Arts and Humanities Commons^™

“Historically As Certain As Our Revolution Itself”: The Nullifiers And History, William E. Hopchak

Senior Honors Theses

Despite the common defamation of the states’ rights theories acted upon in the Nullification Crisis of 1832, there exists a great deal of historical support for the nullifiers’ positions. Nullifiers believed in a decentralized constitutional system, while nationalists believed in a centralized constitutional system. This tension between central and decentralized positions had been at issue in the American struggle for independence though the exact manner in which these problems manifested themselves was different in the two events. The states’ rights ideas championed primarily by John C. Calhoun were consistent with American political tradition. At the most basic level, the Nullification …

Not Another Cuba: Lyndon Johnson And The Dominican Republic, 1956-66, Andrew T. Murphree

Senior Honors Theses

This Honors Thesis will examine President Lyndon Johnson's foreign policy surrounding America's complex diplomatic relationship with the Dominican Republic throughout the 1960s. Regarded throughout the last few decades as a less dramatic or telegenic study, the Johnson administration's involvement in the Dominican Republic has been largely overlooked and forgotten. In the wake of an emerging third generation of scholarship, historians are now beginning to uncover the intricate entanglement of information and circumstances supporting Johnson's role in establishing the parameters of U.S. Policy.

At the heart of this discussion exists a robust argument currently taking place among scholars who debate the …

Castlereagh At The Congress Of Vienna: Maintaining The Peace, Political Realism, And The Encirclement Of France, Nathan Curtis

Masters Theses

At the Congress of Vienna from September 1814 to June 1815, Stewart, the second Marquees of Londonderry and Viscount Castlereagh, succeeded in encircling France with a cordon of strong states that could better resist the possibility of future French military aggression. He conceived these goals with an eye towards European balance of power, strategically resettling European borders and placating allies when necessary. He guarded against the advances of France and Russia through the strengthening of the Low Countries, resettlement of Norway from Denmark to Sweden, the restructuring of a more resilient Italian Peninsula, and the division of Poland and Saxony …

Scientism, Satire, And Sacrificial Ceremony In Dostoevsky's "Notes From Underground" And C.S. Lewis's "That Hideous Strength", Jonathan Smalt

Masters Theses

Though the nineteenth-century Victorian belief that science alone could provide utopia for man weakened in the epistemological uncertainty of the postmodern era, this belief still continues today. In order to understand our current scientific milieu--and the dangers of propagating scientism--we must first trace the rise of scientism in the nineteenth-century. Though removed, Fyodor Dostoevsky, in Notes From Underground (1864), and C.S. Lewis, in That Hideous Strength (1965), are united in their critiques of scientism as a conceptual framework for human residency. For Dostoevsky, the Crystal Palace of London's Great Exhibition (1862) embodied the nineteenth-century goal to found utopia through the …

Divine Economy: George Rapp, The Harmony Society, And Jacksonian Democracy, James Tomney

Masters Theses

Divine Economy: George Rapp, the Harmony Society, and Jacksonian Democracy is a chronological exploration of the sucesses achieved, conflicts encountered, and eventual demise of George Rapp's Harmony Society. During its one-hundred year existence as it awaited the Second Coming of Christ, three successful agricultural and manufacturing towns were created by the Society out of the wilderness. Also explored is the impact Jacksonian Democracy had on George Rapp's Harmony Society during the 1824 to 1847 period, as is the contribution the Society made to American industrialization after George Rapp's death in 1847.

"They Cannot Catch Guerrillas In The Mountains Any More Than A Cow Can Catch Fleas": Guerrilla Warfare In Western Virginia, 1861-1865, Karissa Marken

Masters Theses

The American Civil War unleashed great violence and chaos in the western mountains of Virginia. The guerrilla warfare there between Unionists and secessionists remained bitter throughout the war. No historical study has considered the entirety of pre-war western Virginia during the time it underwent a unique civil war within the context of the national struggle from 1861-1865. This study supports findings from studies of other areas of Appalachia that seek to explain the prevalence of such conflict in the mountains, challenges the myth of a Union Appalachia during the war, offers the backdrop for the political wrangling on both state …

Old Gods In New Clothes: The French Revolutionary Cults And The "Rebirth Of The Golden Age", Jennifer Boyet

Masters Theses

The French Revolution's state cults were possible because of French intellectuals' preference for pre-Christian Greco-Roman civilization, as well as France's history of heterodoxy. The philosophes endorsed ancient Greco-Roman civilization as embodying mankind's ideal and more "natural" state; French revolutionary leaders avidly read these ideas of the Enlightenment philosophers. This Enlightenment Classicalism influenced the designers of the French state religions to mirror Greco-Roman paganism in the new regime's festivals and iconography. The French people's fascination with the Occult further created the cultural and intellectual climate for the creation and acceptance of these new religions of the dechristianized republic. Under this worldview, …

Chopin Mazurkas And Its Influence On Polish Nationalism, Pablo Cintron

Masters Theses

The innovative character of Chopin Mazurkas is forever linked with Polish culture. This thesis examines how the unmistakable sound of the Mazurka captures the Polish sound more than any other work written by the composer and how it contributes to Polish cultural nationalism during the Polish diaspora of the nineteenth-century. In this study, the author presents a brief examination on Chopin's traditional interpretation of his mazurkas as well as isolating the characteristics of Polish interpretation that sets the Mazurka performance apart from the non-traditional style. A research case is made when contrasting the current concept of the classical execution of …

Chopin Mazurkas And Its Influence On Polish Nationalsim, Pablo Cintron

Masters Theses

The innovative character of Chopin Mazurkas is forever linked with Polish culture. This thesis examines how the unmistakable sound of the Mazurka captures the Polish sound more than any other work written by the composer and how it contributes to Polish cultural nationalism during the Polish diaspora of the nineteenth-century.

In this study, the author presents a brief examination on Chopin's traditional interpretation of his mazurkas as well as isolating the characteristics of Polish interpretation that sets the Mazurka performance apart from the non-traditional style. A research case is made when contrasting the current concept of the classical execution of …

The Heartland Of The Democracy: Presidential Politics In Oley Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania, 1860-64, Benjamin Petersheim

Masters Theses

Oley Township, founded in 1740, in Berks County, Pennsylvania holds a special place in the commonwealth's history because of its unique religious, political, and cultural history. With hundreds of historic buildings and its Pennsylvania German heritage, the heart of the Oley Valley continues to attract colonial and Pennsylvania German historians from great distances so that they are able to analyze and research its rich heritage. Indeed, the area was designated as a National Historic District by the National Register of Historic Places in 1983 and much of the farmland has been preserved through land trusts and historical preservation efforts. Many …

Sex-Trafficking In Cambodia: Assessing The Role Of Ngos In Rebuilding Cambodia, Katherine M. Wood

Senior Honors Theses

The anti-slavery and other freedom fighting movements of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries did not abolish all forms of slavery. Many forms of modern slavery thrive in countries all across the globe. The sex trafficking trade has intensified despite the advocacy of many human rights-based groups. Southeast Asia ranks very high in terms of the source, transit, and destination of sex trafficking. In particular, human trafficking of women and girls for the purpose of forced prostitution remains an increasing problem in Cambodia. Cambodia’s cultural traditions and the breakdown of law under the Khmer Rouge and Democratic Kampuchea have contributed to …

The German Peasants’ War: The Intersection Of Theology And Society, Zachary Tyree

Senior Honors Theses

This paper examines the way that Reformation theology, particularly that espoused by Martin Luther, impacted German society. Sixteenth-century German society was very hierarchical in nature, with the Roman Catholic Church at the top, followed by the nobility, and finally the peasants, who suffered economic and political plight. Luther’s break from the Church in 1517 and the subsequent years brought tension to society. Developments extending from that break challenged the social hierarchy. One of the major social consequences of the Protestant Reformation, which was rooted in Luther’s theology, was the Peasants’ War. Luther criticized the peasants for the uprising, based on …

A Love That Lasts: Jane Austen’S Argument For A Marriage Based On Love In Pride And Prejudice, Katlin A. Berry

Senior Honors Theses

During the period of Regency England, a woman’s life was planned for her before she was born, and her place in society was defined by her marital status. Before she was married, she was her father’s daughter with a slim possibility of inheriting property. After she was married, legally she did not exist; she was subsumed into her husband with absolutely no legal, political, or financial rights. She was someone’s wife; that is, if she was fortunate enough to marry because spinsters had very few opportunities to earn enough money to live on alone. Therefore, it was imperative that women …

Victorian Domesticity And The Perpetuation Of Childhood: An Examination Of Gender Roles And The Family Unit In J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan, Abigail Nusbaum

Masters Theses

This work examines JM Barrie's Peter Pan in light of its cultural context. It works to show how the Victorian ideology of the separate spheres narrowed the scope of roles for men and women within the home, which ultimately led to an obsession with childhood that manifested itself strongly in the works of the children of the Victorians, the Edwardians. A study of the Victorian society in which Barrie grew up and first imagined Peter Pan, accompanied by a close reading of the text, reveals Barrie using the various characters' interactions with the title character as cultural artifacts that illuminate …

Hippie Caulfield: The Catcher In The Rye's Influence On 1960s American Counterculture, Richard Neffinger

Masters Theses

This study covers the influence of The Catcher in the Rye on the 1960s youth counterculture in America. Drawing heavily from postmodern and new historicist theory, The Catcher in the Rye has developed a unique connection with the American public, most notably youth culture. This study examines why youth are so attracted to the character of Holden Caulfield and what implications their connection has meant and will mean for future generations of young Americans.

A Southerner For The Union: Major General George Henry Thomas - A Brief Biographical Sketch And Analysis Of The Causes And Effects Of His Decision For The North, Miranda Becker

Masters Theses

The American Civil War was a conflict that set a country against itself, making enemies out of friends, severing familial bonds, and leaving a legacy that is evident to this day. There is no better illustration of this conflict than the life of Union Major General George Henry Thomas of the Western theater in Tennessee. When the Southern states seceded, each citizen had an important decision to make whether to side with the Union or the Confederacy. For some it seemed an easy conclusion, whether it meant staying loyal to their state or because they believed in the cause of …

The Life And Legacy Of Athena Malapanis Theokas, Emily Webster

Senior Honors Theses

The life of Athena Malapanis Theokas provides insight into the world of Greek immigrants in America during the early 1900s. Her own recollections and her family’s memories of her trip to America, her jobs in mills, the Greek community and her family’s struggle during the Depression are described, not simply as a story of one woman overcoming challenges. It is a legacy for realizing that the world of today would not be the same had it not been for those who worked tirelessly to ensure their children had something in their bellies at night. It is a story of how …

Never Give A Sword To A Man Who Can't Dance, Colin Slade

Masters Theses

War dances have long been a powerful means of preparing warriors for combat or the intimidation of an enemy, but they are also used in the ceremonial supplication of deity or celebration of victory. They are a fundamental artifact of many cultures throughout the world. Nevertheless, the United States of America boasts the most powerful military in history, yet it lacks a war dance. This is valid until one accepts a simple truth; military drill is a dance. However, Americans would object to such a proposition even though they have adopted and adapted military drill as their own, describe it …

Erik Von Kuehnelt-Leddihn: The Intelligent American's Guide To Europe (1979) Study Guide, 2002-2014, Steven Alan Samson

Faculty Publications and Presentations

No abstract provided.

The Importance Of Being Ancillary: The Cold War Context Of Fort Greely, Alaska, Catherine Hardee

Masters Theses

This thesis discusses the history of a remote Army base in Alaska, Fort Greely, from its beginnings as a World War II stopover for Lend-Lease aircraft to its rebirth as a Cold War installation, as well as its role in testing and training for cold weather missions and Cold War scientific endeavors. It also examines the role played by Fort Greely in the Cold War, and its historical significance in that era.

Historical Movements And The Theology Behind The Pluralism Project At Harvard University, Scott Macleod

Masters Theses

The focus of this paper is to address religious pluralism as a belief along with examining multiple factors that have been a catalyst for the Pluralism Project at Harvard University to become part of American culture. The theology behind and ideology of the Pluralism Project will be examined along with the writings of Diana Eck, founder of the Pluralism Project. Outwardly, The Pluralism Project and the works of Eck give the impression of an impartial attempt to educate people on the growing religious diversity found within America. However, it will be shown that the Pluralism Project and the efforts of …

An Examination Of The Martyrdoms Of Lyon In Ad 177: A Critique Of The Theory Of The Trinqui, Timothy Yonts

Masters Theses

Historical research concerning the Christian persecution of Lyon in AD 177 has attempted to solve the question of relationship between the events in Lyon and the political and religious context of the Roman Empire. One such theory, the trinqui theory, posits that the Gallic aristocracy exploited Christians as sacrificial victims in an ancient Celtic ritual involving the use of criminals in gladiatorial entertainment. If true, the trinqui theory effectively shifts the responsibility for the killings from the imperial government under Marcus Aurelius to the provincial and aristocratic authorities in Gaul. This thesis will critique the trinqui theory by showing that …

Seeds Of The Real People: How Cherokee Folk Ways Conflicted With Colonial Culture, Christopher Gunn

Masters Theses

The diplomatic relationship between the Cherokee and English colonists (and later the United States) was complex and affected by many variables. Chief among them were the cultural differences between the two peoples and how those differences interacted. Because the two groups were from long separated and isolated continents, their cultural ways were almost entirely alien to one another, with only the shared nature of the human condition to give them any common ground. Initially they had much to offer each other, with trade and military alliance becoming the foundation of their relationship. As the two communities grew closer together, however, …