Charles Follen | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Charles Follen | |
| Born | Karl Theodor Christian Friedrich Follen September 6, 1796 |
| Died | January 13, 1840(1840-01-13) (aged 43) |
| Occupation(s) | Poet, patriot |
| Spouse | |
| Children | Charles Christopher Follen |
Charles (Karl)Theodor Christian Friedrich Follen (September 6, 1796 – January 13, 1840) was aGerman poet and patriot, who later moved to the United States and became the first professor ofGerman atHarvard University, aUnitarian minister, and a radicalabolitionist. He was fired by Harvard for his abolitionist statements.
Karl Theodor Christian Friedrich Follen was born atRomrod, inHesse-Darmstadt (present-day Germany), to Christoph Follenius (1759–1833) and Rosine Follenius (1766–1799). His father was a counselor-at-law and judge inGiessen, in Hesse-Darmstadt. His mother had retired to Romrod to avoid the French revolutionary troops that had occupied Giessen. He was the brother ofAugust Ludwig Follen andPaul Follen, and the uncle of thebiologistCarl Vogt.
He was educated at the preparatory school at Giessen, where he distinguished himself for proficiency in Greek, Latin, Hebrew, French, and Italian. At the age of seventeen, he entered theUniversity of Giessen to studytheology. In 1814 he and his brother August Ludwig went to fight in theNapoleonic Wars asHessian volunteers; however, a few weeks after enlisting, his military career was cut short by an acute attack of typhus fever, which seemed for a time to have completely destroyed his memory. After his recovery he returned to the university and began studying law, and in 1818 was awarded a doctorate in civil and ecclesiastical law.[1] He then established himself asPrivatdocent of civil law at Giessen, while simultaneously studying the practice of law in his father's court. As a student, Follen joined the GiessenBurschenschaft, whose members were pledged torepublicanideals. Though he did not attend himself, Follen was a major organizer of the firstWartburg festival of 1817.[2][3]
Early in the fall of 1818, he undertook the cause of several hundred communities inUpper Hesse in opposition to a government measure directed at the last remnant of their political independence, and drew up a petition to the grand duke on their behalf. It was printed and widely circulated, and aroused public indignation to such a pitch that the obnoxious measure was repealed. However, the opposition of the influential men whose plans were thereby thwarted precluded any thought of a career in Follen's home town. He became aPrivatdozent at theUniversity of Jena in October 1818.[3]
At Jena, he wrote political essays, poems, and patriotic songs. His essays and speeches advocated violence andtyrannicide in defense of freedom; this, and his friendship withKarl Ludwig Sand brought him under suspicion as anaccomplice in Sand's 1819 assassination of theconservative diplomat and dramatistAugust von Kotzebue. Follen destroyed letters linking him with Sand. He was arrested, but finally acquitted due to lack of evidence. His dismissal from the university and continuing lack of opportunity prompted him to move toParis.[2] There he metCharles Comte, the son-in-law ofJean Baptiste Say and founder of theCenseur, a publication which he defended until he chose exile in Switzerland over imprisonment in France.[4] He also became acquainted withMarquis de Lafayette, who was then planning his trip to theUnited States.[3] Follen came under suspicion again after the political assassination ofCharles Ferdinand, duc de Berry in 1820, and fled fromFrance toSwitzerland.
In Switzerland, he taught Latin and history for a while at thecantonal school of theGrisons atCoire. His lectures, with theirUnitarian tendencies, offended some of theCalvinistic ministers in the district, so Follen requested and obtained a dismissal, with a testimonial to his ability, learning, and worth. He then became a lecturer on law and metaphysics at theUniversity of Basel.[1] At Basel, he made the acquaintance of the theologianWilhelm de Wette and his stepsonKarl Beck. Both Follen and Charles Comte were forced to leave Switzerland.[5] In Follen's case, demands were made by the German government for his surrender as a revolutionist. These were twice refused, but after a third (more threatening) demand, Basel yielded, passing a resolution for Follen's arrest.[1] In 1824 Follen and Beck[2] left Switzerland for theUnited States of America viaLe Havre, France.
Arriving atNew York City in 1824, Follenanglicized his name to "Charles." Lafayette was then visiting the United States and sought to interest some people of influence in the two refugees, who had moved from New York City and settled inPhiladelphia. Among those Lafayette contacted werePeter Stephen Du Ponceau, a prominent lawyer, andGeorge Ticknor, aHarvard professor. Ticknor in turn interestedGeorge Bancroft.[3]
With the help of these sympathetic people, the refugees established themselves inMassachusetts society. Beck quickly secured a position at Bancroft'sRound Hill School inNorthampton, Massachusetts, in February 1825. Follen continued to study theEnglish language andlaw in Philadelphia, and in November 1825 took up an offer fromHarvard University to be an instructor in German.[3] In 1828 he became an instructor of ethics and ecclesiastical history atHarvard Divinity School, having in the meantime been admitted as a candidate for the ministry. In 1830 he was appointed professor ofGerman literature at Harvard.[1] He became friendly with the New EnglandTranscendentalists, and helped introduce them to German Romantic thought. In 1828, he marriedEliza Lee Cabot, the daughter of one Boston's most prominent families.
Follen also gave demonstrations of the new discipline ofgymnastics, made popular by"Father Jahn". In 1826, at the request of a group in Boston, he established and equipped the firstgymnasium there and became its superintendent. Follen resigned this position in 1827, and the responsibilities were taken over byFrancis Lieber.[3] With the assistance of Beck, Follen established the first college gymnasium in the United States at Harvard in 1826.[6]
The Follens had a house built on the corner of Follen Street inCambridge. Their familyChristmas tree attracted the attention of the English writerHarriet Martineau during her long visit to the United States, and the Follens have been claimed by some as the first to introduce the German custom of decorated Christmas tree to the United States. (Although the claim is one of several competing claims for the introduction of the custom to the United States, they, together with Martineau, were certainly early and prominent popularizers of the custom.) His brotherPaul Follen emigrated in 1834 to the United States, settling inMissouri.
In 1835, Charles Follen lost his professorship at Harvard due to his outspoken abolitionist beliefs and his conflict with University PresidentJosiah Quincy's strict disciplinary measures for undergraduates. A close friend and associate of abolitionistWilliam Lloyd Garrison,[7] Follen's outspoken opposition to slavery had incurred the hostility and scorn of the public press. Like most of the early radical abolitionists, Follen at the beginning was censured by public opinion even in the locality which later became the centre of the abolition spirit. The good beginning that had been made in the study of the German language in New England was totally discontinued. The cause ofGerman literature had still a friend inHenry Wadsworth Longfellow, who in 1838 began his lectures onJohann von Goethe'sFaust.[8]
Follen's friendship with the prominent Unitarian ministerWilliam Ellery Channing drew him to the Unitarian Church. He was ordained as a minister in 1836. He had been called to the pulpit of the Second Congregational Society inLexington, Massachusetts (nowFollen Church Society-Unitarian Universalist) in 1835, but the community was unable to pay him sufficiently to support his family. Follen took other employment;Ralph Waldo Emerson supplied the pulpit from 1836 to 1838 at the church. In 1838 Follen became the minister of his own congregation inNew York City, nowAll Souls, but lost the position within the year due to conflicts over his radical anti-slavery views. He considered returning to Germany, but returned in 1839 to the congregation in East Lexington, Massachusetts. He had designed its unique octagonal building, for which ground was broken on July 4, 1839. Follen's octagonal building is still standing, and is the oldest church structure in Lexington. In his prayer at the groundbreaking for the building, Follen declared the mission of his church:
[May] this church never be desecrated by intolerance, or bigotry, or party spirit; more especially its doors might never be closed against any one, who would plead in it the cause of oppressed humanity; within its walls all unjust and cruel distinctions might cease, and [there] all men might meet as brethren.
Follen broke off a lecture tour in New York and took theSteamshipLexington to Boston for the dedication of his new church. Follen died en route when his steamer caught fire and sank in a storm in theLong Island Sound. Due to Follen's abolitionist positions, his friends were unable to find any church in Boston willing to hold a memorial service on his behalf. Rev.Samuel J. May was finally able to hold a memorial service for Follen in March 1840 at the Marlborough Chapel. This was an unaffiliated hall attached to the Marlborough Hotel on the corner of Washington Street and Franklin Street in Boston.
In 1841, Follen's widowEliza, a well-known author in her own right, published a five-volume collection containing his sermons and lectures, his unfinished sketch of a work on psychology and a biography she wrote.
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