Putting Hungary on the Map: Lajos Kossuth in the United States, 1851–1852

Following the failed Hungarian War of Independence of 1848–49, the Hungarian statesman Lajos Kossuth traveled to Britain and America. While he was greeted with tremendous enthusiasm by the crowds, official political circles remained wary and refused to commit themselves to the cause of Hungarian independence. This dual response from the outside world has since been a recurring and tragic experience in Hungarian history.

The leading figures of Hungary’s Reform Era knew a great deal about the United States and admired the country. The works of Sándor Bölöni Farkas (Travels in North America, 1834) and Ágoston Haraszthy (the similarly titled Travels in North America, 1844), together with Alexis de Tocqueville’s book on American democracy, which was also published in Hungarian, offered vivid eyewitness accounts of what Miklós Wesselényi called “the young American giant.” In his Parliamentary Reports, Kossuth likewise regularly published the enthusiastic remarks of Hungarian contemporaries who hailed the triumphant advance of liberty and democracy in America. Interned in Turkey after the defeat of the Hungarian War of Independence (1848–49), Kossuth already possessed a relatively thorough knowledge of the United States, although he was nearly fifty when he first set foot on American soil.

A Hero of His Age

During and after the War of Independence, Kossuth’s admiration for America began to find an enthusiastic response among the American public. The Hungarian statesman who had fought against Habsburg oppression suddenly emerged as a champion of liberty and a hero of his age. When news of Kossuth’s detention in Turkey reached the United States, Louisiana Senator Pierre Soulé proposed as