Francis Lieber

Lieber did not receive a normal gentleman's education. Returning to Berlin after the Napoleonic wars (post 1815),[9] he studied hard and passed the entrance exams for the University of Berlin. However, he was denied admission because of his membership in the Berliner Burschenschaft, which opposed the Prussian monarchy. Moving to Jena, Lieber entered the University of Jena in 1820 and within four months finished writing a dissertation in the field of mathematics.[10] As the Prussian authorities caught up with him, Lieber left Jena for Dresden to study topography with Major Decker (briefly). As soon as the Greek Revolution of 1821 broke out, Lieber volunteered his services.[7]

American gymnastics proponent, John Neal

Lieber fought briefly in the Greek War of Independence, and then spent one year, 1822–1823, in Rome tutoring the son of the Prussian ambassador, historian Barthold Georg Niebuhr. While there, Lieber wrote about his experiences in Greece. The result was published in Leipzig in 1823 and also in Amsterdam under the title The German Anacharsis. Lieber returned to Germany on a royal pardon, but was soon imprisoned once again, this time at Köpenick. There he wrote a collection of poems entitled Wein- und Wonne-Lieder (Songs of wine and bliss), which on his release, with Niebuhr's help, were published in Berlin in 1824 under the pen name of "Franz Arnold."

Lieber fled to England in 1825, and supported himself for a year in London by giving lessons and contributing to German periodicals. In London he met American writer and critic John Neal, who was studying gymnastics from Carl Voelker and intent on bringing the movement to the US.[11] Neal published an article in the American Journal of Education recommending Lieber as "qualified, almost beyond example" as a teacher of gymnastics, and "the chief personage with professor Jahn himself.”[12] Lieber also wrote a tract on the Lancasterian system of instruction, and met his future wife, Mathilda Oppenheimer.[1] He left England upon receiving an offer to manage a gymnasium and swimming program in Boston.

Lieber moved to Boston in 1827. He came with recommendations from Jahn, as well as from General Pfuel who ran a swimming program in Berlin. Lieber was also acquainted with the outgoing gymnasium administrator, Charles Follen, both believing thoroughly in the importance of training the body along with the mind. Follen had established the pioneer gymnasium in 1826. Lieber's Boston swimming school of 1827, a new departure in the educational field in the United States, became such a feature that John Quincy Adams, then President of the United States, went to see it.[13][14][15] The gymnasium had a difficult time once the novelty had worn off and in the face of caricatures in the newspapers. It closed its doors after two years.[15]

In Boston, Lieber edited an Encyclopaedia Americana,[16] after conceiving of the idea of translating the Brockhaus encyclopedia into English. It was published in Philadelphia in 13 volumes, between the years 1829 and 1833.[17] At this time, he also made translations of a French work on the revolution of July 1830 and of Feuerbach's life of Kaspar Hauser. He was also a confidant to Alexis de Tocqueville on the customs of the American people.

In 1832, he received a commission from the trustees of the newly founded Girard College to form a plan of education. This was published at Philadelphia in 1834.[17] He resided in Philadelphia from 1833 until 1835.

He soon became a professor of history and political economics at South Carolina College (now the University of South Carolina), where he remained until 1856. During his 20 years at the College, he produced some of his most important works. Such writers and jurists as Mittermaier, Johann Kaspar Bluntschli, Édouard René de Laboulaye, Joseph Story and James Kent, recognized in him a kindred mind.[18] The spirit of Lieber's work is indicated in his favorite motto, Nullum jus sine officio, nullum officium sine jure ("No right without its duties, no duty without its rights").[19]

From 1856 until 1865, he was professor of history and political science at Columbia University (then Columbia College). His title was chosen by himself, and made him the first officially designated political scientist in the United States.[1] In 1860, he also became professor of political science in the law school, which post he held until his death. His inaugural address as professor at Columbia, on "Individualism and Socialism or Communism," was published by the college.[20]

Lieber sided with the North during the American Civil War, even though he had been a resident of South Carolina. As early as 1851, he delivered an address in South Carolina warning the southern states against secession. One of his sons, geologist Oscar Montgomery Lieber (see below), joined the Confederate army and died at the Battle of Eltham's Landing. During the conflict, Francis Lieber was one of the founders and served as the head of the Loyal Publication Society of New York, compiling news articles for dissemination among Union troops and Northern newspapers. More than one hundred pamphlets were issued by it under his supervision, of which ten were by himself. He also assisted the Union War Department and President Abraham Lincoln in drafting legal guidelines for the Union army, the most famous being General Orders Number 100, or the "Lieber Code" as it is commonly known. The Lieber Code would be adopted by other military organizations and go on to form the basis of the first laws of war. Lieber's contributions and legacy are detailed in the 2012 non-fiction account entitled, ironically, Lincoln's Code.[21]

An abridged version of the Lieber Code was published in 1899 in The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies in 1899.[22]

After the Civil War, Lieber was given the task of accumulating and preserving the records of the former government of the Confederate States of America. While working in this capacity, Lieber was one of the last known people to possess the infamous Dahlgren Affair papers. Shortly after obtaining them, Lieber was ordered to give them to Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, who likely disposed of them, as they have not been seen since.

From 1870 until his death in New York City, aged 72, Francis Lieber served as a diplomatic negotiator between the United States and Mexico.[23] He was chosen, with the united approval of the United States and Mexico, as final arbitrator in important cases pending between the two countries. This work was not completed at his death.[17] Lieber was a member of the French Institute and of many learned societies in the United States and elsewhere.[16]

• "Essays on Subjects of Penal Law and the Penitentiary System," published by the Philadelphia prison discipline society
• "Abuse of the Pardoning Power," republished by the legislature of New York
• "Remarks on Mrs. Fry's Views of Solitary Confinement," published in England
• Letter on the Penitentiary System. 1838. published by the legislature of South Carolina

• "Letter on Anglican and Gallican Liberty"
• a paper on the vocal sounds of Laura Bridgman, the blind deaf mute, compared with the elements of phonetic language, published in the "Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge"
• "Individualism and Socialism or Communism" His inaugural address as professor in Columbia College. He regarded these as the two poles on which all human life turns.
• "The Ancient and the Modern Teacher of Politics" His introductory discourse to a course of lectures on the state in the college law school.

Numerous addresses on anniversary and other occasions.

• Ramshorn, Lewis (1841). Dictionary of Latin Synonymes. Little and Brown.
• Gustave de Beaumont; Alexis de Tocqueville (1848). Penitentiary System in the United States. With annotations. He also assisted in the gathering of the statistical data for the original book.[1]