The German Element in the United States, With Special Reference to Its Political, Moral, Social and Educational Influence, by Albert Bernhardt Faust is a two-volume work published in 1909. It discusses the experience, influence and accomplishments of people of German heritage residing in the United States from the times of the early European settlements through the 19th century.
Origins of the book
Although Faust, a professor of German at Cornell University, felt the time was hardly ripe for such a work, he also felt there were dangers of being overcautious; merely hoarding the materials he had been collecting without making intelligent use of them destroyed an opportunity and left a responsibility undischarged as he saw it. So when Catherine Seipp of Chicago offered prizes for monographs on the subject, Faust responded and received the first prize.
Basic statistics
Attention is given to population statistics in the book. Faust clearly proceeded with the intention of understating the total proportion of persons of German heritage in the United States at the time of the 1900 census, and his estimate falls short of some previous reckonings, giving 18,000,000 as against 20,000,000 of English descent, 13,000,000 of Irish descent and 14,000,000 of other stocks. The fact that these statistics were prepared under the supervision of Walter F. Willcox of Cornell gives them some credibility.
Influence of the German element
The work is not limited to such statistics. Faust's chief object, as the book's subtitle emphasizes, was to estimate the influence of people of German heritage upon the whole body politic of the United States. This goal prompted a twofold solution: first, a chronological history of people of German heritage in the United States; and second, a categorical discussion, looking at the influence in political, moral, social and educational fields. The first volume contains the chronological history, and the second volume studies contributions of people of German heritage by field of endeavor. Both volumes are supplemented by population statistics.
The history as outlined includes individuals and communities. Examples of individuals include Conrad Weiser, Christian Frederick Post, Nicholas Herkimer, Christoph Ludwig, John Adam Treutlen, Leonard Helm, Joseph Bowman, Friedrich Münch, Charles Follen, Adolph Sutro, John Sutter, John Röbling, Peter Mühlenberg, Baron von Steuben, Baron de Kalb, Franz Lieber and Carl Schurz. In addition, Faust collected a good deal of material on early German settlements in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and elsewhere.
Presentation strategy
In the first volume, the chronological history, Faust largely builds up a negative argument in favor of the early German settlers in the United States, "their value being manifest mainly when measured by the standard of assimilation". In the second volume, the categorical history, he sets out to show what he feels is a positive influence of people of German heritage upon life in the United States and upon the American stereotype.
In the large, Faust's method in the second volume was to sum up instances in order to establish principles. For example, in the chapter on industrial development, illustrations are furnished purporting to prove that in all branches requiring technical training German influence was predominant. Under the head of politics, the independent voting behavior of people of German heritage receives illustration. In the area of agriculture, the principle is maintained that the German farmer not only applied his skill and industry, but whenever necessary adapted himself to new conditions, using and inventing agricultural machinery, or becoming a rice grower in the South and big farmer in the West.
Inconsistencies
Faust admits to inconsistencies in places. For example, in treating the early history of New York, that is New Netherland, he clearly distinguished Peter Minuit, the German purchaser and first Governor of Manhattan, and a later tenant of that office, Jacob Leisler, from the Dutch settlers, and says little about the Dutch governors. Yet when he came to reckoning the number of persons of German descent in the United States in the early 20th century, he included the Dutch in a lump as Low Germans.