Digital Commons Network^™

Missouri Soybean Exports And The Democratizing Market Force, David D. Hammons

MSU Graduate Theses

A commonly held assumption of America’s post-Cold War place in the world is that prolonged contact with American capitalism and democracy will lead to the adoption of these systems in all nations that participate in international trade. This paper attempts to verify or disprove that assumption by examining a specific traded commodity between two specific nations, the institutions that support this trade, and the people actively participating in it. The growth of soybean exports from the state of Missouri provides this vehicle for examining the trade history between the United States of America and China, and provides evidence that disproves …

Without Personhood: The Missing Point Of Slaves In Missouri's Emancipation-By-Residency Freedom Suit Jurisprudence, 1824-1837, Jacob Alfred Brandler

MSU Graduate Theses

From 1824 to 1837, the Supreme Court of Missouri developed a sophisticated caselaw establishing emancipation-by-residency—where a Missouri court could liberate an enslaved petitioner because of their residence in a free jurisdiction—as a basis of freedom suits. In 1852, however, the Court undermined the precedential value of those decisions and dismantled this basis when deciding Dred Scott’s case, Scott v. Emerson. Scholarship on Missouri’s freedom suits has highlighted how partisanship and the political atmosphere in Missouri as well as across the nation contributed to this outcome. This study adds to the historiography how the previous caselaw itself predisposed the result; …

“A Lonely Wandering Refugee”: Displaced Whites In The Trans-Mississippi West During The American Civil War, 1861-1868, David Paul Hopkins, Jr.

Wayne State University Dissertations

Historians have written a great deal about the American Civil War and, until recently, much of that scholarly activity has focused on military battles and the effectiveness of the Union and Confederate armies on the war’s outcome. During the past few decades, social historians have tried to dig beneath that narrative to situate the war in the eyes of American citizens and how that war affected their lives. With this, there has been a focus on the Northern and Southern homefronts, African Americans, and soldiers’ motivations to fight – all rooted in the wartime experience. In this discussion, however, there …

Missouri! Bright Land Of The West: Civil War Memory And Western Identity In Missouri, Amy Fluker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project argues that Missouri’s singular position as a border state not only between the North and South, but also between the East and West shaped the state’s Civil War experience as well as its memory of the conflict. During the Civil War, Missouri was a slaveholding border state on the western frontier and home to a diverse and divided population. Neither wholly Union nor Confederate, Missouri’s Civil War was bitterly divisive. In its aftermath, Missourians struggled to come to terms with what it had been about. They found no place within the national narratives of Civil War commemoration emerging …

Horse-Stealing And Man-Hanging: An Examination Of Vigilantism In The Missouri Ozarks, Connie Sue Yen

MSU Graduate Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to determine what factors did or did not have an impact on the formation of the Slickers, the Regulators, and the Sons of Honor, three vigilante organizations that formed in the Missouri Ozarks during the nineteenth century. Primary source documents indicate that vigilante organizations formed in Missouri, and throughout the United States, for a variety of reasons. This study disproves the theory that vigilante violence in the Missouri Ozarks was based on any social or political struggle between an old or new order. This study contributes to our understanding of Ozarks history, as well …

Fulcrum Of The Union: The Border South And The Secession Crisis, 1859-1861, Michael Dudley Robinson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Border South states of Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri spurned secession in 1860-61, which has led scholars to conclude that these four slaveholding states were safely ensconced in the Union column from the beginning of the crisis that drew the other slaveholding states into the Confederacy. Historians have often simplified the secession crisis in the Border South, minimizing the likelihood that these states with smaller concentrations of enslaved persons and a more diversified economy and society than the Upper and Lower South would ever leave the Union. This work seeks to add contingency to the story of the Border …

The Vox Populi Is The Vox Dei: American Localism And The Mormon Expulsion From Jackson County, Missouri, Matthew Lund

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In 1833, enraged vigilantes expelled 1,200 Mormons from Jackson County, Missouri, setting a precedent for a later expulsion of Mormons from the state, changing the course of Mormon history, and enacting in microcosm a battle over the ultimate source of authority in America's early democratic society. This study will reexamine the motives that induced Missourians to expel Mormons from Jackson County and explore how government authorities responded to the conflict. Past studies contend that Mormon communalism collided with the Jacksonian individualism of Missouri residents, causing hostility and violence. However, recent studies have questioned many of the conventional notions of law …

A Pictorial History Of The Drury College Student: The First Fifty Years, Mindy Maddux Gay

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Established in 1873, Drury College in Springfield, Missouri, provided a unique experience for their undergraduate students. A limited amount of research has been conducted on the institution but no work has been done to specifically look at the undergraduate student experience. Using archival research methods and information from literature on image based research; the researcher has created a pictorial history of Drury College utilizing photographs, images, and archival documents. The specific research questions asked were: How do archival images and documents of Drury University's first 50 years describe the undergraduate student's experience, specifically in the area of their involvement and …

Solace In St. Louis: A Case Study In Heroic Cultural Nostalgia, Amanda J. Pinney

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This thesis examines the response of American popular culture to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. By utilizing the September 17, 2001 pre-game ceremony, held at Busch Stadium as a case study example, larger generalizations are made about the role popular culture played in the days following the tragedy. In order to analyze this example, I have developed heroic cultural nostalgia, a framework that combines elements of myth, nostalgia and national identity. Heroic cultural nostalgia provides an explanation of how popular culture plays a role in crisis response. The framework highlights the role of individuals with heroic characteristics in …

Minor Courts And Communities At The Frontier: The Justice Of The Peace In Early Missouri, Bonnie Aileen Speck

Wayne State University Dissertations

ABSTRACT

MINOR COURTS AND COMMUNITIES AT THE FRONTIER JUSTICES OF THE PEACE IN EARLY MISSOURI

by

BONNIE A. SPECK

May 2011

Advisor: Sandra VanBurkleo

Major: American Legal and Constitutional History

Degree: History

This study focused on local and county courts operated by Missouri's justices of the peace between the Louisiana Purchase and roughly 1875. Its purpose was to investigate the role of township justices’ courts and county courts of commissioners in terms of interactions with local residents; effects of rulings and other court actions on everyday affairs; and wider impacts on Missouri society. Sources included territorial and …

Fact, Fiction And Family Tradition: The Life Of Edward Partridge (1793-1840), The First Bishop Of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints, Sherilyn Farnes

Theses and Dissertations

Edward Partridge (1793-1840) became the first bishop of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1831, two months after joining the church. He served in this capacity until his death in 1840. The first chapter examines his preparation for his role as bishop. Having no precedent to follow, he drew extensively upon his background and experiences in civic leadership, business management, and property ownership in order to succeed in his assignment. Partridge moved to Missouri in 1831 at the forefront of Mormon settlement in the state, where on behalf of the church he ultimately purchased hundreds of acres, …

Keeping A Town Alive?: The Civil War Re-Enactment Of The Battle Of Pilot Knob, Laura Marie Gentry

Honors Theses

There is a place surrounded by thousands of acres of natural forests encircled by seven beautiful state parks nestled between the highest peaks in Missouri with rich Ozark history. Imagine three small towns situated in a valley of the Ozarks Mountains surrounded by breathtaking scenery, a perfect retreat from busyness of the city and the working world. Would you be interested in escaping here for a weekend or possibly for the rest of your life?

If you even entertained the idea, local Chamber of Commerce officials succeeded in making you believe that Arcadia Valley or the towns of lronton, Arcadia, …

Mormon Land Ownership As A Factor In Evaluating The Extent Of Mormon Settlements And Influence In Missouri 1831-1841, Wayne J. Lewis

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis has been to demonstrate as clearly as possible the full extent of Mormon Land in Missouri during the years 1831-1841. An identification has been made of the names of several thousand of these early Mormons and will further show the scope of Mormonism during this period. This study will add detail to what previous writers have stated about this trying period for Mormonism.

As accurately as possible, the author has identified where the Mormon settlements were, through graphs and charts. It has been demonstrated that the Mormon population extended beyond the traditional areas they have …

A History Of Kirtland Camp: Its Initial Purpose And Notable Accomplishments, Gordon Orville Hill

Theses and Dissertations

This study is a history of a group of Latter-day Saints who travelled from Kirtland, Ohio to Adam-ondi-Ahman, Caldwell County, Missouri during the late summer and early autumn, 1838. The group numbered between five and six hundred when they left Kirtland and had diminished to approximately half that many at the end of their journey.

The official name, "Kirtland Camp," was adopted by the group which was originally founded and governed by seven men, i.e. the Seventies Presidency in Kirtland.

The camp was organized to assist Church members who otherwise would have been unable to escape persecutions in Ohio. Camp …

Zion's Camp, Wilburn D. Talbot

Theses and Dissertations

In 1831, Jackson County, Missouri, was designated as a place of refuge for the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Attempts to establish permanent residence in their Zion ended in bloodshed and violence. An army was raised to go to the aid of those cast out of their homes. This thesis pays particular attention to the recruiting of the army and the gathering of money and provisions, the trek to Missouri, and the interaction of those promoting and opposing the camp.

The trek from Kirtland, Ohio, to Jackson County, Missouri, revealed frustrations, hardships, strengths, weaknesses, and …

Alexander William Doniphan, The Forgotten Man From Missouri, Gregory P. Maynard

Theses and Dissertations

Few men on the Missouri frontier in the nineteenth century exemplified the quality of character, integrity, as well as did Alexander William Doniphan. Whether in his capacity as a lawyer, soldier, legislator or friend, he remained steadfast to his beliefs and principles, though often in the minority.
Several books have been written about Doniphan's military experiences during the Mexican War. But surprisingly this is the only part of his life which so far has been reported in great detail. The other aspects of his career have been treated only in a sketchy manner. It is therefore the purpose of this …

A History Of The Schools And Educational Programs Of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints In Ohio And Missouri, 1831-1839, Orlen Curtis Peterson

Theses and Dissertations

This study is a history of the schools and educational programs organized and maintained by the LDS Church while the saints resided in Ohio and Missouri between the years of 1831 and 1839. The instructors, curriculum, organizational structure, and the purpose of each school is given when information in these areas was available. In Kirtland, the Church organized the School of the Prophets, School of the Elders, Kirtland High School, Hebrew School, a singing school, a writing school, and a few grammar schools. The Church leaders in Missouri organized the Colesville school, a school in Independence, Far West School, and …