Download or read book Claiming Germanness in America: the Reception of the Bennett Law in Wisconsin's German-language Press written by Christopher G. Stohs and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Wisconsin's Bennett Law of 1889 ignited a fiery debate regarding the merits of bilingual education, the proper degree of immigrant assimilation, and the extent of freedom of religion, conscience, and association. The law drew heavy German-American opposition because it was viewed as an attack on German parochial schools and thus on Deutschtum, on German culture itself. With the help of German Americans, Wisconsin's Democratic Party won its biggest victory in 1890 since before the Civil War, leading to the repeal of the Bennett Law in 1891 during the next legislative session. When historians have examined the Bennett Law, they have focused mostly on English-language sources and tended to neglect German-language ones. This dissertation seeks to fill that research gap by examining how Wisconsin's German-language newspapers covered the Bennett Law controversy. This dissertation reveals how the divisions among German Americans were reflected in their newspaper coverage of the Bennett Law. The Protestant Germania described the Bennett Law as an attack on parochial schools, the German language, and German culture and argued against the law employing different genres, such as critical essays and impassioned songs and poems. Taking a different view, the editors of the Amerikanische Turnzeitung expressed support for the Bennett Law, viewing it as allowing the state to fulfill its duty to properly educate its citizens. The editors of the Catholic Columbia saw in the Bennett Law controversy echoes of the Kulturkampf that their fellow Catholics had waged with Bismarck in the German Empire. Newspapers published outside of Milwaukee were drawn into the Bennett controversy, too. Wausau's Republican Der deutsche Pionier supported the law, while Madison's Democratic Wisconsin Botschafter, the Democratic Watertown WeltbuÌ8rger, and politically independent Pionier am Wisconsin opposed it. Understanding the ways in which German-language newspapers in Wisconsin reacted to the Bennett Law sheds light on how citizens of diverse ethnic backgrounds have, since the founding of the Republic, approached issues such as immigration, assimilation, religious freedom, and the role of government that are of enduring relevance in American society.