German Intellectuals and the American Revolution

Abstract

HE shots fired on Lexington Green, April i9, i775, might not have been heard 'round the world, despite Longfellow's poetic assertion, but they were very clearly heard in Germany. American Revolution immediately attracted the attention of scholars, the romantic Sturm und Drang poets, and newspaper editors. Although there was not much understanding of the issues involved, most German liberals rushed to a passionate verbal defense of the embattled Americans; a few no less passionately supported the cause of England. Over the next ten years a large body of controversial literature emerged which made the Revolution appear as an event of the greatest importance for Germany.' There was an air of happy anticipation in the encouragement which publicists gave to the embattled Americans. The most recent news from America is the glowing morning of a glorious day, wrote the poet and newspaper editor, Christian F. D. Schubart, in 1774.2 Schubart's fellow poet, Christoph M. Wieland, was no less emphatic. The struggle, he said, deserves the most serious attention of our generation and prepares