Johan August Gripenstedt

Johan August Gripenstedt
Minister for Finance (acting)
In office 10 January 1851 – 21 October 1851
Monarch	Oscar I
Preceded by	Anders Peter Sandströmer
Succeeded by	Carl Otto Palmstierna
Minister for Finance
In office 28 May 1856 – 4 July 1866
Monarch	Oscar I, Charles XV
Preceded by	Carl Otto Palmstierna
Succeeded by	Gustaf Lagercrantz
Born	11 August 1813(1813--) Duchy of Holstein, German Confederation
Died	13 July 1874 (aged 60) Sweden
Nationality	Swedish
Political party	Independent

Baron Johan August Gripenstedt (11 August 1813 – 13 July 1874), often referred to as J. A. Gripenstedt or J. A. G., was a Swedish statesman, landowner and entrepreneur.

Gripenstedt was born to Swedish parents in the Duchy of Holstein, then part of the German Confederation. He started his career as an officer in the Swedish artillery forces. He started his political career as a representative of the nobility at the Riksdag of the Estates in 1840–1841. Through his marriage into the Anckarswärd family in 1842 he became affiliated with the "liberal landowners'"-faction in the parliament, led by his father-in-law Carl Henrik Anckarswärd. As a trustee of his father-in-law, and later as the owner of estates such as Nynäs Castle in Södermanland, Gripenstedt became a successful entrepreneur within the grain exports and iron industry.

In 1848 Gripenstedt was selected by king Oscar I of Sweden to serve as minister without portfolio (Swedish: konsultativt statsråd) in the Swedish government. He served as acting Minister for Finance from 10 January 1851 to 21 October 1851, and again as Minister for Finance from 1856 to 1866. As Minister for Finance, Gripenstedt was a leading proponent of free trade and other liberal reforms, strongly influenced by the French liberal economist Frédéric Bastiat. He succeeded in getting the Swedish parliament to gradually abolish tariffs and reduce customs duties. In 1865 he signed trade agreements with France, the German Customs Union and Prussia, which resulted in greatly reduced customs duties on many products. His optimistic descriptions of the economic situation of the country (the so called "flower paintings" or blomstermålningarna) at the Swedish parliament in 1857 paved the way for a fast expansion of the Swedish railroad network, which was financed by loans on the international market.

In foreign policy Gripenstedt opposed to all activism, which he saw as a potential threat to the material prosperity. As the Schleswig-Holstein Question became more tense, Gripenstedt and then Prime Minister for Justice Louis De Geer stopped the plans of king Charles XV of Sweden at the Ulriksdal Conference in 1863 for a Swedish–Danish alliance in the upcoming Second Schleswig War between Prussia–Austria and Denmark.

Following his retirement as Minister for Finance in 1866, Gripenstedt served as a member of the lower house of the new bicameral Swedish parliament from 1867 to 1873. He died in 1874, at the age of 60.

Gripenstedt was one of the most influential politicians of his time. He is widely acclaimed as one of the main architects of the Swedish liberalization and industrialization. The period from 1870 to 1970 is commonly referred to in Swedish history as the "hundred years of growth", the time when Sweden developed from one of the poorest countries in Europe to one of the richest and most prosperous countries of the world.

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