Let us be united, as two Sister Republics

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The Sister Republics
Switzerland and the United States from 1776 to the Present:
A Story of Common Values and Shared Inspiration
Let us be united, as two Sister Republics
The Swiss politician, businessman and collector who had a vision of the United States and Switzerland as “Sister Republics,”
Johann Rudolph Valltravers, was born in Bern in 1723. As his many letters to Benjamin Franklin (some of them not yet
published) document, he discovered his enthusiasm for the American cause at tabou the time when Franklin arrive in Paris as
the American commissioner to France, in 1776.
While living at “Rockhall” near Bienne, a city which was, and still is, a part of the Canton of Bern, Valltravers seems to have
maintained a house in London, with a substantial library, collections of minerals, fossils and insects, and a private art gallery.
At one point, he offers to Franklin to sell his collections, in order to establish a museum in one of the major cities of America.
“Although I am not an American by birth,” he writes, “I have long been and still am American by attachment and may most
likely soon become one by property.”
In 1778, Valltravers proposes to Franklin a “Friendly union” between the thirteen Confederate States and the (then) thirteen
Cantons of Switzerland. He also offers, for a modest salary, his services as an American Consul in Switzerland, explaining:
“For those many Swiss now settled in America, having often legacies, inheritances or new to impart, properties to transmit,
an American Resident in Switzerland would be the proper channel and protection to have their resource to.” Following an
old Swiss tradition, he even suggests sending young Swiss men as soldiers to America – but only in times of peace and on
favorable terms. Franklin left Paris in 1785 and died in Philadelphia in 1790, while Valltravers lived on, in relative obscurity, it
would seem, until the end of the Napoleonic age (1815).
A Swiss Miss, recommending the referendum
Drawing by Dan Beard, Cosmopolitan Magazine, July 1893 - General Collections
This illustration appeared on the title page of W.D. McCrackan’s “The Swiss Referendum, The Ideal Republican Government,’ one of a flood of articles published in American
periodicals in the 1890s, touting the Swiss initiative and referendum as panaceas for American political problems. The Swiss Miss is offering the referendum to Miss America
for her eagle as well as to the governments of Britain (represented by the lion), France and Germany.
http://www.swisscenterna.com/thecenter/sisterrepublics.asp
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The Sister Republics
The Unknown Continent
As soon as Columbus’ landing in
America became known in Europe, the
Swiss enthusiastically collected and
disseminated information about the New
World. Within two years of Columbus’
great discovery, a book with a woodcut
showing the explorer disembarking at
Hispaniola was printed in Basel.
Throughout the 16th century, Swiss
scholars speculated about the
significance of the discovery of the new
continent. Descriptions and pictures of
New World animals, some highly fanciful,
were published.
One of the very first maps of North
America was printed in Basel, in 1540.
The first known Swiss on American soil
was Diebold von Erlach from Bern (1541
–1565). He came from a distinguished
family of soldiers and statesmen and
participated in a military expedition
launched by French Huguenots who
were attempting to gain a foothold on the
southern coast of North America. Diebold
von Erlach was killed in a conflict with the
Spaniards who founded St. Augustine,
Florida.
Since then, almost half a million Swiss
immigrants have settled in North
America, at least 25,000 of them before
1776. A number of fairly homogeneous
Swiss settlements took shape, and
some of them are still recognizable as
such, especially New Glarus, Wisconsin.
There are also, to mention a few, Monroe
(Wisconsin), Highland (Illinois) and Vevey
(Indiana) Throughout the United States,
there are eighteen towns called New
Bern.
Switzerland and the Age of the
American Revolution, (1776-1789)
The Swiss who came to the American
colonies in substantial numbers in the
18th century strongly supported the
American Revolution. Thousands of
Swiss fought in the Continental Army,
and others made arms and ordinance
for the American government. Johann
Jacob (1729 – 1799), born in Basel, was
producing by 1773 iron chains to obstruct
the Hudson River, and various kinds of
ammunition, shells, casing and cannons
for George Washington’s army. Other
Swiss gunsmiths were expert fabricators
of the Pennsylvania or Kentucky rifle,
which evolved from the “Swiss-Jaeger”
rifle. The Swiss were motivated by the
belief that the American Struggle with
Great Britain was similar to the wars of
independence their ancestors had led
against Austria, both struggles being
seen as efforts by oppressed peoples to
win their freedom from despotic imperial
overlords.
Swiss thinkers made a significant
contribution to the ideological part of
America’s contest with Great Britain.
Two Swiss scholars, Jean Jacques
Burlamaqui (1694-1749), professor of
ethics and natural law at the University
of Geneva, and Emer de Vattel (17141767), a native of Neuchatel, and pupil
of Burlamaqui, were authorities on the
natural law and the law of nations, and
their writings strongly influenced many
of the patriot leaders, Thomas Jefferson
in particular. Both Burlamaqui and
Vattel argued in favor of fundamental
natural laws that could not be violated
by kings or parliaments. Their ideas
helped furnish an ideological base for the
American rejection of British sovereignty.
American scholars have maintained that
Thomas Jefferson may have borrowed
some of the most striking phrases in
the Declaration of Independence – for
example, “the pursuit of happiness”
– from Burlamaqui.
Delegates at the Constitutional
Convention at Philadelphia in 1787
discussed the validity of the Swiss
Confederation. The leading Federalists,
James Madison, Alexander Hamilton,
and James Wilson, argued that all
confederate governments had a flaw:
They delegated too little power to the
central government, and this made them
vulnerable to internal dissent and foreign
interference. In order to prove their point,
the Federalists cited some problems of
the Swiss Confederation.
The Antifederalists opposed the principle
of the new Constitution. They praised
the model of the Swiss Confederation
and its many excellent features, including
equality of representation for each
canton. Patrick Henry, one of the leading
Antifederalists, admired the “Swiss spirit”
which proved, to him, that a virtuous,
freedom-loving nation does not need a
strong central government.
In the months preceding the Federal
Constitutional Convention which opened
Washington and Tell.
The Heroes of immortal Freedom
Engraving - Original in Universitatsbibliothek, Karl
Marx Universitat, Leipzig. Photograph courtesy of
the University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill,
North Carolina
This anonymous engraving, dated by authorities
between 1777 and 1793, shows the linkage in the
eighteenth century European mind between the
national heroes of Switzerland and the United States.
The common love of freedom, ascribed to citizens
of both countries, as well as certain similarities in
government, made the term Sister Republics seem an
appropriate description of the two nations.
in Philadelphia in May 1787, James
Madison made a thorough study of
confederal governments, ancient and
modern, to ascertain if they could be
used as a model for a new American
Constitution (he concluded that
they could not). Among the modern
confederacies analyzed by Madison was
the government of Switzerland—the
Helvetic Confederacy, he called it—
about which he made several pages of
observations.
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The Sister Republics
The Founding Fathers and the
University of Geneva
The Project to Purchase
“L’Academie de Calvin”
Geneva is a city well known to most
Americans. The “Geneva Bible,” a bible
in English translation, was published in
Geneva in 1560 by a group of British
refugees influenced by the teaching of
John Calvin (1509–1564). This “Geneva
Bible” was carried to the American
Continent in 1620 by the Pilgrim Fathers
and was widely used in the American
colonies well into the 17th century. The
last edition was published in 1644.
Among the Swiss who came to America
in the 18th century, Albert Gallatin (17611849) is, perhaps, the most famous. He
was born in Geneva and later served
as Secretary of the Treasury under
Presidents Jefferson and Madison.
Benjamin Franklin, and other leaders
of the American Revolution, sent their
children and grandchildren to Geneva to
be educated.
The American Constitution:
A model for the first Swiss Federal
Constitution of 1848
In 1847 a civil war broke out
in Switzerland. It opposed the
“Sonderbund,” a defensive pact
concluded by seven Roman Catholic
cantons, and the other cantons, mainly
Protestant, which formed the majority of
the old Diet. Called “Sonderbundskrieg,”
it lasted less that a month, and there
were few casualties. The war made a
constitutional revision mandatory.
For fifty years, since the invasion of
Switzerland by Napoleon’s armies in
1798, several Swiss politicians, lawyers
and philosophers such as Philipp Albert
Stapfer, Johannes von Müller, and I.P.G.
Troxler, urged their countrymen to use
the United States Constitution of 1787 as
a model.
Two main features of the American
Constitution were particularly
appealing. The first was the principle
of bicameralism, i.e. the division of
the legislature into two houses, one
representing the country’s population
at large, the other representing the
individual states, giving each equal
weight. The other was federalism, i.e. the
distribution of power between the federal
and state governments. There is another
striking resemblance between the two
Constitutions. Both were designed to
overcome economic difficulties. To
achieve this, the central government in
each country was empowered to raise
In the summer of 1794 Geneva was
shaken by a political upheaval. A
revolutionary tribunal, following the
French example, had prominent citizens
arrested, thrown in to prison, even
summarily executed. Among them
were several professors of the famous
“Academie de Calvin.” A politician and
political writer from Geneva, Francois
D’Ivernois (1757-1842), who lived in exile
in London, was afraid that the Academy
might be totally consumed in this
revolutionary atmosphere. He conceived
a plan to transplant it “in its entirety,
with its organization intact, and with all
the resources of teaching” to the United
States, near Washington, where it would
serve as the National University of the
new Republic.
His plan found the enthusiastic approval
of leading politicians in the United
States. The first four presidents – George
Washington, John Adams, Thomas
Jefferson and James Madison – made
great efforts to acquire the University of
Geneva and transfer it to this country. In
the end, the project could not be realized.
It shows, nevertheless, the broad mutual
respect between the United State and
Switzerland during this crucial period.
Alexander Hamilton, Notes for Speech in Federal Constitution
Holograph - Alexander Hamilton Papers, Manuscript Division
In his major speech in the Constitutional Convention, 18 June 1787, Hamilton proposed a central government for
the United States far stronger than any advocated by his colleagues. He cited Switzerland as an example of what
he regarded as an intrinsic flaw in confederal governments: weakness of the central authority, resulting in political
instability.
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The Sister Republics
revenues and to regulate commerce.
There were, of course, differences.
The fathers of the Swiss Constitution
did not favor a strong President and
preferred to vest executive powers in a
seven-member council, elected by the
legislature for three-year terms.
In 1852, Switzerland contributed to
the Washington Monument, a large
polished slab of granite in Washington,
as a “token of Switzerland’s affectionate
attachment to the Free State of North
America, and in memory of the Founder
of the Republic.”
The Swiss and the American Civil
War – I
The Swiss Consul General in Washington
estimated in 1862 that up to six thousand
Swiss-born soldiers were fighting
in the Union Army. Entire units were
predominantly Swiss, for instance the
15th Missouri Regiment, known as the
“Swiss Rifles,” and Company A of the
First United States Sharpshooters.
One Swiss soldier, Emil Frey (18391922), after serving a harrowing eighteen
months in a Confederate prison, returned
to Switzerland. In 1882, he became the
first Swiss minister to the United States
and, in 1894, President of the Swiss
Confederation. Although some Swiss
fought for the excitement, many were
motivated by idealism. They felt that
it was their duty to “support the great
cause of the republic” and to fight for “an
idea that is destined to bring freedom to
all men.”
Very few Swiss served in the Confederate
army. One of them was Major Henry
Wirz (1823-1865) of Zurich, commander
of the notorious Confederate prisoner
of war camp at Andersonville, Georgia,
where Union prisoners died in terrifying
numbers. He was sentenced to death by
Union authorities, but some believe that
he served merely as a scapegoat for the
crimes of others, and an effort is being
made to reopen his case to rehabilitate
his name.
At the end of the American Civil War in
the spring of 1865, some 20,000 Swiss
citizens, encouraged by the Radical and
Liberal parties, signed more than 300
letters to the American government,
congratulating it on its victory and
offering condolences on the death of
Abraham Lincoln.
David Habbegger
Citizens of Switzerland also expressed
to America their concern for the newly
emancipated slaves, urging America to
provide the freed men with financial and
educational support.
Photograph - Courtesy of Mrs. F. L. Habbegger,
Highland, Illinois
David Habbegger enlisted in the Union Army at
Highland, Illinois, a Swiss community near St. Louis
which furnished many members of the 15th Missouri
Regiment, the Swiss Rifles, whose distinctive flag
featured the Swiss cross on a red field and 34 stars
on a blue field. Habbegger himself was a saddler in
the 16th Illinois Cavalry.
The Swiss and the American Civil
War – II
At the end of the war, some Swiss
politicians wished to honor the
“Transatlantic Sister Republic” by
establishing a “permanent memorial” in
the west wing of the Federal Building in
Bern. They thought of a painting which
would represent Lincoln, Johnson, Grant
and Sherman in “striking scenes.” The
money from an unofficial fund-raising
campaign was given to the painter Frank
Buchser (1828-1890), who traveled to
the United States in the spring of 1866.
Buchser carried with him a letter of
introduction addressed by the Federal
Council to William Seward, the Secretary
of State:
“Switzerland has attentively watched
the might contest in the United States,
and now greets with great joy the
victories of the Union. The names of
the great statesmen and warriors,
to whom the triumph is due, are as
well known and as much honored
here as in the Untied States. These
circumstances suggested the idea
to one of our artist to collect these
figures and scenes in one group, to
form a large historical painting, to
decorate our Hall of Representatives.
When his work is finished, we may
truly say that the Republics of the Old
and New World have a new bond of
union.”
The project as a whole was never
executed. In 1870 Buchser wrote:
“In general, people in our country
have expressed the desire that the
friendly relations between Switzerland
and her great Sister Republic,
the United States, should be truly
heartfelt. This urge to fraternize
became especially strong when the
North emerged victorious from the
long gigantic struggle and the names
of Lincoln, Grant, Sherman, etc. were
mentioned with such great respect.
(...) I painted a few portraits, and I
hope that, in the Federal palace, they
will make a favorable impression upon
my fellow Swiss and become, for
Americans, an eloquent testimony of
our mutual Friendship.”
The “Alabama” Affair; The League
of Nations; Switzerland’s Neutrality
During the American Civil War, the
confederacy used British-built ships to
attack Union commerce. One of them,
the “Alabama,” destroyed over sixty
Northern merchantmen before being sunk
by the U.S.S. “Kearsarge” off the coast of
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The Sister Republics
Initiative and referendum were used
and perfected as political instruments in
Switzerland during the late 19th century
to such an extent that many people in the
United States and elsewhere regarded
them as authentic Swiss inventions. The
referendum, introduced in 1874, requires
a direct popular vote before a measure
passed by the legislature becomes law.
The initiative, introduced in 1891, allows
groups of citizens rather than members
of a legislature, to make laws by putting
measure before their fellow citizens for a
vote.
In the last decade of the 19th century, the
United States witnessed a remarkable
surge of interest in these two political
instruments, as applied by the Swiss.
Numerous books and articles published
in America praised initiative and
referendum as valuable devices to purge
politics of corruption.
The Apple of Discord at the Geneva Tribunal
Cartoon by Thomas Nast, Harper’s Weekly, 5 October 1872 - Prints and Photograph Division
The famous American cartoonist, Thomas Nast, uses a William Tell theme to depict the Alabama Arbitration in
Geneva in 1872. Imitating Tell, John Bull (Great Britain) shoots an apple, labeled Alabama claims, off the head
of Uncle Sam; the feathers of the British arrow, lower right, are marked 15,500,000 in gold, the indemnity levied
against Britain by the arbitration panel, whose five members sit watching the proceeding, with Geneva and Lake
Leman in the background.
Cherbourg, France, on June 19, 1864.
The American government accused the
British of criminal negligence in allowing
the Confederacy to operate against its
shipping and demanded compensation
for the damages suffered. In the summer
of 1872, the American “Alabama”
claim was submitted to a five-member
arbitration panel which met in Geneva,
Switzerland. The panel ordered the British
to pay the United States $15,500,000 in
damages.
When President Woodrow Wilson and
other world leaders were deliberating on
the future site of the League of Nations, in
1919, the memory of the “Alabama” affair
was invoked by supporters of Geneva,
and Geneva was chosen. The American
President seems to have favored Geneva
from the beginning. He drew attention to
the Red Cross, founded by Swiss citizens
in Geneva in 1864 and joined by the
United States in 1882. To him, the Red
Cross documented the Swiss aptitude
for organizing and accommodating
multinational ventures in peace-making,
charity and philanthropy: “Switzerland
is a people vowed to absolute neutrality
by its constitution and its blend of races
and languages. It is marked out to be the
meeting-place of other peoples desiring
to undertake a work of peace and
cooperation.” (Woodrow Wilson, 1919)
“Neutrality implies, as a matter of fact,
non-participation in the wars of other
states. It does not imply, as a matter of
principle, the renunciation of any right
to draw a distinction between the two
belligerents, or else it would lack all
moral basis. Swiss people will never be
condemned by their neutrality to a policy
of indifference or of timorous caution.”
(The Federal Council of Switzerland,
1919)
After the complete failure of the League
of Nations as a first attempt to establish
a “system of collective security,” the
Federal Council declared in 1938 that
Switzerland would resume its traditional
integral neutrality.
Initiative and Referendum
One of the most outspoken advocates
was William Denison McCrakan (18641934) who traveled to Switzerland many
times to conduct research. Among his
books, The Rise of the Swiss Republic
(Boston and London, 1892, reprinted
1902 and 1970) was received favorably
in America, Great Britain and Switzerland
and established his reputation as a firstrate historian.
By the end of World War One, no less
then twenty-three American States had
followed the Swiss example and adopted
either the initiative or the referendum
or both. In 1997, an Amendment to
the Constitution of the United States
“to give citizens ... the right to propose
amendments ... by an initiative process”
was introduced in the House.
The United States and Switzerland
The ties are strong, and the friendship
is enduring
In 1991, the 700th anniversary of Swiss
Independence and Freedom was
celebrated. On this occasion, the United
States honored the transatlantic Sister
Republic by circulating, in parallel with
Switzerland, an identical postage stamp.
It shows the Capitol together with the
parliamentary building of the Swiss
Confederation. The stamp was designed
by Hans Hartmann, a Swiss artist well
known for the stamps and posters he
created, and serves as but another
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The Sister Republics
example of Swiss-American friendship.
Swiss-American Relations: Did You Know That?
• In 1990, more than one million U.S. residents claimed Swiss ancestry.
• More than 60,000 Swiss citizens live in the United States.
• Just over 20,000 Americans live in Switzerland
• With direct foreign investment amounting to more than $35 billion, Switzerland
ranks among the top seven investors in the United States.
• Swiss companies provide jobs for approximately 300,000 Americans
throughout the United States. These companies pay federal, state and local
taxes.
• More than 500 U.S. companies have an established presence in Switzerland.
• The U.S.A. is the most important exporter to Switzerland outside of Europe
and, after Germany, the second most important worldwide.
• In 2003, well over 400,000 Swiss-based travelers visited the United States—
an all-time record.
• Switzerland is he protecting power representing the interests of the United
States both in Iran and Cuba.
Acknowledgements
Based on a concept conceived and
presented by the United States Library of
Congress in 1991, the exhibition marked
the 700th Anniversary of the Swiss
Confederation.
The Swiss National Library presented the
exhibit in Bern, Basel, Geneva and Zurich in
1992 and 1993.
In Celebration of the 150th Anniversary of
the Swiss Constitution in 1998, the exhibition
was revised and presented at the Joseph G.
Cannon House Office Building on Capitol Hill
in Washington, DC. This was again made
possible through the cooperation of the
Library of Congress, in particular Dr. James
Hutson, and the Swiss National Library.
The nationwide tour of the exhibition has also
been generously supported by:
• Coordinating Commission for the
Presence of Switzerland Abroad
• Novartis International
• Swissair and Swisscargo
• Winterthur Swiss Insurance Company
And many helping hands at each exhibition
site.
Design concept and production of The Sister
Republics exhibit: Palumbo Associates Inc.,
Millington, New Jersey