The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Lieber, Franz

LIEBER, lē'bėr, Franz, American publicist: b. Berlin, Germany, 18 March 1800; d. New York, 2 Oct. 1872. He volunteered as a soldier at 15 and was in the battles of Ligny, Waterloo and Namur. He served also in the Greek war of independence, recording his experiences in ‘Journal in Greece’ (1823). He settled in the United States in 1827 and during the next five years was occupied with the compilation of an ‘Encyclopædia Americana’ (13 vols.). While professor of history and political economy in South Carolina College (1835-56), he wrote the three great works by which he is best known, ‘Manual of Political Ethics’ (1838); ‘Legal and Political Hermeneutics or the Principles of Interpretation and Construction in Law and Politics’ (1839); ‘Civil Liberty and Self Government’ (1853). In 1857 he became professor of history in Columbia and later of political science in the Columbia Law School. During the Civil War period he was a firm supporter of the Federal government and was frequently consulted by the Secretary of War. His war code, officially designated as ‘Instructions for the Government of the Armies of the United States in the Field’ (1863), made him still more widely known. He was a member of the French Institute and of many learned societies at home and abroad. Consult ‘Lives’ by Perry (1882); Harley (1899).