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In reply to the discussion: Now this is just flat-out counterproductive and DUMB [View all]Celerity
(54,304 posts)smdh
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Christian_Heg
Heg became a rising young politician who found slavery abhorrent. He naturally became an ardent member of the Free Soil Party.
Heg was a major in the 4th Wisconsin Militia and served as Wisconsin State Prison Commissioner. He was the first Norwegian-born candidate elected statewide in Wisconsin.
He soon joined the recently formed Republican Party. He was an outspoken anti-slavery activist and a leader of Wisconsin's Wide Awakes, an anti-slave catcher militia.
During this time, he sheltered Sherman Booth, who was made a federal fugitive after inciting a mob to rescue an escaped slave.
In 1860, Heg was elected commissioner of the state prison in Waupun, and served there for two years.
Heg spearheaded many reforms to the prison, believing that prisons should be used to "reclaim the wandering and save the lost.