Education and Politics
Born at Eichtersheim (now Angelbachtal in Baden-Württemberg), the son of a revenue official, he studied law at the University of Heidelberg with the intention of becoming an lawyer. In Heidelberg he became a member of the Corps Rhenania. In 1838, he was an advocate before the Supreme Court in Mannheim. He abandoned the legal profession on being elected to the Second Chamber of Baden in 1842, and at once began to take part in the opposition against the government, which assumed a more and more openly radical character. His talents as an agitator and his personal charm won him wide popularity and influence. His influence helped to oust the Blittersdorf ministry from office.
A speech, denouncing the projected incorporation of Schleswig and Holstein with Denmark, delivered in the Chamber of Baden on February 6, 1845, spread his fame beyond the limits of his own state, and his popularity was increased by his expulsion from Prussia on the occasion of a journey to Stettin. After the death of his more moderate-minded friend Adolf Sander (March 9, 1845), Hecker's tone towards the government became more and more bitter. In 1845, in conjunction with Itzstein, he conducted a democratic campaign in Germany, during which he was arrested at Berlin and expelled from Prussia. He enjoyed an ever-increasing popularity. Even before the outbreak of the revolution, he included socialist claims in his programme.
Read more about this topic: Friedrich Hecker
Famous quotes containing the words education and, education and/or politics:
“Shakespeare, with an improved education and in a more enlightened age, might easily have attained the purity and correction of Racine; but nothing leads one to suppose that Racine in a barbarous age would have attained the grandeur, force and nature of Shakespeare.”
—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)
“It is not every man who can be a Christian, even in a very moderate sense, whatever education you give him. It is a matter of constitution and temperament, after all. He may have to be born again many times. I have known many a man who pretended to be a Christian, in whom it was ridiculous, for he had no genius for it. It is not every man who can be a free man, even.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The trouble with Nixon is that he’s a serious politics junkie. He’s totally hooked ... and like any other junkie, he’s a bummer to have around: especially as President.”
—Hunter S. Thompson (b. 1939)