Von Holst, Hermann Eduard (1841–1904)

• Author: Leonard W. Levy
• Pages: 2804

Page 2804

A German immigrant who became chairman of the department of history at the University of Chicago, Hermann E. von Holst published a seven-volume Constitutional and Political History of the United States (1876?1892). The work is malproportioned; the last four volumes cover 1850?1861. Intent on condemning the "slavocracy," the author blamed the ANNEXATION OF TEXAS, the Mexican War, the KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACT, and the CIVIL WAR on a slaveholders' conspiracy. The decision in DRED SCOTT V. SANDFORD (1857), wrote von Holst, was "an unparalleled prostitution of the judicial ermine." Von Holst believed that centralized SOVEREIGNTY and a free society stood for morality and national salvation. Despite his valuable use of newspapers and public documents, his style...