2 Bille—A History of the Danes in America. 
in Denmark during the present century illustrate most strik¬ 
ingly this non-aggressive spirit of the common people. They 
have received all their social and political liberties from the 
powers above them without violence and almost without agita¬ 
tion on their part; and when those liberties have been encroached 
upon they have made but little resistance. The serfdom of the 
peasant was removed in 1788 through the benevolent efforts of 
Count Bernsdorf, then an influential member of the king’s cabi¬ 
net. In the year 1819 the king, Frederick VII., voluntarily 
relinquished his absolute power and gave his people a very lib¬ 
eral constitution; but in the quarrel which has since arisen 
between the present reactionary king Christian IX. and his min¬ 
istry on the one hand, and the representatives of the people on 
the other, regarding the interpretation of this constitution, the 
people have made concession after concession, till at present they 
retain only a semblance of the political liberties given them 
less than half a century ago. 
Another marked peculiarity of the Danish character is a love 
for the ideal, the emotional, and the romantic. This character¬ 
istic shows itself in the literature, in the everyday life of the 
people, and in many of their social institutions. But it is most 
strikingly exhibited in the remarkable influence exercised by 
N. F. S. Grundtvig on the social, political, and religious life of 
the people. And as his influence has extended to this country, 
and is a prominent factor in the life of the Danes here, it is 
necessary to discuss his life and work somewhat in detail. 
N. F. S. Grundtvig was born in 1783. He was the son of a 
minister and was himself educated for the church. He was pos¬ 
sessed of a many-sided character, and one full of apparent 
inconsistencies; but he was pre-eminently a poet and a 
reformer, possessing the romantic temperament of the one and 
the courage, enthusiasm, and persistence of the other. 
The chief end and ambition of his life was to reform the Dan¬ 
ish church, which at the time he entered upon his ministry, 
1810, was given over to rationalism of the French pattern, or 
to dead meaningless formalism. He wished to bring back what 
he called old-fashioned, living Christianity and pure Luther¬ 
anism. At first this was not much more than an implicit belief 
