and Society,” “American Ladies,” “Reception of Foreigners,” and “Progress of Education,” Grund’s work thoroughly portrays American cultural life like few other publications of the period. One criticism of his work is that it extolls and overly praises the Democratic Party; most troublesome is his long justification of slavery, but his stance corresponded to the official Democratic Party platform. In this work, which marks the transition in Grund’s life from teacher to journalist-politician, Grund characterizes the United States as a country in progress and the American spirit as independent, inventive, and entrepreneurial, which other countries should attempt to emulate.Influenced by Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America (1835), Grund published Aristocracy in America: From the Sketch-book of a German Nobleman in 1839, capitalizing on his influential position within the German American community. Unfortunately, the title fails to capture Grund’s main points. An ardent Jacksonian Democrat, Grund lived during a period resistant to anything that smacked of aristocracy; indeed, Grund argues that the nature of American democracy and egalitarianism destroys any vestiges of European aristocracy and noble classes. The United States, he suggests, was founded on the basis of liberty, which has established a durable moral empire, and these notions of democracy and liberty will expand throughout North and South America. The book consists of detailed reconstructions of conversations with Americans in Boston, New York, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore to capture, describe, and reflect the Zeitgeist of Jacksonian Ameria like no other work except Tocqueville’s. Whereas Tocqueville was careful to delete or avoid references to specific individuals, Grund transports the reader back to Jacksonian times with specific references to and biographical sketches of leading politicians, including President Andrew Jackson, Senator John C.
Calhoun, and President Martin Van Buren, for whom he later campaigned to bring out the German vote. The work reveals Grund as an astute observer of American behavior and attitudes and his acute understanding of the political machinations of the times.Grund’s influence outside of German America grew after the publication of The Americans and Aristocracy in America. He resettled in Philadelphia, where he became an editor and political correspondent for the Public Ledger. He spent most of his time in Washington, D.C., covering politics for the newspaper and was among the first to create and popularize a journalistic style resplendent with insider and behind- the-scenes information, supposedly from credible sources. A staunch Democrat and dynamic orator, he traveled extensively and campaigned vigorously for the Democratic Party, to which he remained loyal almost his entire life; notable is his defection in 1848 to campaign for the Whig candidate, William Henry Harrison. For his efforts, he was appointed at various times the U.S. consul to Antwerp, The Hague, and Bremen. Grund’s influence within the German American community began to wane in the 1850s with the rise of the Republican Party. Throughout the 1850s and during the initial years of the Civil War, he retained his pro-slavery stance, which alienated many German Americans, who flocked to the Republicans. Shortly before his death in 1863 he joined the Republican Party.
Gregory H. Wolf
See also Schurz, Carl
References and Further Reading
Grund, Francis J. Aristocracy in America. From the Sketch-book of a German Nobleman. Ed. George E. Probst. New York: Harper, 1959.
------. The Americans in Their Moral, Social, and Political Relations. Ed. Robert F Berk- hofer. New York: Johnson Reprint, 1968.
Hawgood, John A. The Tragedy of German- America. Reprint, New York: Arno Press and the New York Times, 1970.