Columbia University
Francis Lieber (1798-1872) was appointed Professor of History and Political Science in 1857. Born in Berlin, Lieber served in the Prussian army during the Napoleonic Wars. He was imprisoned twice on charges of radicalism, and in 1827 immigrated to Boston. During the Civil War, Lieber assisted the Union War Department and drafted a code of military conduct known as the Lieber Code which served as a major inspiration for later developments in international humanitarian law.
Read Lieber’s 1858 address, upon assuming the chair of History and Political Science in Columbia, “History and Political Science Necessary Studies in Free Countries.”