At this time there appears to be a special reason for calling attention to the beginning and importance of German immigration to America, for in this way it can be proved that German immigration is historically justified, and the assertions of those people who assume an attitude of gracious condescension, or of benevolent tolerance, toward the German element of our population are refuted.

"The Germans, more than any other American colonists, were guided by personal ideals." This is the verdict of Professor Marion Dexter Learned of Pennsylvania University, who died about a year ago. He was head of the German Department and one of the most eminent scholars of German-American history. He placed German-Americans on the same level as the Puritans and Quakers, who strove for spiritual ideals for which they were willing to die, if necessary. He declared that 2America was indebted to the little model colony at Germantown not only for the beginning of the great industrial development of our country, such as the weaving of linen, the knitting of stockings, papermaking, and book printing, but also for a far greater service, because it involved an ideal--the first protest against the despicable slave trade. No better proof of the German's love of freedom could be found than this protest against slavery.

Referring to this protest in an article published in 1908, and prior to the erection of a monument in honor of Pastorius, Professor Learned wrote: "If ever a monument is built in memory of the first Germans of Germantown, it should be inscribed in golden letters with the immortal words of this protest. The weaving mills and the paper mills and the printing shops may be forgotten, but the doctrine of freedom contained in this ancient document increases in importance as the generations pass, and may well be considered the greatest asset which the Germans brought with them from abroad."

It is significant that Professor Learned, who so enthusiastically acknowledged the services of the first German colonists in America, had not a drop of German blood in his veins, but was an American of English-Scotch-Irish extraction.

The notable document, as stated in a prior article, was written in the English language, in Germantown, in the year 1688, by Franz Daniel Pastorius, and bears the signatures of Franz Daniel Pastorius, Garret Hendericks, Dirck op den Graeff, and Abraham op den Graeff. It has seldom been printed in its entirety. The following is a German translation:

"These are the reasons why we are against traffic in men: Is there anyone who would like to be so treated and dealt with, who desires to be sold and made a slave for the rest of his life? How freightened are many when they meet a ship on the high seas, fearing that it may be a Turkish vessel, and that they may be captured, taken to Turkey, and sold into slavery! But in what respect does 4slavery in Pennsylvania differ from that which is practiced in Turkey? The former is worse because it is carried on by people who call themselves Christians. According to reports most negroes are brought here against their will, and many of them have been stolen. They are black, to be sure. But we cannot comprehend how that fact could give anybody a better right to enslave them than to enslave whites. There is a saying: 'All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.' No distinction is made with respect to nationality, origin, or color. And they who steal or rob men, and they who buy or purchase them, are they not alike? In this country freedom of conscience prevails, and that is right and just; but the body, too, is entitled to freedom, excepting in the case of a criminal, which is a different matter. But we Protest against stealing people and bringing them to this country against their will. In Europe many people are oppressed in matters of conscience; here blacks are oppressed.

"We know that we should not commit adultery; but some commit adultery indirectly, 5by separating wives from their husbands and delivering them to others. Some sell the children of these poor creatures. Ye who do such things, consider well if ye would like to be dealt with thus, and if it is consistent with Christianity. In Holland and Germany one cannot act so. Your good name suffers when it is reported in Europe that Quakers in America treat human beings as beasts are treated there. For that reason many have no desire or inclination to come here. Who could answer for, or defend, your acts? Verily, we cannot, unless you set us aright and prove that Christians may so conduct them- selves. Could anything worse happen to us than to be kidnapped and sold into slavery in a strange land, with husbands separated from wives, and parents from children? And since we do not wish to be treated so, we protest against and oppose slavery. Anyone who admits that it is wrong to steal should not buy stolen goods, but should rather assist in putting an end to theft and robbery, if possible. Those unfortunate wretches should be freed from the robbers, and given their liberty as is done in Europe. Then Pennsylvania will gain a good reputation in other countries, instead of the evil reputation which it now has. Then, too, the Europeans would like to know how the Quakers are ruling their 6province; most of them envy us.

"Should those slaves who are considered to be wicked and stubborn conspire and fight for their freedom, and mete out the same treatment to their masters and mistresses, will these wage war against the poor slaves? No doubt some will. But have the negroes not just as much right to regain their liberty as ye have to keep them in serfdom?

"Consider the cause well; is it just or unjust? If ye conclude that it is in order to treat the negroes in such manner, we most kindly request and beg you to inform us (that has not been done heretofore) why Christians may act thus, so that we may satisfy ourselves and our friends and acquaintances in the land of our birth. For the present it is an awful thought that human beings are being held in slavery in Pennsylvania."

This protest was accepted in 1688. It was directed to the like-minded Quaker 7Congregation of Germantown, and was the subject of discussion in several meetings of Friends. A hundred years later the same problem (slavery) was put before the Congress of the United States by the famous Quaker Warner Mifflin, and was examined in line with the protest of the German Quakers of Germantown. Agitation for the freedom of slaves was interrupted by the War of 1812, but was resumed by German idealists like Karl Follen, Franz Lieber, and later by Carl Schurz, until emancipation of negroes was effected by the Civil War. Two hundred years before it occurred, the greatest event in our nation's history during the nineteenth century was suggested by the peaceable and quiet German idealist of Germantown, Pennsylvania.

Professor Learned declared that "the old German city, Germantown, is a hallowed place, " and continued: "It may be justly said that Germantown has earned a place beside Jamestown and Plymouth Rock in American history."

When the Pfaelzer (inhabitants of the Palatinate) who hailed not only from the 8Palatinate, but also from Wuertemberg and other adjoining provinces, were banished by the murderous soldiers of Louis XIV, and placed themselves under the protection of the English Government, they were transferred to the American colonies, and followed in the footsteps of the German-Swiss and Huguenot immigrants who had preceded them to America. These German-Swiss and Huguenot immigrants had founded New Rochelle in New York, had settled in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and had established settlements in North Carolina, New Jersey, and Maryland.

Having suffered many hardships on the Hudson, the Pfaelzer trekked over the mountains to Berks County, Pennsylvania. From this point they spread out. Soon they received reinforcements from other German countries. The German-Swiss and the German Mennonites have left very distinct traces. The simplicity which characterized their morals and customs, the style of their clothing, and their religious rites have been preserved. But the Pfaelzer, despite their poverty, were the real founders of the German peasantry of Pennsylvania. They 9represented many trades and professions. Nearly all merchandise which was sold on American markets during the Colonial period was made by these Germans. In some places the dialect of the Pfaelzer is still spoken. The Pfaelzer were members of Lutheran or of Reformed churches, and were more liberal-minded than the Mennonites, Bunkers, Amish, and other Separatists. They were much more prominent in the political and social life of the Province of Pennsylvania, and Governor Keith feared that Pennsylvania would soon become a German province. Like the Scotch-Irish, the Pfaelzer were the leaders in the community.

Those Pfaelzer who, because of their education, were qualified to be spiritual leaders, maintained communication with the homeland. They provided churches and schools in which the German language was used. German books were printed, and German papers were published. The German schoolmaster had emigrated with the German farmer and the German mechanic, and had found many uses in Pennsylvania and other American colonies for the knowledge and accomplishments which he had acquired in Germany. During the years 1710-1740 about twenty German schools 10were established in Pennsylvania. The intellectual activity of the German colonists is evident from the fact that the German books which Benjamin Franklin of Philadelphia printed for these colonists found a ready market, that Christopher Saur could establish and maintain a nearly all-German press in German-town, and that a German newspaper could flourish in remote Ephrata. The copiousness of the German literature which was printed in Pennsylvania in the eighteenth century is remarkable and proves that the German colonists were by no means intellectually inferior to the English colonists.

During the Colonial period the Germans had spread beyond the limits of the settlements to which they had migrated in Pennsylvania and New York, and penetrated into the "great valley" of the Allegheny Mountains and into the Ohio Valley. They were loyal subjects of the English Government, but they insisted upon their rights, just as the English colonists did. The attempts of the "Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Lands" to Anglicanize the German congregations led to a religious war which ended in the defeat of 11the nationalists and caused a breach between German and English ideals.

During the French [and Indian] War the Germans of Pennsylvania sided with the Colonial Government, but later, when the English Government began to oppress the colonists through the Stamp Act and the tax on tea, in order to fill England's empty treasury at the expense of the Colonists, the vulnerable spot of the Germans--their pocketbook--was touched and their protest was not long in forthcoming. They were strongly opposed to this form of English tyranny, and they found a fearless champion in Heinrich Miller, the publisher of the Pennsylvannischen Staatsboten (Pennsylvania State Messenger). This publication was one of the first newspapers of our country, and it contributed much to the cause of liberty. The German colonists were highly elated when the Revolutionary War, in which they participated according to their best ability, ended in victory for the American colonists. They were happy at the formation of the United States of America. Only a relatively small number of German Mennonites remained loyal to the English King and emigrated to Canada, where some of their 12descendants still reside.

The influence of the movement for the independence of America, the founding of the Republic, and the principles laid down in the Declaration of Independence had a profound effect upon the intellectual leaders of Germany. Friedrich von Schiller, Wieland, and Herder loudly proclaimed the importance of the War for Freedom and the advantages gained by it. Had not the Napoleonic wars interfered, the liberty won by the Americans of German descent would have staggered, and finally put an end to the "rule by the grace of God" of the "nobles" in Germany.

No American historian has given a better description of the influence of German immigration upon the shaping of our new fatherland, and upon the development of the American people, than that which has come to us from the hand of Marion Dexter Learned. In 1908 he wrote: "The history of German influence in America during the past two hundred years teaches us that the German, more than 13any other non-English element, has stamped his character upon the American people through his idealistic endeavors, and has exercised very great influence upon the development of the new Republic. That was done not so much by direct transfer of German ideas, customs, and morals to America, as by equalizing contrasts and gradually bringing racial elements into harmony. The American nation has not become German any more than it has remained English. Like their civilization, the American people are a blending of English and German national cultural elements, which have so intergrown, that they are immediately recognized as a new people. And the future hopes of the American and of the German nation depend upon this equalizing, harmonizing, and blending."

What this American, who is in no way related to the German race, said about the significance of German immigration has lost neither in value nor in importance. No one can deny that the German immigrants contributed to the development of the American people. This contribution had its advantages often proved to be a blessing. But it also establishes an historical right to complete equality, as 14far as race is concerned, and to recognition of the great services which were rendered by the German immigrants who so greatly influenced the expansion and progress of the American nation.