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John Randolph Of Roanoke And The Politics Of Doom: Slavery, Sectionalism, And Self-Deception, 1773-1821, Aaron Scott Crawford

Doctoral Dissertations

In 1979, Robert Dawidoff wrote that it “was on the question of slavery that John Randolph contributed most decisively to American history.” Randolph’s stance on slavery has perplexed historians and biographers since his death in 1833. This dissertation examines the paradox of slavery in the life and career of John Randolph from the American Revolution until the Missouri Compromise. In an attempt to understand his public and private contradictions concerning slavery and the role of intense sectionalism in his politics, I have attempted to correlate his words with his actions. An examination of his letters reveal a man decidedly devoted …

When The Rangers Came Home: Reconstructing Lives In Fauquier County, Virginia, 1865-1866, Madeleine Forrest

All Theses

Fauquier County, Virginia, is an idyllic spot in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. However, it has seen its fair share of heartache and pain. It is better known to history as being an integral part of Mosby's Confederacy, the postage-stamped sized area of land in Northern Virginia. It was there in the foothills of the mountains, that one of the most famous guerilla outfits in the Confederate Army operated under the command of John Singleton Mosby. Mosby's men came from many of the leading families in the county and were used to a world of wealth and privilege. …

"The American Canaan": Eighteenth Century Trans-Appalachian Migration, Lauren C. James

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

This thesis examines the events that produced a uniquely Tennessean identity before the 1796 statehood through a careful examination of the late colonial, Revolutionary, and Early Republic periods in the Appalachian backcountry. It argues that land, as a tangible embodiment of the republican notion of liberty, was the chief motivation for the actions of these backcountry settlers in the latter half of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It first addresses specific circumstances concerning the motivation for the migration of hundreds, even thousands, of individuals across the Appalachian Mountains into Cherokee lands from four distinct originating colonies: Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, …

“Endangering The Stability Of Slavery”: Black Freedom In The Upper South, 1820-1850, Ashley K. Schmidt

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

In the Upper South, free blacks stood out as a living breathing contradiction to the institution of race-based slavery. State legislatures continuously debated and discussed the issue, and created a plethora of laws to restrict the freedoms given to African Americans. However, through a comparison of two piedmont locales, Bedford County, Virginia, and Washington County, Virginia, this thesis reveals the flexibility of execution of state laws on the ground. The work argues that state laws did not necessarily dictate black experiences in freedom. Instead, free black experience can be shown through the ways that whites enforced the laws, a process …

Lawyers And Their Books: The Augusta County Law Library Association, 1853-1883, Gregory Harkcom Stoner

Masters Theses

During the eighteenth and nineteenth century, law books of various types contained the vital information needed by Virginia’s practicing attorneys and judges. Access to these resources, however, was generally limited to personal collections and a handful of libraries. Despite numerous calls for the creation of libraries by theVirginiagovernment, state legislators took little action of note.

This study explores the history and origins of law libraries in Virginia by focusing on the formation and evolution of the Augusta County Law Library Association, one of the first libraries organized in Virginia under state legislation enacted in 1853 that authorized the creation of …

The Road Beyond Suffrage: Female Activism In Richmond, Virginia, Denise Gammon

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis focuses on the continued activism in the YWCA, the Equal Suffrage League and the League of Women Voters after 1920. The work examines the uses of motherhood, social religion, race and traditions as tools for activism and compares the YWCA to the Equal Suffrage League and League of Women Voters after 1920. The date range is roughly from 1915 to 1925.

Exhibition And Interpretation Of Virginia History: Transforming Mulberry Hill, Alyssa R. Foley

Theses & Honors Papers

This thesis is divided into two parts. The first, "Examining Virginia's Historic House Museums," is an examination of historic house museums in the United States, and Virginia in particular. This section discusses the role of historic house museums as educational tools, their history in the United States, and the crisis they currently face. The second part is focused on Mulberry Hill, which is owned by the Staunton River Battlefield State Park in Charlotte County, Virginia. The house is currently not open to the public, but there are plans for preservation and interpretation that would make this a possibility. This section …

“The Nonmusical Message Will Endure With It:” The Changing Reputation And Legacy Of John Powell (1882-1963), Karen Adam

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the changing reputation and legacy of John Powell (1882-1963). Powell was a Virginian-born pianist, composer, and ardent Anglo-Saxon supremacist who created musical propaganda to support racial purity and to define the United States as an exclusively Anglo-Saxon nation. Although he once enjoyed international fame, he has largely disappeared from the public consciousness today. In contrast, the legacies of many of Powell’s musical contemporaries, such as Charles Ives and George Gershwin, have remained vigorous. By examining the ways in which the public has perceived and portrayed Powell both during and after his lifetime, this thesis links Powell’s obscurity …

Misrepresenting Misery: Slaves, Servants, And Motives In Early Virginia, Jamin P. Riley

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Violence has frequently been connected to the history of slavery. Graphic depictions of slaveowner violence can be found in popular literature and media. The slave experience, especially in the early modern period, should instead be explained to wider public audiences in its totality. The regulation of reproductive and familial rights by slaveowners, the use of sexual punishment, and the permanence of slavery made the enslaved life truly unique, and set it apart from the experiences of other repressed elements of early modern English society, such as the poor. The creation of the slave system and the development of its regulatory …