Bethlen Almanac 1997 (Ligonier)
The Hungarian Reformed Federation of America
The 150th Anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 “Yes, Gentlemen, either America will regenerate the condition of the old world, or it will be degenerated by the condition of the old world.” From Kossuth’s speech delivered in Concord, Massachusetts, May 11, 1852. In 1998, Hungarians all over the world will be commemorating the 150th Anniversary of the 1848 War of Independence. 150 years ago the American public viewed Hungary as the “Champion of Liberty” in a sea of European despotism. Leaders of the young republic (declared an independent state from Austria in Debrecen on April 14, 1849) were the “Apostels of World Democracy” because of their adherance to the precepts of the centuries-old Hungarian constitution — particularly its “right of resistance” against the unlawful acts by the king and his advisors. This “right” was secured in a 1222 A.D. royal document named the “Arany Bulla,” or Golden Bull, which was commonly regarded as the equivalent to the British Magna Charta of 1216. One of the “Apostels” of democracy was Louis Kossuth. Kossuth, an eminently trained jurist (he was a law student at the Reformed College of Sárospatak, and later received his degree in Budapest), was also a longtime student of the American Constitution, the Declaration of Indpendence, and of the Bill of Rights. As a prominent member of Hungary’s greatest “Reformist Generation,” in the second quarter of the 19th century (also known as the “pro-American group”), he had conducted studies of these documents as early as the 1830’s. But, more importantly, Kossuth played a prominent role in his nation’s struggle for independence from the absolutism of the Austrian Empire in 1848-49. Although the valiant armies of Hungary’s first constitutional government were eventually defeated by the overwhelming military power of the Austrian and Russian Empires, and Kossuth, with tens of thousands of his followers, was forced to leave his homeland, the exiled patriot became a symbol of the struggle for democratic ideals and the principles against the rule of oppressive powers of absolutism all over the world. The extent to which the American people respected Kossuth and his fight for independence and democracy can be measured by the adulation that he received before, during, and after his arrival in the United States. 33
