Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/List, Friedrich

LIST, Friedrich, political economist, b. in Reutlingen, Germany, 6 Aug., 1789; d. in Kufstien, 30 Nov., 1846. He had become favorably known as a political economist, and in 1821 was elected to the Würtemberg chamber of deputies, but, having attacked the government in a petition, was prevented from taking his seat and sentenced to ten months' imprisonment. After fruitless attempts to obtain pardon and several years of exile, he was imprisoned in the fortress at Asperg. On his release he emigrated to the United States and settled in Pennsylvania, where he became an extensive landholder, and was active in the establishment of railroads. He was appointed U. S. consul at Hamburg in 1830, and, after residing for some time in Paris, returned to Pennsylvania. He finally settled in Leipsic in 1833, where for some time he was U. S. consul. He engaged in journalism in Paris in 1837-'43, and at the latter date established in Augsburg the “Zollvereinsblatt,” a newspaper in which he advocated the enlargement of the custom's union, and the organization of a national commercial system. In 1846 he visited England with a view to forming a commercial alliance between that country and Germany, but was unsuccessful, and, losing both health and property, he shot himself. He is the author of a “New System of Political Economy” (Philadelphia, 1827). His literary remains were published with a biography by Ludwig Hausser (Stuttgart, 1850-'1).