Encyclopedia > Turners

  Article Content

Turners

Turners, (gymnasts in English) were a group of German Americans[?] who together with Carl Schurz were instrumental in getting Abraham Lincoln elected as president.

They were formed in turnvereins[?], or "gymnastic unions", which were not only athletic, but also political, reflecting their origin in similar "nationalistic gymnastic" organizations in Europe. The German movement was started by Turn Vater Jahn[?] and was instrumental in German unification[?] after 1848.

American turners provided the bodyguard at Lincoln's inauguration March 4, 1861 and also at Lincoln's funeral.

The turnvereins made an important contribution to the integration of German-Americans into their new home. Outposts of the organizations continue to exist in areas of heavy German immigration, such as Wisconsin. In 1948 the United States Post Office issued a 3-cent commemorative stamp[?] marking the 100th anniversary of the movement.



All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

 
  Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!
 
 
  
  Featured Article
Thomas a Kempis

... more of eternal truth in a moment of time than a student might learn in the schools in ten years. Excellent as these counsels are, they are set in the minor key and ...

 
 
 
This page was created in 23.1 ms