The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 33, July 1929 - April, 1930 Page: 248
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
in the main by those who wanted either free or cheap land or who
believed that it would be easier to make a living in Texas than
elsewhere. But there were also those who came to Texas for
political reasons, that is, to escape from undesirable political condi-
tions in the German states, especially in the years immediately
following the revolutionary periods from 1830 to 1833 and from
1848 to 1849. Among these political refugees were many edu-
cated men, some of whom, especially after 1850, gave much thought
and attention to the position which the Germans occupied in the
political life of Texas. This same question, as is well known and
as could be shown, also received attention from political refugees
in those other states of the Union in which there was an appreciable
German population. The agitation in Texas, therefore, was only
a part of a widespread movement. It was in connection with this
agitation that the convention of German settlers was held at San
Antonio, May 14-15, 1854.
The general restlessness of German thinkers throughout the
United States resulted in the organization of the League of Free
Men (Bund Freier Maenner) at Louisville, Kentucky, in 1853.1
The Bund Freier Maenner was a national organization which
planned, by holding state conventions in those states of the Union
which had a considerable German population, to coordinate the
political thought and activity of the German-Americans. Bruncken
says that it held state conventions in the summer of 1853 in Wis-
consin, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Texas.2 I have not
found anywhere the statement that the Bund Freier Maenner sent
out a platform or set of resolutions for the guidance of the state
conventions. H-owever, on February 19, 1854, a mass meeting of
Germans at Louisville, Kentucky, adopted a set of resolutions which
came to be known as the Louisville platform and which served as a
1Bruncken, Ernest, German Political Refugees in the United States in the
Period from 1815-1860, p. 44. Bruncken refers to Atlantis, I, 232.
2Bruncken is in error about the time of the conventions in Kentucky,
Indiana, and Texas. The Kentucky meeting was held at Louisville on
February 19, 1854. The Indiana meeting was held at Indianapolis on
April 26, 1854. (San Antonio Zeitung, March 25, 1854, p. 2, col. 2, and
May 27, 1854, p. 1, col. 4.) The Texas convention was held at San
Antonio on May 14 and 15, 1854. I have not been able to check the
meeting dates of the state conventions in Ohio and Illinois, but have found
that the Bund Freier Menschen held a meeting at Milwaukee, Wisconsin,
on October 1, 1853. (San Antonio Zeitung, November 12, 1853, p. 1,
cols. 2-3.)248
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 33, July 1929 - April, 1930, periodical, 1930; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101090/m1/274/?rotate=270: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.