History Commons^™

The Greens Of Falls Of Rough: A Kentucky Family Biography 1795-1965, Hugh Ridenour

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of writing about the Greens of Falls of Rough is to record the extraordinary lives of three generations of a prominent, but somewhat neglected, Kentucky family that contributed greatly to the history of the Commonwealth. This family’s activities parallel that history in social, economic and political aspects from the state’s inception to the 1960s.

In addition, this thesis should alleviate a pervasive misunderstanding regarding the identity of Willis Green, founder of the Greens of Falls of Rough. Mr. Green, a prominent Kentuckian in his own right, has been confused with another Kentuckian, a Willis Green of Danville. The …

The Public Career Of Maurice Hudson Thatcher, Randy Ream

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The public career of Maurice Hudson Thatcher was wedded to one of the most interesting epochs in Kentucky history and Kentucky politics. From 1895, with his election as county clerk of Butler County, to his defeat for the United States Senate in 1932, Maurice Thatcher was intimately involved in almost every statewide political campaign. He participated in the rise of the Republican party to a point where it was a definite force in state politics and won almost as many statewide races as it lost. He also participated in the party’s relegation to minority status with the advent of the …

Thomas Jefferson And The West, Denise Baker

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

From his childhood on the fringe of the Virginia frontier until his years of retirement at Monticello, Thomas Jefferson displayed a special interest in the vast expanse of land stretching westward. The land provided the ideal place for the expansion of Jefferson’s dream of an American empire for liberty. He viewed the continent as the home of an agrarian nation living under the principles of democracy.

Chapter one is introductory in nature, linking Jefferson’s ideals to his interest in the West. Chapter two concentrates on his early contributions to the West. Emphasis is placed on land speculation, the western land …

Luke Pryor Blackburn: The Good Samaritan, Nancy Baird

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Luke Pryor Blackburn, Kentucky’s only physician governor, is one of the forgotten public health figures of the 19^th century. As health officer of Natchez in the 1850s he instituted the first effective quarantine used in the Mississippi Valley and became a strong advocate of its use as a preventive measure in the control of yellow fever. During his lifetime Blackburn also became well known for his unselfish aid to communities stricken with the disease.

In March 1878 announced his candidacy for governor of his native state. Local politicians scoffed at his chances for election, but his actions during the …

The Constitutional Union Party In Kentucky, John Lawrence Kelly

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

During the period immediately preceding the Civil War, there arose a new political party, the Constitutional Union party. While nearly every other phase of the era around the Civil War has been covered exhaustively, comparatively, very little has been written about the Union movement and its attempt to prevent the war. What has been written about the Union party deals primarily with the movement at the national level. It is the goal of this author to present a history of the Union movement in Kentucky and the part played in the national party by Kentuckians.

United States-Russian Relations, 1917-1933, Raymond L. Cravens

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

“One should doff one’s cap to the statue of Jupiter, in case he returned to power.” – Lord Byron

Our task in this study is to determine whether the words of Lord Byron are true in the realm of International Power Politics. This is a study of the application of the principle of non-recognition – the refusal of acknowledgement – to Russo-American relations during the period from 1917 to 1933.

The year was 1917, and the Gladiator of Capitalism stood over the prostrate form of Russian Bolshevism and appealed for the decision of “life” or “death” to be meted out …

The Attitude Of The Presidents Of The United States Toward Education As Revealed In Their Messages To Congress, Kelsey R. Cummins

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This thesis is undertaken with the intention of studying the attitude of the Presidents of the United States toward education as revealed in their messages to Congress. The writer chose this subject because he felt that the messages and speeches reflect their attitude toward education and to some extent at least reflect the national attitude. Since this group has included some of America’s ablest leaders, education may find in their works arguments of great weight.

Since the study was restricted to the messages of Presidents, naturally Richardson’s “Messages and Papers of the Presidents of the Presidents to 1908” is the …

Matthew Lyon In Kentucky, Lyda Smith

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

“Men at some time are masters of their fate:
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.”

Thus Shakespeare has the wily Cassius speak, and thus Matthew Lyon must have believed; else he had not contended so fiercely, so incessantly, and so interminably against such adverse circumstances as the average individual would have submitted to sooner or later. Many may have thought so; the facts often indicated so; yet never in a true sense was Matthew Lyon an underling. His fierce spirit was supreme over material things. Even while an indentured servant …

The Career Of Edward Ward Carmack And The Cooper-Sharp Trial, Robert Franklin Crutcher

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The subject of this thesis was suggested to the writer in October 1931, by the History Department of the Western Kentucky State Teachers College. The writer at that time was considering a number of other subjects, but seeing that material could be located easily, and that the field suggested by the subject had not been covered, this subject was chosen. When much of the material had been located and examined it was clearly seen that the material in the field could be grouped under two heads and given this title, “Career of Edward Ward Carmack and the Cooper-Sharp Trial”.

Most …