SORENSEN, RASMUS MOLLER

born March 8, 1799, Jelling, Den. died May 23, 1865, Copenhagen teacher and politician who was a leading agitator for agrarian reform and for the establishment of representative government in Denmark. In the 1820s and 1830s Srensen, serving as tutor on the estates of several progressive landowners, developed his ideas of peasant reform. He championed the opening of folk high schools for practical secular education, the breaking up of large estates in favour of smallholders, tenant proprietorship aided by government funds, and increased political representation. In the early 1840s he founded and edited the journal Almuevennen (Friend of the Common People) with J.A. Hansen, another leading peasant agitator. Leaving his teaching position, he organized the circulation of petitions calling for agrarian reform, equality of taxation, universal conscription, and political equality. With the achievement of constitutional government, Srensen was elected to parliament (184952). He later spent several years in the United States.