Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

History Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 14 of 14

Full-Text Articles in History

"The Unlucky Rebel": William Claiborne And The Evolution Of The Kent Island Dispute, Adam Pleasants May 2023

"The Unlucky Rebel": William Claiborne And The Evolution Of The Kent Island Dispute, Adam Pleasants

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis attempts to present a more complete view of the often-overlooked conflict over Kent Island between the merchant and early Virginian politician William Claiborne and the Lords Baltimore by presenting it in the evolving cultural context of the Atlantic world.


Racially Segregated Housing And Its Impact On Urban America, Bailey Norris May 2023

Racially Segregated Housing And Its Impact On Urban America, Bailey Norris

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Throughout the late nineteenth century, into the twentieth century, and the twenty-first century, Black Americans have faced displacement, segregated housing, and limited economic prosperity. Due to this inequality, Black American’s face difficulties as they try to resurrect their hopes of the American Dream. To assess the experiences of Black Americans and the impact of racially segregated housing on Urban America, an examination of legislation, state-funded segregation, structural and systemic racism, and the acts of individuals in creating barriers to success for Black communities becomes necessary. This thesis works to understand and answer the question: to what extent does racially segregated …


Violent Or Non-Violent? What Difference Does It Make In 1960’S Civil Rights Activism And The State?, Jada A. Commodore Dec 2022

Violent Or Non-Violent? What Difference Does It Make In 1960’S Civil Rights Activism And The State?, Jada A. Commodore

Undergraduate Honors Theses

In this essay, I research the differences between violent and non-violent actors during the civil rights movement and how their methods changed their interactions with the state. For my case study, I chose two violent and two non-violent subjects, as well as two individuals, and two organizations. Those being Martin Luther King Jr. and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee for my nonviolent actors, and Malcolm X and The Black Panther Party as my violent actors. I examine how their methods as individuals and groups changed the way they interacted with Police, The FBI, and the Federal Government such as presidents …


Coal, Land, And Ideology: Inventions Of Appalachia In The Mind Of The American Ruling Class, Zachary Harris May 2022

Coal, Land, And Ideology: Inventions Of Appalachia In The Mind Of The American Ruling Class, Zachary Harris

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Appalachia, itself a difficult to resolutely define region, has undergone the economic forces of colonialism and industrializing capitalism which allow for an excellent case study to apply Gramsci’s theory of cultural hegemony. No American region’s national conception is likely to have been as varied and often misrepresented as that of Appalachia. From the Revolutionary American State’s invention of early white settlers as the virtuous yeoman of the Republic to the modern perception of Appalachia as backwards, conservative, and drug-addled, shifting national economic conditions resulted in a constant invention of Appalachia in congruence. Whenever the people residing in Appalachia, whether Black, …


Divided We Stand: An Investigation Of America’S Dual Psyche And The Fbi’S War On Anti-Americanism, Laura Mills May 2022

Divided We Stand: An Investigation Of America’S Dual Psyche And The Fbi’S War On Anti-Americanism, Laura Mills

Undergraduate Honors Theses

In periods after war, the U.S. has a tendency to feel insecure amidst a changing world order. Reassuring narratives of American exceptionalism often emerge, as well as reactive vilification of the un-American “Other.” This thesis explores the split in American identity that occurs in times of heightened national insecurity, a division that awards labels of Americanism or deviant anti-Americanism to the broader citizenry. To explore the tie between security and identity, a case study approach is taken with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, or the FBI. From its establishment in 1908, the FBI carefully built itself under the expectation that …


The Republic Of Happiness: James Wilson, Political Thought, And The American Revolution, Kevin Diestelow May 2021

The Republic Of Happiness: James Wilson, Political Thought, And The American Revolution, Kevin Diestelow

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The moral quantity of “happiness” provides an organizing principle for understanding the political thought of James Wilson. By using happiness as a metric for understanding his thought, the Revolution can be conceptualized as an intervention in favor of human improvement. In his political thought, Wilson supported an actively empowered government which could take steps needed to support citizens’ moral and material advancement and ultimately, their happiness.


Unmasking Murder: Reconciling The Twin Depictions Of Viscount Castlereagh, Robert Warrick May 2021

Unmasking Murder: Reconciling The Twin Depictions Of Viscount Castlereagh, Robert Warrick

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Viscount Castlereagh is typically depicted in one of two ways. The traditional depiction is of a repressive, anti-liberal demon while the modern depiction is of a Machiavellian chess master who only adopted certain values to ensure his goal of British security. This thesis argues that the modern depiction has gone too far in removing ideology from Castlereagh's diplomacy. While he certainly desired British security, he was motivated by a fear of groups he considered to be "radical."


Revisiting British Zionism In The Early 20th Century, Benjamin Marin May 2021

Revisiting British Zionism In The Early 20th Century, Benjamin Marin

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Long considered irrelevant and unimportant to Zionist history, British Zionists played a necessarily important role in the movement in the early 20th century leading up to the 1917 Balfour Declaration and into the 1920s. Historical narratives that have embraced a reductive view of Zionist history that championed Dr. Chaim Weizmann's prominent role during this period have largely shaped this perspective. In this paper, I examine several British Zionists such as Moses Gaster, Leopold Greenberg, Leonard Stein, Frederick Kisch, and Alfred Mond and the roles they played during this pivotal period for Zionism.


John Dickinson: The Development And Deployment Of A Legal Mind: 1754-1774, Sophie Rizzieri May 2021

John Dickinson: The Development And Deployment Of A Legal Mind: 1754-1774, Sophie Rizzieri

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis argues that John Dickinson’s political thought is best described as legal-minded. I define Dickinson as broadly “legal-minded,” with his use of statute-based arguments conveyed with oratorical skill, and his articulation of constitutional principles of natural rights and balanced government. Dickinson’s work during the period from 1764 to 1774 was concerned with deploying measured arguments and constitutional principles to convince American colonists to preserve their rights against encroachments from Great Britain. Using the letters he wrote to his parents while studying law at the Middle Temple in London in the 1750s, and various public writing and speeches from the …


An Analysis Of Cross-Ideological Expectation Voting On The United States Supreme Court, 2000-2017, Sarah Saulsbury May 2020

An Analysis Of Cross-Ideological Expectation Voting On The United States Supreme Court, 2000-2017, Sarah Saulsbury

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Contrasted with the other branches of government, the Supreme Court has long been an institution posing a level of secretiveness equal to its power. Naturally, that has developed a desire, and maybe necessity, to gain a better understanding regarding the principal influences of judicial decision making on America’s highest Court. One phenomenon that has long been of interest to Court observers is the notion of the justice’s voting across established ideological lines. Previous attempts to explain and reconcile cross-ideological votes have focused on the influence of external actors on the Court, its legitimacy, public opinion, and dynamics between justices. Yet, …


Factionalism In The Democratic Party 1936-1964, Seth Manning Jan 2019

Factionalism In The Democratic Party 1936-1964, Seth Manning

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The period of 1936-1964 in the Democratic Party was one of intense factional conflict between the rising Northern liberals, buoyed by FDR’s presidency, and the Southern conservatives who had dominated the party for a half-century. Intertwined prominently with the struggle for civil rights, this period illustrates the complex battles that held the fate of other issues such as labor, foreign policy, and economic ideology in the balance. This thesis aims to explain how and why the Northern liberal faction came to defeat the Southern conservatives in the Democratic Party through a multi-faceted approach examining organizations, strategy, arenas of competition, and …


Recreating Richard Iii: The Power Of Tudor Propaganda, Heather Alexander May 2016

Recreating Richard Iii: The Power Of Tudor Propaganda, Heather Alexander

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Because it signified the violent transition from the Plantagenet to Tudor dynasty, the death of King Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth’s Field was a monumental event. After five centuries, his skeleton was rediscovered by an archaeological team at a site, formerly the location of the Greyfriars Priory Church. The presentation uses the forensic evidence to examine the extent to which the perceived image of Richard III is the result of Tudor propaganda.


The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere: The Failure Of Japan's "Monroe Doctrine" For Asia, Nathaniel W. Giles May 2015

The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere: The Failure Of Japan's "Monroe Doctrine" For Asia, Nathaniel W. Giles

Undergraduate Honors Theses

By 1942, the Japanese occupied nearly all of East and Southeast Asia and their influence even spread as far as British controlled India. This occupation, known as The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, was an ideological unity of Asia under the facade of mutual benefit and welfare of Japan and the other nations within the Sphere. However, The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere failed because of the inability of the Japanese to form this mutual benefit between the nations within the Sphere. This work evaluates the events that led to The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, life within the Sphere, …


The Role Of The House Of Commons In The Quest For Empire : 1748-1756, Stephen E. Ford May 1974

The Role Of The House Of Commons In The Quest For Empire : 1748-1756, Stephen E. Ford

Undergraduate Honors Theses

No abstract provided.