Gallus Jacob Baumgartner

Gallus Jacob Baumgartner ( born October 16, 1797 in Altstaetten; † July 12, 1869 in St. Gallen ) is a leading liberal and conservative Swiss politician later was at the time of regeneration and creation of the modern federal state.

Life and work

After attending the Catholic district school in St. Gallen Baumgartner was a talented but penniless boy, promoted by the then Chief Magistrate of the Canton of St. Gallen, Karl Müller- Friedberg. He studied law in Freiburg and Vienna and first worked as a tutor in Vienna and Hungary. In November 1819 he was arrested by the Austrian authorities in 1817 because he had belonged to a private company of young Swiss in Vienna. After remand until August 1820, he was expelled from Austria.

1823 Baumgartner began with the protection of Müller -Friedberg as state archivist and as Secretary of Legation at the confederate hearing a civil service career in the canton of St. Gallen. In 1825 he was elected by indirect election to the Grand Council ( cantonal parliament ), where he served until 1869. The Great Council elected him in 1826 the first state recorder and 1827 Legationsrat, ie cantonal representatives at the confederate hearing.

After the start of the regeneration after the July Revolution in France, 1830, Baumgartner turned against his conservative mentor Müller -Friedberg and published the proceedings of the Grand Council and the State. In addition, he has published numerous critical articles and pamphlets, in which he took the radical liberal positions and demanded a revision of the cantonal constitution. After the public meetings of Wattwil and Altstaetten in December 1830, the Grand Council gave in and let choose a Constitutional by the people. Baumgartner was the first secretary and contributed significantly to the elaboration of the liberal cantonal constitution of 1831 and was elected to the cantonal government. In 1832 he replaced Müller- Friedberg Landammann.

Baumgartner took in the canton of St. Gallen and by his great journalistic influence as an editor of the " narrator ", a time in German-speaking Switzerland very influential newspaper, a very strong political position. The Canton of St. Gallen was sometimes referred to as " Canton Baumgartner ". This Baumgartner took decidedly anti- clerical, anti-aristocratic and radical - liberal positions, he advanced with eloquent speeches at party conferences and public meetings. As a champion of liberal renewal, he pushed for the trial of a federal audit 1832/33 and is considered the architect of the Siebner Concordat and the Baden articles, with which the seven regenerated cantons sought each other to protect them from the reaction. Until 1841 Baumgartner remained the undisputed leader of the liberal movement in Switzerland.

In the canton of St. Gallen Baumgartner spurred the construction of a modern road and rail network and sat down with engineer Alois Negrelli one for the correction of the Rhine.

In the late 1830s, there was a certain alienation between Baumgartner and the liberal movement because of the increasingly radical church policy of the Liberals. Also Baumgartner took increasingly authoritarian positions to further democratic reforms. With the escalation of the Aargau monastery dispute it came to the final break. Insulted he joined in 1841 from the St. Gallen government and joined the political camp of conservatives.

1843 Baumgartner could return to the cantonal government again and now became one of the leaders of the conservative movement in Switzerland. He represented the positions of the special covenant, which is why he resigned in 1847 and temporarily the left Switzerland. However, in the spring of 1848 he returned already back and took his seat in the cantonal parliament again. He now lived rather poor out of journalism and of directorships. Politically, he fought for a conservative revision of the cantonal constitution.

In 1857, he began his political career as a third Senate of the canton of St. Gallen. Finally, he was even elected 1859-1864 for the third time in the cantonal government, where he tried in vain to enforce Constitutional Council as a Catholic- conservative revision of the cantonal constitution. Until his death Baumgartner worked on several historical works about the time of regeneration and restoration in Switzerland. His son Alexander Baumgartner joined the Jesuit Order.

Works

  • Swiss Mirror:. . Three years under the federal constitution of 1848, Zurich 1851 ( digitized )
  • Switzerland in their struggles and transformations 1830-1850, Vol 1 Zurich 1853 ( digitized ); Vol 2 Zurich 1854 ( digitized ); Vol 3 Zurich 1865 ( digitized ); Vol 4 Zurich 1866 ( digitized )
  • History of the Swiss canton of St. Gallen and the Free State. With special reference to emergence, effectiveness and Fall of the royal monastery of St. Gall. Vol 1, Zurich / Stuttgart 1868 ( digitized ); Vol 2 Zurich / Stuttgart 1868 ( digitized )

Archive

  • Estate in the library and archives of the Swiss Jesuits in Zurich, KBSG, StASG

Writings

  • Letters of Landamman Gallus Jacob Baumgartner at the time of the Special Federal 1844-1848. Fehr, St. Gallen, 1934.
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