Background
Lorenzo Brentano was born on November 4, 1813 in Mannheim, Baden, and was the son of Peter Paul Bartholomaeus Brentano and his wife Helene Haeger.
Lorenzo Brentano was born on November 4, 1813 in Mannheim, Baden, and was the son of Peter Paul Bartholomaeus Brentano and his wife Helene Haeger.
Lorenzo received a classical education, and studied jurisprudence at the universities of Heidelberg and Freiburg. He also had degrees from Heidelberg and Giessen.
After beginning his career in Rastatt and Bruchsal, Lorenz Brentano practised law in Mannheim. Several times he was elected to the position of burgomaster of his native city, but was never confirmed by the government. Sent to the Chamber of Deputies in 1845, he joined the radical party of Hecker, Itzstein, and Sander, but he did not take part in the insurrection started by Hecker in 1848, nor in the uprising attempted by Struve and Blind in the following September.
Elected to a seat in the Frankfurt Parliament, he attached himself to the liberal side and distinguished himself by his speeches against the then Prince of Prussia, and by his sarcastic refusal of the resulting challenge to a duel by Baron von Fincke. When the Revolution spread over Baden in 1849 and the Grand Duke had fled, Brentano was against his own protests placed at the head of the provisional revolutionary government.
In the capacity of "Dictator of Baden" he labored for the maintenance of order, and stood for the confining of the Revolution to the territory of Baden. This was a tactical blunder, for which he was unjustly accused of treachery by Struve and the extremists of the party, who instituted legislation that compelled Brentano to take to flight. From Switzerland he addressed a justification of his acts to the people of Baden.
The fugitive emigrated to the United States in 1850, where he heard that the restored reactionary government of Baden had sentenced him to imprisonment for life. He settled at first at Pottsville, Pennsylvania, editing a German weekly antislavery paper called Der Leuchtturm.
In 1851 he bought a farm near Kalamazoo, Michigan, which he cultivated zealously for about eight years, but hardly with distinguished success.
In 1859 he removed to Chicago, engaged in the practise of law, but in the following year joined the staff of the Illinois Staatszeitung. From the proceeds of the sale of his farm in 1862 he bought a half interest in the paper from George Schneider, who was sent by President Lincoln on an important mission to Helsingfors and northern Europe.
In 1862 he was elected to the Illinois state legislature and in 1868 was a presidential elector on the Grant-Colfax ticket. After a general amnesty had been declared in Germany, Brentano revisited his native land in 1869, and served as United States consul at Dresden, 1872-76. After his return he was elected, in 1876, to the Forty-fifth Congress of the United States, continuing until March 3, 1879.
Upon his retirement he spent much time in historical and legal investigations, aiming to compare and contrast the American and European codes and methods of criminal procedure. Illustrative of this type of work was his report of the trial of Guiteau, the assassin of President Garfield.
The last years of his life he was compelled to spend in retirement owing to a partial stroke of paralysis.
He died in Chicago, September 17, 1891.
In 1845 he joined the radical party of Hecker, Itzstein, and Sander. Then elected to a seat in the Frankfurt Parliament, he attached himself to the liberal side and distinguished himself by his speeches against the then Prince of Prussia. His last political activity was his support of Grover Cleveland for the presidency, which meant a separation from his long allegiance to the Republican party, and his first appearance as an independent voter.
He courageously and eloquently defended the revolutionists at their trial in Freiburg. When compared with his associates of the revolutionary period of 1848-49, Brentano was described as lacking the magnetic personality and inspiring eloquence of Hecker and certain others of the revolutionary heroes. In speech incisive and intellectual, in action deliberate and calculating, in disposition conservative and cautious, he was the lawyer, not the inspirer of the Revolution in Baden.
His greater adaptability enabled him to rise to higher positions in this country than Hecker and Struve and most others of his fellow revolutionists who came to the United States, with the exception of the younger, more brilliant Carl Schurz.
Brentano was married to Caroline Aberle.