Johan Rudolf Vogels
| J.R. Vogels | ||||||||
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| Preceded by: Amalia of Knootcap |
Prime Minister of Knootoss 1848-1872 (intermittently) |
Succeeded by: -- |
Mr. Johan Rudolf Vogels was born into one of the nations most eminent families, the Vogels family. He was looked upon as a man with a sour character who made enemies much more easily then friends. He was extremely stubborn in his convictions, ambitious and haughty. Originally he became a lawyer and an academic, writing on a wide variety of subject such as law and public administration. With his academic career on-track he went into politics for the liberal Progressive Democratic League.
J.R. Vogels is seen as having laid the foundations for democracy in Knootoss. In 1848, after unrest in the Republic, he was appointed as the head of a committee that was to write a new constitution. This new constitution limited the power of the Steward, introduced elections for all levels of government, decentralised power and reinforced the separation between church and state.
After new elections, Vogels was appointed Prime Minister and minister of Internal Affairs by the Steward, heading a team of Liberal and Catholic ministers. During this period he did much to implement the new constitution. He resigned as Prime Minister after the Steward acted against his wishes in a row over the restoration of Papal Hierarchy. Vogels had taken the position that this matter was not at all important since there was freedom to worship.
After a long period of opposition, Vogels returned as Prime Minister of a second government bearing his name when the weak Steward Amalia was in power. He was 70 years old at the time. He coordinated a new ethical colonial policy, opened up the Knootian East Indian markets to private entrepreneurs, established domnestic programmes against extreme poverty, launched an ambitious railroad programme and presided over the extension of voting rights to most of the working class.
When Amalia was lynched by a mob in Amsterdam, Vogels sent in the Home Guard to clear the city of all unrest. He also played a part in ending the ensuing Knootian war of succession with a compromise. He also seized the negotiations as an opportunity to resolve that no new Steward would be appointed in the Republic and that Knootoss would remain independent with power being with the Staten-Generaal. He died on the fifth of June 1872 of natural causes.
