Georg Joseph Sidler (politician)

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Georg Joseph Sidler (born June 25, 1782 in Zug ; † May 27, 1861 in Unterstrass , Zurich ) was a Swiss politician. He was one of the moderate federal reformers and held many different offices. From 1848 until his death he was a member of the National Council .

biography

Georg Joseph Sidler was born on June 25, 1782 in Zug, the son of an officer in French service. His brother Josef Anton Sidler (* 1783, † 1862) was Guard Captain in the Swiss Guard of the French King . His daughter († 1871) was married to Heinrich Schweizer .

Sidler received citizenship from the community of Unterstrass in 1845 and died there on May 27, 1861 after an inflammatory disease . He was buried in the cemetery of St. Jakobs Church in Aussersihl . In 1901 the proposal to rename the old Friedhofsweg, which led past his grave site, to Sidlerstrasse was rejected; the path is now called Lutherstrasse.

Political career

Sidler's professional career began to mix with his political career at an early stage, as he was appointed administrative secretary of the Helvetian canton of Waldstätten as early as 1799. His first speech as a delegate from the Diet on June 3, 1811 in Solothurn Cathedral triggered a crisis. Because the speech led to the fact that a three-person delegation was summoned to Paris, which had to face an outburst of anger from the French Emperor Napoleon . Although the content of the speech about the occupation of Ticino was actually moderate, it still seemed to have hit a sore spot and to have been misunderstood by the French ambassador who was present. Only when the speech was transcribed did the minds calm down to some extent. Nevertheless, from that point on, Sidler was considered an enthusiastic rhetorician who knew how to deal with the audience.

His later biographer August Welti referred to him as the "greatest popular speaker of his time".

Because of the recurring dispute over the Jesuit Commission and the abolition of the monastery in the canton of Aargau in the 1840s, conflicts arose with the Zug clergy, especially since Sidler clearly advocated a separation of church and state. The power of the Zug clergy meant that Sidler lost one cantonal mandate after another. On May 5, 1833, he was voted out of office by the Landsgemeinde as delegate of the Diet. On May 4, 1834, he was no longer confirmed as Landammann and again not elected as an envoy for the Diet. In return, his activities were increasingly shaped by national politics. In 1839 he moved to the community of Unterstrass near Zurich. He remained loyal to the Zug parliament until 1844 and unsuccessfully tried in 1843 to prevent Zug from taking part in the Conference of the Catholic-Conservative Convergence. This was the predecessor of the Sonderbund , which he tried to prevent with all means at his disposal. At first there were quite a few members of the government council that he was able to convince. In January 1844, however, they turned away from him, so that in January 1844, the accession of Zug was decided with 98 to 21 votes. Sidler and 10 district administrators filed for custody against the decision and tried on February 12, 1844, his last meeting in a Zug committee, to denounce the decisions as illegal.

On October 23, 1847, the mayor of Zurich, Jonas Furrer, as a federal envoy, tried to convince the people of Zug to leave the Sonderbund. In contrast to the six other estates, the federal delegates managed to bring their proclamation to the responsible government council commission, albeit unsuccessfully. Because on November 3, 1847, the Sonderbund War broke out with the participation of the Canton of Zug.

In 1848, Sidler was elected to the National Council by the Zurich electorate in the first parliamentary elections, where he was able to give the first official Swiss National Council speech as age president. In it he regretted that the freedom of religion and culture set out in the Federal Constitution had not been "extended to other denominations". He meant the Jews above all.

Offices

Georg Joseph Sidler held many offices, including:

  • Envoy of the Diet: 1810–1833
  • District Administrator (Canton Zug): 1814–1844
  • Cantonal governor and court president (Canton Zug): 1815–1818, 1820–1822, 1832–1838
  • Landammann (Canton of Zug): 1818–1820, 1822–1824, 1826–1828, 1830–1832
  • Governor (Canton Zug): 1829–1838
  • Federal customs auditor : 1837–1848
  • President of the Helvetic Society: 1837
  • Grand Council (Canton of Zurich): 1845–1861
  • National Council: 1848–1861
  • Age President of the National Council: 1848, 1851, 1854, 1857, 1860

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lutherstrasse. On: alt-zueri.ch. Retrieved March 10, 2012
  2. ↑ August Welti: Georg Joseph Sidler. A federal sower. Erlenbach 1940, p. 182
  3. ^ State Archives Zug: Minutes of the Landsgemeinde from May 5, 1833, p. 103
  4. ^ State Archives Zug: Minutes of the Landsgemeinde of May 4, 1834, p. 104
  5. ^ The canton of Zug between 1789 and 1850 , footnote 43; Staatszeitung, Minutes of the District Administrator of February 12, 1844, pp. 61–71; NZZ February 15, 1844; The Free Swiss, May 17, 1844
  6. ^ Josef Lang: Georg Joseph Sidler: For an open, solidary and progressive Switzerland. In: SGA-Bulletin, March 1998 (pdf; 529 kB)
personal data
SURNAME Sidler, Georg Joseph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss politician
DATE OF BIRTH June 25, 1782
PLACE OF BIRTH train
DATE OF DEATH May 27, 1861
Place of death Unterstrass , Zurich