Johann Joseph Müller (politician)

Johann Joseph Müller (born March 19, 1815 in Mosnang ; † November 11, 1861 in St. Gallen ) was a Swiss politician , editor and journalist . From 1856 to 1860 he was a member of the National Council.

Gravestone at the Church of St. Peter in Wil

biography

The son of an innkeeper and owner of a colored weaving mill attended the Catholic grammar school in St. Gallen from 1826 and the Lyceum in Lucerne from 1831 . Müller studied law from 1833 to 1837 at the universities of Munich and Heidelberg and at the Geneva and Lausanne academies . From 1837 he worked as a lawyer in Wil . In 1839 he married Theresia Troxler, the niece of Ignaz Paul Vitalis Troxler . After working in his father's colored weaving mill for three years, he opened a law firm in St. Gallen in 1847.

In 1839 Müller was elected to the Grand Council of the Canton of St. Gallen , which he presided over six times. He initially represented liberal views and advocated, for example, the abolition of the Pfäfers monastery . Due to the increasingly radical church policy, especially the escalation of the Aargau monastery dispute aroused his displeasure, he joined the Catholic Conservatives in 1841. As a result, alongside Gallus Jakob Baumgartner, he was one of the leading figures in this group. In the years 1844 and 1845 Müller was envoy to the Diet , from 1855 to 1859 he was a Catholic Administrative Council and from 1855 to 1857 he was a Catholic Education Council. Müller played a key role in the revision of the cantonal constitution, initiated by the conservatives in 1860. Although it narrowly failed in the referendum, the constitution of 1861 contained a number of compromises he had initiated in church and school policy.

In 1838 Müller published the volume of poems Jugendklänge , in 1844/45 he was editor and publisher of the St. Gallische Volkszeitung published in Wil . Also in 1845 he suggested the construction of a railway line from Wil via St. Gallen to Rorschach . In the New Daily Journal of Eastern Switzerland , which he co-founded in 1856, he represented a balancing stance between conservatives and liberals. In addition, he wrote numerous articles on current political issues. After three unsuccessful candidacies (1848, 1851 and 1854) he won a by-election in the constituency of St. Gallen-Northwest in June 1856 and was the first Catholic conservative from St. Gallen to join the National Council. In 1860 he was not re-elected, and a year later he died of heart disease.

His three brothers also gained notoriety: Johann Fridolin Müller as a national councilor, Johann Georg Müller as an architect and Johann Baptist Müller a textile industrialist.

Web links

• Wolfgang Göldi: Müller, Johann Joseph. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Johannes Dierauer :  Müller, Johann Joseph . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 22, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1885, p. 628 f.