Friedrich von Rönne

Friedrich von Rönne, 1862. Graphic by Hermann Scherenberg.

Friedrich Ludwig von Rönne (born November 27, 1798 in Seestermühe near Uetersen , † April 7, 1865 in Berlin ) was a Prussian lawyer, diplomat and German politician.

Early life

Rönne was the son of the court judge and later a member of the Holstein government, Johann Georg von Rönne . One brother was the later lawyer and politician Ludwig von Rönne . Rönne attended high school in Glückstadt. But he also received private lessons in Berlin from the later politician and law professor Karl Twesten .

Friedrich Ludwig von Rönne joined the King's German Legion not even 16 years old and took part in the Battle of Waterloo . He later studied law in Kiel and Berlin .

In 1820 he entered the Prussian judicial service. In 1825 he became a higher regional judge in Hamm . There he wrote a thesis on the Cleve-Märkische marital property community. In 1828 he moved to the higher court in Berlin. During this time he presented a revision of the system of Prussian civil law. He himself was responsible for the first volume, his brother Ludwig took over the second volume. In 1831 he entered the administrative service and worked for the government in Potsdam . Rönne proved to be knowledgeable in customs and trade matters, but also in questions of constitutional and international law, and was promoted by Minister Jean Pierre Frédéric Ancillon .

Ambassador to Washington

Rönne therefore became Prime Minister (i.e. Ambassador) of Prussia in the USA in 1834, with his seat in Washington . In this position he was replaced by Friedrich von Gerolt in 1844 . In the United States, in particular, he made himself familiar with the trade relations there, including through extensive trips. He also tried to take care of the German immigrants. However, he did not succeed in reaching a trade agreement between the German Customs Union and the USA. He succeeded in extending the trade agreement between the United States and the Hanseatic cities of Bremen and Hamburg . His reputation in the USA was so great that the Union government asked Prussia to mediate in the dispute with Mexico in 1839 . A war could not be avoided through Rönne's mediation. He was later also involved in a dispute between England and France over the rubber trade in Senegal.

Head of the Prussian Trade Office

In Prussia, representatives of the economy demanded the establishment of a trade ministry and spoke out in favor of Rönne as head. In a memorandum, Rönne spoke out in favor of a trade department directly subordinate to the king with close contact with the traders. This request met with resistance in the government. King Friedrich Wilhelm IV. Nevertheless had a trade and trade authority directly subordinate to him created as head. It was not called the Ministry of Commerce, but the Office of Commerce. Rönne became president of the new authority with the rank of first class council. At the same time he was appointed a member of the State Council. However, it failed because of the resistance of the bureaucracy and was largely ineffective. When a Ministry of Commerce was created in Berlin after the March Revolution , the management did not fall to Rönne.

National Assembly and envoy

Rönne was elected to the Frankfurt National Assembly in 1848. In Frankfurt he belonged to the casino group. Rönne was chairman of the economic committee. In a memorandum, he tried to make the knowledge gained in the United States useful for German conditions. His ideas found their way into the economic parts of the imperial constitution.

In the same year he went back to Washington as the extraordinary envoy of the provisional central authority and, from 1849, as envoy of the imperial administrator Archduke Johann of Austria . Again he used his stay for detailed studies and even planned to write a history of the American Constitution. This did not happen for health reasons. But he took part in internal political disputes in the Union, for example regarding the introduction of paper money with a compulsory exchange rate.

After the end of central power, the Prussian government under Friedrich Wilhelm Graf von Brandenburg rejected Rönne's request to leave him as Prussian ambassador in the USA. The reason she gave was that he had accepted the post of ambassador without the approval of the Prussian government. At his own request, Rönne retired in 1857.

Prussian MP

After the beginning of the new era , he became a member of the Prussian House of Representatives in 1858 . He was a liberal and belonged to the old liberal faction of Georg von Vincke . Rönne took part in numerous debates. From 1862 he belonged to the Progressive Party . He was one of the most important members of the party. He was on a more right wing. In the constitutional conflict, Rönne and his party were in opposition to the government. In 1863 he spoke out in favor of the independence of the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. Again and again he confessed himself to be a friend of the Polish nation and criticized the agreements with Russia that Prussia had directed against the Polish uprising.

Basically he was against the thesis that German unity should be postponed until after the creation of a liberal Prussian government. At the same time, he was skeptical that a government under Otto von Bismarck would implement nation-state politics.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Short biography and picture in: Conrad, Horst / Haunfelder, Bernd  : Preussische Parlamentarians. A photo album 1859-1867 . Preface by Lothar Gall . Düsseldorf: Droste Verlag, 1986, p. 117 (photo documents on the history of parliamentarism and political parties)

literature

• Enno Eimers : The Rönnes reports from the USA 1834–1843 in the context of relations between Prussia and the USA 1785–1867. The rapprochement between Prussia and the USA (sources and research on Brandenburg and Prussian history (QUF) Volume 46) , Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2013, print ISBN 978-3-428-14189-0 , e-book 978-3-428-54189-8, print & e-book 978-3-428-84189-9.
• Karl Wippermann :  Rönne, Friedrich von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 29, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1889, pp. 133-136.
• Enno Eimers: "Rönne on behalf of the King of Prussia as arbitrator in the differences between the USA and Mexico 1841/42", in: Rolf Sauerzapf / Jürgen W. Schmidt (ed.): "A life for Prussia - Festschrift for the 75th Birthday of Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Stribrny "Ludwigsfelde 2010 pp. 10–23