After the war , Schurz established a newspaper in St. Louis , Missouri , and won election to the U.S. Senate , becoming the first German-born American elected to that body . Breaking with Republican President Ulysses S. Grant , Schurz helped establish the Liberal Republican Party . The party advocated civil service reform and opposed Grant 's efforts to protect African-American civil rights in the Southern United States during Reconstruction . Schurz chaired the 1872 Liberal Republican convention , which nominated a ticket that unsuccessfully challenged President Grant in the 1872 presidential election . Schurz lost his own 1874 re-election bid and resumed his career as a newspaper editor
1872 Liberal Republican convention
1872 Liberal Republican convention
Carl Schurz