Gustaf
Unonius was born of Swedish parents
in Helsingfors, Finland, in 1810. To
avoid Russian rule, the family moved to Sweden and Unonius was educated
at Uppsala University. After graduating with a law degree he became
a government clerk at Uppsala.
In 1841, Unonius and his new wife emigrated to the United States.
The couple helped established the Swedish colony in New Uppsala, Wisconsin.
Unonius entered the Episcopal ministry and served the community for
seventeen years before returning to Sweden. His autobiography, A
Pioneer in Northwest America: 1841-1858, was published
in 1861.
(1)
Gustaf Unoius,
A Pioneer in Northwest America: 1841-1858, (1861)
Often we had found notices nailed to some tree close
to the public road announcing such meetings, and had had private invitations
to attend them, especially from zealous partisans of the Democratic
Party apparently eager to convert us to their political faith. Notwithstanding
these solicitations, we had not as yet even applied for United States
citizenship. This would not have prevented us, though, from taking
pan in various communal affairs and from voting in the local elections.
But we did not consider ourselves well-enough informed in these matters
to be willing to
take active part in them. Who were
to become justices of the peace, road inspectors,
constables, tax collectors, and so forth,
did not much concern us. We were protected
as to person and property and felt fully
satisfied with our government, or, rather,
we hardly noticed that we had any.
Foreigners are generally
inclined to engage
in political disputes long before they know
what things are all about, and the rashness
with which they make use of a citizenship
they have gained all too soon is without
question harmful to the country.
The American republic
will no doubt sooner or later find it necessary to change its naturalization
laws. The Germans and especially the Irish have hardly had time to
get a roof over their heads before they begin to busy themselves with
political affairs of all kinds, become eager partisans, get their
hands into everything, and cause no end of trouble and disorder -
all of which could be avoided if Americans were left to govern the
country alone.
Accustomed perhaps to
being of little or no importance before, in a more liberal social
order they feel all-important, and the spirit of opposition that led
them to political radicalism at home now induces them to oppose almost
everything proposed by sane and wise Americans for the good of the
country. Many a time I have heard Germans who hardly understood the
simplest English sentences say, "We are not going to let the
Americans rule over us." Their false conception of liberty and
citizenship and that of the Irish gave me an absolute distaste for
all politics, and neither then nor later did I meddle with it except
in questions where my duty bade me appear quietly and calmly at the
ballot box.
I love the democratic
social order where the majesty of the people really is a majesty before
which a man can stand with the same veneration, yes, with even more,
than before a royal throne; and I believe that the American people,
left to themselves, will one day reveal that majesty to the world.
(2)
In his autobiography, A Pioneer in Northwest America: 1841-1858,
Gustaf Unoius described visiting Chicago for the first time in
1845.
The principal site of the city is low and swampy, almost at the
same level as Lake Michigan, and most of the buildings were at that
time erected close to the lakeshore or on the miry, alluvial soil
which time and again was flooded by the river flowing right through
the city. Certain other parts consisted of waste expanses of sand
without a blade of grass, and from them a floury dust was carried
in blinding clouds over the clayey streets, sifting into the houses,
making them as dusty inside as the outdoors was muddy and unpleasant.
During the rainy season, and sometimes far into summer, the streets
were almost impassable for driving as well as for walking. To be sure
they were supplied with board sidewalks, but crossing from one side
of the street to the the other entailed decided difficulties.
(3)
Gustaf Unoius was shocked when he revisited Chicago in 1857.
Twelve years have passed, and what a change in its appearance
as well as in its population, which is now 120,000. The formerly low,
swampy streets have been raised several feet and paved with planks
or stone. The river has been dredged and widened; its shores have
been supported with piles, evened off, raised well above the water
level, and are now occupied by loading piers or used as foundations
for gigantic warehouses or factories. It is now a city in which private
and public buildings have been erected that compare favorably both
in size and style with the most splendid structures in the capitals
of Europe. In a single summer, in 1855, 2,700 new houses were built,
many of which would be a source of pride to any city.
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