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Vital Allies: The Colonial Militia's Use Of Indians In King Philip's War, 1675--1676, Shawn Eric Pirelli

Master's Theses and Capstones

This study examines the role that Indians played in King Philip's War. It argues that Indians and Indian fighting tactics saved the colonies from destruction. This contention relies heavily on the assertion that February 1676 was the turning point in the war. Chapter I reexamines the role that Indian spies and informants played in King Philip's War, and argues that they saved the colonies from surprise attacks on major settlements. Chapter II argues that "friendly" Indians played a significant role as counterinsurgents against a common enemy. Additionally, they provided extra numbers at a time when the colonial militias suffered from …

From Sweetwater To Seawater: An Environmental History Of Narragansett Bay, 1636--1849, Christopher L. Pastore

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines environmental change on and around Narragansett Bay from first European settlement in 1636 to the dissolution of the Blackstone Canal Company in 1849. It uses one of the largest estuaries on the East Coast and one situated at the heart of early English settlement in New England as a means to write estuaries into Atlantic history. Examining the ecological and epistemological complexities that arose at the nexus of land and sea, where improvable space and the push of "progress" met an eternal or "profound" ocean, this study reframes estuaries as watery borderlands that people used but never …

The Origins Of American History In The Early Modern English Atlantic World, Ian J. Aebel

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation is the story of how the English wrote the history of America between c. 1500 and c. 1700. Utilizing printed and manuscript sources, it argues that writing American history allowed English writers to navigate, negotiate, and contest the terms of a developing Atlantic empire. In doing so, the English created a vision of America to compete with the dominant Spanish narrative by the end of the seventeenth century.

The existence of America gave the English an opportunity to explore the prospect of overseas empire. After the Columbian encounter, English thinkers and writers transformed their historical methodology to accommodate …

Arctic Ambitions The Photographs Of The Lady Franklin Bay Expedition Of 1881--1884 George W Rice Photographer, Geoffrey E. Clark

Master's Theses and Capstones

The Lady Franklin Bay Expedition of 1881--1884 to the polar arctic was one of the first U.S. government sponsored foreign expeditions to incorporate the new medium of photography. The official photographer George W. Rice produced over one hundred images recording the progress of the project, including the landscape, scientific work, artifacts and indigenous people. These served multiple functions of acquisition, publicity and propaganda to promote the American program of expanding its sphere of influence beyond the borders of the United States. This thesis is the first complete catalog of the Rice photographs, drawn from all of the known collections, annotated …

War For The Soul Of Empire: Colonial British Protestants In The French And Indian War, 1754--1763, Jonathan Bratten

Master's Theses and Capstones

As the British and French went to war in 1754, the British colonies readied themselves for another round of warfare. Unlike previous colonial wars, however, this conflict was supported by the zealous preaching of Protestant clergy who were calling for the destruction of Catholic New France. Colonial governments were loath to use the vitriolic rhetoric of the clergy, but still used religion as a justification for raising troops to send on campaigns. The soldiers themselves were drawn from the populace, which was extremely religious, and saw themselves as the emissaries of the Lord. These three forces combined to make the …

Islamic Perspectives On The Crusades: Past And Present, Robert Noel Duprez Jr.

Master's Theses and Capstones

It is important that scholars use a variety of researching methods when analyzing the effect of the Crusades, how they affected Islamic perspectives of the West during the period 1095--1291, and their imprint on today's world. Western scholars with a Euro-centric point of view have accomplished the overwhelming amount of research on the Crusades. It is not until the last decade that Islamic scholars have taken an interest in the Crusades, and their affect on the Muslim world.

This study came to the following conclusions: 1) Scholarship on the Crusades has mainly represented a Euro-centric viewpoint, 2) Contemporary Muslim scholarship …

The Big Book & The Sword: A Study Of Native American Disappointment With White Morality, Brendan Mccaughey

Master's Theses and Capstones

The following thesis investigates the sources of Native American disappointment with white morality from the mid-eighteenth century into the early nineteenth century. Countless studies have focused on violence and resistance in the American backcountry throughout the late colonial period as well as the native revitalization movements that often fueled that resistance.

This study focuses on a group of people who were constantly in contact with examples of white morality. After witnessing the examples of white missionaries, Native Americans were repeatedly perplexed by white settlers who did not adhere to the principles of their religion. This disappointment continued in the Republican …

Toward An Environmental Conservatism, Terri S. Winters

Master's Theses and Capstones

The Evangelical Climate Initiative (ECI) argues that climate change is real and human-induced and represents a moral challenge for Christians to which an urgent response is required. The ECI demonstrates that there is common ground between conservatism and environmentalism. The actions of the ECI fit within an "environmental conservatism" whose elements have historical precedence. We find the seeds of parallel ideas in the writings of the Southern Agrarians in the 1920s and 1930s---ideas that were brought to full flower by Richard Weaver, an important figure in the development of a post-World War II traditional conservatism. We also find a similar …