History Commons^™

"In The Footsteps Of Hercules": The Influence Of Classical Antiquity On Eighteenth-Century Militaries, Scott Madere

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This project examines the pervasive influence of ancient Roman and Greek figures, historical events, literature, and military methods on the leaders and practitioners of eighteenth-century warfare. Rulers, generals, military theorists, and officers frequently consulted classical histories and literature for solutions to the common military problems of the period – tactical, operational, and strategic – showing remarkable faith in ancient military methods despite their growing dependence on gunpowder weaponry and related technologies. This dissertation examines why this was the case and concludes that classical antiquity not only maintained the credibility of its wisdom in the context of modern warfare, but also …

“The Spirit Of Revolution:” The Impact Of Rum On The Formation Of The United States, Charles Streator

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis explores the impact of rum, be it the distillation, consumption, or trade of it, upon the formation of the American Revolution and the desire of American Colonists for independence. Through the analysis of three distinct subfactors: rum as an economic force, rum as a political tool, and the cultural and societal impacts of the rum trade and its subsequent removal from the American ethos, this project contends that rum as a commodity became a driving factor in the creation of the United States. While much has been written on the roles of stamps, sugar, and tea in the …

Settlement In The Old Northwest Frontier And The Merging Of Culture, 1750 -1790, Sandra K. Ellefsen

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

SETTLEMENT IN THE OLD NORTHWEST FRONTIER

AND THE MERGING OF CULTURE, 1750 -1790

An Abstract of the Thesis by Sandra Ellefsen

During the late 1700s, the Cumberland Gap in the Appalachian Mountain Chain became the main corridor that precipitated settlement into Kentucky. Along this frontier line, settlers had to contend with various Native American tribes, and settlement on the frontier from the beginning of colonization irrevocably altered the Native American way of life. Warfare, encroachment, and disease caused the Native American population to decline drastically in the process of contact; often as a result, Native tribes chose to adopt many …

Silver Breathed Upon The Stage: The American Revolution As Drama And Mythology, Nathan Stone

Masters Theses

At the time of the American Revolution, several different intellectual influences were present within the American colonies: the classical tradition, taken from ancient Greece and Rome; Christianity, taken from the Bible and the Reformed, Calvinist tradition; and, Whig theory. The question that must be asked is: Were these different intellectual traditions brought together at the time of the American Revolution and, if so, by what means? By analyzing how the different traditions were present in the colonies as well as how the past was utilized through the eighteenth century understanding of time and history—particularly through the use of pseudonyms and …

The First Great Awakening: Revival And The Birth Of A Nation, Kory Ray Thomas Quirion

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

The First Great Awakening left an indelible mark on the development of America. With roots stretching back to the Christian Reformation of the 1500’s, the Great Awakening swept the young colonies with the fires of evangelical fervor. The revival shook the very foundations of colonial society. Following in its wake was a rebirth of reformed philosophy and theology that planted the seeds of self-government and political autonomy in the fertile soil of the Americas. By 1776, that seed had blossomed into a vibrant revolutionary movement that questioned the very fabric of Old World society. This article explores the rich Christian …

Dishonoured Americans: Loyalist Manhood And Political Death In Revolutionary America, Timothy J. Compeau

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation offers a new reading of the loyalist experience by drawing on the insights and methodologies of cultural history and the anthropological study of honour, as well as the history of masculinity, to contextualize the class and gender-based concerns embedded in patriot and loyalist written records. American revolutionaries attacked loyalist men using deeply gendered language and symbols, and succeeded in dishonouring loyalism in general, while also driving individual loyalists from their communities. Male loyalists relied on the same culture of honour to rationalize their experiences, justify their continued allegiance to the Crown, and transform injuries intended as marks of …

Consolidating Power: Technology, Ideology, And Philadelphia's Growth In The Early Republic, Andrew M. Schocket

Andrew M Schocket

Considers how during the 1780's-1820's wealthy Philadelphians adopted the British institutional structure of the corporation for purposes of organizing Philadelphia's economic and political life and how the corporate form was used to reconstruct and consolidate economic and political power. The corporation was part of a variety of "nexus technologies" that included canals and markets. These new social technologies allowed the coordination of physical and financial activities across greater distances, without relying on older forms of face-to-face control and coordination, thus permitting new elites to gain power as older, local patrician elites were displaced. These new corporate forms needed the legal …

Little Founders On The Small Screen: Interpreting A Multicultural American Revolution For Children’S Television, Andrew M. Schocket

Andrew M Schocket

From 2002 to 2004, the children’s animated series Liberty’s Kids aired on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), the United States’ public television network. It runs over forty half-hour episodes and features a stellar cast, including such celebrities as Walter Cronkite, Michael Douglas, Yolanda King, Whoopi Goldberg, Billy Crystal, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Liam Neeson, and Annette Bening. Television critics generally loved it, and there are now college students who can trace their interest in the American Revolution to having watched this series when they were children. At the turn of the twenty-first century, it is the most extended and in-depth encounter with …

American Revolution: New Directions For A New Century, Andrew M. Schocket

Andrew M Schocket

This essay maps out the directions I believe we are going, gives examples of recent trailblazing work, and offers suggestions about how we might move forward as we enter another century of scholarship.

25425 & 20500: Zip Codes For A Revolution, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

I put on my coat and headed out the door today around lunchtime. My excuse was to grab a sandwich to munch on at my desk, but I was really hunting something very different. The Post Office is right along High Street down the block from work and Tuesday was the first day they've been open this year. [excerpt]

Little Founders On The Small Screen: Interpreting A Multicultural American Revolution For Children’S Television, Andrew M. Schocket

History Faculty Publications

From 2002 to 2004, the children’s animated series Liberty’s Kids aired on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), the United States’ public television network. It runs over forty half-hour episodes and features a stellar cast, including such celebrities as Walter Cronkite, Michael Douglas, Yolanda King, Whoopi Goldberg, Billy Crystal, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Liam Neeson, and Annette Bening. Television critics generally loved it, and there are now college students who can trace their interest in the American Revolution to having watched this series when they were children. At the turn of the twenty-first century, it is the most extended and in-depth encounter with …

American Revolution: New Directions For A New Century, Andrew M. Schocket

History Faculty Publications

This essay maps out the directions I believe we are going, gives examples of recent trailblazing work, and offers suggestions about how we might move forward as we enter another century of scholarship.

Consolidating Power: Technology, Ideology, And Philadelphia's Growth In The Early Republic, Andrew M. Schocket

History Faculty Publications

Considers how during the 1780's-1820's wealthy Philadelphians adopted the British institutional structure of the corporation for purposes of organizing Philadelphia's economic and political life and how the corporate form was used to reconstruct and consolidate economic and political power. The corporation was part of a variety of "nexus technologies" that included canals and markets. These new social technologies allowed the coordination of physical and financial activities across greater distances, without relying on older forms of face-to-face control and coordination, thus permitting new elites to gain power as older, local patrician elites were displaced. These new corporate forms needed the legal …

"The Contagion Of Liberty": Mercy Otis Warren And The Beginnings Of Feminist Sensibility, Donnamaria Gerych

History Theses & Dissertations

This thesis will examine the life and writings of Mercy Otis Warren. The first section of the essay will examine the current historiography concerning Warren. Historically, her place has been somewhat ambiguous, particularly in view of what constituted feminism for early American women. By focusing on "republican motherhood," modern historical interpretations have overlooked Warren's contribution to feminist ideology. In effect, these interpretations have confined Warren to this one identity, diluting and disregarding the impact of a published female writer, not just of poetry and plays, but of a bona fide history of the Revolutionary War and the early Republic.

In …

Pennsylvania Folklife Vol. 38, No. 2, William B. Fetterman, James D. Mcmahon Jr., Monica Pieper, Lorett Treese

Pennsylvania Folklife Magazine

• Asseba un Sabina: The Flower of Pennsylvania German Folk Theater
• An Elizabeth Furnace Tenant House: A Pennsylvania German Structure in Transition
• A Tribute to Tradition and Necessity: The Schwenkfelder Schools in America
• "Enchanting Prospects": John Penn in Central Pennsylvania
• Aldes un Neies (Old and New)

Pennsylvania Folklife Vol. 30, No. 1, Ned D. Heindel, Natalie I. Foster, Lisa Colbert, Lee C. Hopple, Johannes Naas, Clarence Kulp Jr., Yvonne J. Milspaw, A. E. Young

Pennsylvania Folklife Magazine

• The Allentown Academy: America's First German Medical School
• Amish Attitudes and Treatment of Illness
• Germanic European Origins and Geographical History of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Dunkards
• The Voyage of Bishop Naas 1733
• Segregation in Life, Segregation in Death: Landscape of an Ethnic Cemetery
• "Rest in Peace, Joseph Hewes!"
• Aldes un Neies / Old & New

Pennsylvania Folklife Vol. 25, No. 3, Don Yoder, Donald F. Durnbaugh, Mac E. Barrick, A. Russell Slagle, Ronald L. Michael, Ronald Carlisle, William T. Parsons

Pennsylvania Folklife Magazine

• The Pennsylvania Germans and the American Revolution
• The Blooming Grove Colony
• The Salebill
• The Schlegel Family and the Rosicrucian Movement
• A Log Settler's Fort/Home
• Pennsylvania Dutch Studies at Ursinus College, 1976
• The Country Sale: Folk-Cultural Questionnaire No. 43

Reminiscences Of York, Maurice Augustus Moore, Celina E. Means

Rare Books

Dr. Maurice Augustus Moore [1795-1871] penned “Reminiscences of York” in the mid-1800s to record his memories of the York district of his child- and young adulthood. The memoir is, in Moore’s words, “a record of individuals, manners, customs and reminiscences of an old man.” Topics include the Catawba Indians, Thomas Spratt, Col. William Hill, education, the Revolutionary War, anecdotes, descriptions of the town of Yorkville and various communities in the district, as well as information on many families in the area. The volume also includes a biographical sketch of Dr. Moore by Celina E. Means.