Background
Otto von Camphausen was born at Hfinshoven in the Rhine Provinces on the 21st of October 1812.
Otto von Camphausen was born at Hfinshoven in the Rhine Provinces on the 21st of October 1812.
Having studied jurisprudence and political economy at the universities of Bonn, Heidelberg, Münich and Berlin, Otto von Camphausen entered the legal career at Cologne, and immediately devoted his attention to financial and commercial questions.
In 1869 Otto von Camphausen was appointed minister of finance. On taking office, he was confronted with a deficit in the revenue, which he successfully cleared off by effecting a conversion of a greater part of the state loans. The Franco-Prussian War indemnity enabled him to redeem a considerable portion of the state debt and to remit certain taxes.
Otto von Camphausen was, however, a too warm adherent of free trade principles to enjoy the confidence either of the Agrarian Party or of Prince Otto von Bismarck, and his antagonism to the tobacco monopoly and the general economic policy of the latter brought about his retirement.
Nominated assessor in 1837, Otto von Camphausen acted for five years in this capacity at Magdeburg and Coblenz, became in 1845 counsellor in the ministry of finance, and was in 1849 elected a member of the second chamber of the Prussian diet, joining the Moderate Liberal party.