“All for the People and All by the People;
Nothing About the People Without the People –
That is Democracy!”Spoken before the Ohio State Legislature,
February 16, 1852
Kossuth (pronounced co-shoot) was Governor of Hungary during fight for
independence and democracy which was eventually defeated by the union of the royalist
Austrian Habsburg and Russian Czarist Armies (1848 – 1849). Kossuth envisioned a
federation in the Kingdom of Hungary in which all nationalties participated in a vibrant
democratic system based on fundamental democratic principles such as equality and
parliamentary representation. The bloody conflict eventually led to a partial
victory for Hungary – a great compromise known as the “Austro-Hungarian Empire,”
in which Hungary gained some autonomy.
The speech from which the above excerpt is taken was given over a decade
before Lincoln’s famed “for the people, by the people” speech given at
Gettysburg in 1863. Kossuth was the first foreign Statesman officially invited to the US
since the Marquis de Lafayette. His upcoming speech in the Congress of the United
States made the pre-civil war joint house nervous due to his democratic views on equality
of all men. Kossuth learned English while in prison and exile and spoke to half the
population of the US who enthusiastically greeted and flocked to hear him. Despite
Hungary’s epic struggle and Kossuth’s brave and noble efforts, the US, the “Bastion
of Democracy” turned him away, empty handed. Hungary was alone again in its
fight for democracy in 1956, and didn’t gain freedom until 1989.
Today, there are many reminders of Kossuth’s impact on America. There is a
Kossuth County in the state of Iowa, a town with his name in Indiana, Ohio and
Mississippi, and a settlement with a Kossuth Post Office is in Pennsylvania. In addition,
there are three Kossuth statues in the US: New York, Cleveland and Washington. The
Hungarian Reformed Federation’s building on Dupont Circle, in Washington, DC is called
Kossuth House with a memorial plaque commemorating his speech on democracy.
(Thanks to Lászlo Papp for this compilation).
The renowned Ralph Waldo Emerson said in greeting Kossuth on his arrival
at Concord, MA, May 11, 1852,
“[we] have been hungry to see the
man whose extraordinary eloquence is seconded by the splendor and the solidity of his
actions.“
Kossuth even spawned a fashion craze (moustache-less beard with TopHat) in
the ever trendy US. His statue now sits proudly in the US Capitol – it reads, “Father
of Hungarian Democracy”
Links:
Visit “Lajos
Kossuth in North America” for more on this remarkable man. This is an excellent
site with numerous photos of Kossuth, as well as background of his life and work and
accounts of his visit to North America.
One of the most impressive and well-designed sites on the can be found
at the Museum of Wolfgang Alexander Kossuth.
His sculptures are world-renowned and simply beautiful! But is he related?
