Digital Commons Network^™

Faithful Unto Death: The West Point Class Of 1861 And The First Manassas Campaign, Jessie Fitzgerald

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

The West Point Class of 1861 graduated on the eve of the American Civil War as a class defined by regional and political lines. As the secession crisis heated up, cadets appointed from southern states resigned and went south, some just two weeks shy of graduating, while northern cadets remained at West Point. Two months after graduation, the class exhibited their military ability and the value of their training during the Manassas Campaign in July of 1861. They also demonstrated a commitment of duty to the causes and countries they fought for. Furthermore, they showed devotion to each other, even …

Fear And Rebellion In South Carolina: The 1739 Stono Rebellion And Colonial Slave Society, William Stanley

Masters Theses, 2020-current

The Stono Rebellion was a rebellion of enslaved people outside of Charleston, South Carolina, that occurred in early September 1739. Exploring the event and its surrounding context helps historians to understand how the rebellion was the result of political institution and exploitative social practices. This work is a history of colonial South Carolina through the rebellion, asking questions of what led to the rebellion, how the rebellion fit into the broader history of resistance, and what events compounded the rebellion in the historical record. Chapter one is a survey of the origins of South Carolina, and the development of its …

Diplomacy And The American Civil War: The Impact On Anglo-American Relations, Johnathan B. Seitz

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Modern historical memory of the American Civil War is dominated by the domestic elements of the four-year conflict between the Union and Confederacy. The military figures, battles, and major political changes of 1861-1864 are central elements to public interpretation of the Civil War. But there is an additional dimension to the events of this period in American history, one that, outside of secondary scholarly research in the past century, remains distant from public knowledge. This research explores the nature of international reaction to the American Civil War, focusing on interaction between the combatants and the United Kingdom. The heart of …

The Bohemian Bolsheviks, Dale Cook

Masters Theses, 2020-current

This project used two socialist magazines to analyze the relationship between radical politics and the historical moment. Political radicals worked outside of the mainstream and aimed to influence the creation of a dramatically different future. The question then was how did a group of radicals like those that worked on The Masses and the Liberator deal with the open contingency of history, that their imagined future may never come or could appear in a different form than they imagined, and how did they communicate that vision of the future in an intelligible way. Based on the magazines, I argued that …

Against The Classes And The Masses: The American Legion, The American Federation Of Labor, And Square Deal Americanism In The 1920s, Gregory Steven Hopely

Theses and Dissertations

This work explores the ideological contributions of the American Legion and the American Federation of Labor to American conservatism in the 1920s. It argues that the two organizations shared a vision of what the author calls Square Deal Americanism, a loose conception of ideal citizenship that added a nationalist rejection of class to more traditional nativist Americanism. The conservatism of both groups took inspiration from the legacies of the Progressive Era and World War I. They sought an active role for the federal government and engaged citizenry in eliminating any strain of radicalism, fostering patriotism, and securing a square deal …

Reconciling With Slavery In The United States: An Evolving Narrative, Jamie Phlegar

Masters Theses, 2020-current

This project addresses two strands of inquiry that spring from this issue of evolving race relations in the U.S. First, I examine how Americans talk about the history of slavery in the U.S. What rhetorical strategies are employed when slavery is discussed and/or debated in public history contexts and beyond? Second, I examine talk about the future of race relations in the context of the legacy of slavery. Specifically, I am interested in exploring what rhetorical strategies are employed when discussing the potential for reparations in mainstream arenas.

Free Speech Or Sedition: Clement L. Valladigham And The Copperheads, 1860-1864, John Forsyth

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Abstract

The antiwar movement during the Civil War, led by the Peace Democrats and their more virulent cousins, the Copperheads, was remarkable from many perspectives. First, their civil disobedience and political dissent largely remained well within constitutional boundaries, and the voting booth was their preferred battleground throughout the war. Second, during the unprecedented Civil War, at least unprecedented from an American perspective, executive wartime authorities expanded with the crisis, often abridging civil rights under the auspices of war. Third, power lay mostly in the hands of the Radical Republicans, both at the national and state level, and the determination of …

Under Cover Of Lightness: How Mixed-Race Americans Navigated The Racial Codes Of Antebellum America, Alexander Brooks

Masters Theses, 2020-current

This thesis investigates the way people of mixed “racial” ancestry—known as mulattoes in the 18th and 19th centuries—navigated life in deeply racially divided society. Even understanding “mulatto strategies” is difficult because it is to study a group shrouded in historical ambiguity by choice. Nonetheless, this paper will seek to identify the beginnings of this group’s history by looking at the two centuries before emancipation, but specifically the six decades prior, known as the antebellum period. As addressed in the paper’s introduction, the term “mulatto” is not commonly used today, and many consider it offensive. Similar terms such as quadroon and …

"The Twilight-Colored Smell Of Honeysuckle:" William Faulkner, The South, And Literature As A Site Of Memory, Emily Innes

Masters Theses, 2020-current

This thesis examines the intersection of literature and historical memory, focusing on William Faulkner’s literature and the construction of memory and identity in the 1920s-1930s American South. Understanding the basic objective of memory as using the past to consolidate a social consciousness rooted in a shared identity and future, I examine how literature contributes to and enriches this process. I argue that because memory is deeply embedded in the social frameworks of a population, and dependent on the population’s cultural, political, and social identity, it is a fundamental component of understanding cultural identity. By interpreting literature through the lens of …

The Grizzly, May 7, 2020, Kevin Leon, Lillian Vila Licht

Ursinus College Grizzly Newspaper, 1978 to Present

How we Spend our Time During COVID-19 • Productivity is a Sham

The 3rd U.S. Volunteer Infantry, Pt. 1: Galvanized Yankees Along The Platte, Ronald Wirtz

Books and Monographs: CTR Library

From the text: "The history of the 3rd United States Volunteer Infantry Regiment in Nebraska, Colorado and Wyoming is not known as well as that of units that were active in the eastern and western theaters of the Civil War, but the more than nine hundred soldiers and officers of this unit, and nearly five thousand other “Galvanized Yankees,” fulfilled an important function on the western frontier during the last year of that conflict."

Sinnet, Edwin, 1827-1902 (Sc 3528), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and typescript (Click on "Additional Files" below). Letter, 21 January 1862, written to his wife in Granville, Ohio, by Dr. Edwin Sinnet while serving as a surgeon with the 94th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. From Mill Springs Kentucky, he writes of the fate of the Confederate forces after the recent battle: their ill-advised attack from their winter quarters; their flight and abandonment of arms, equipment and horses; their burning of flatboats used to cross the Cumberland River; and the “bloody corpses” scattered across fields and roads. He tells of encountering a survivor still lying wounded on the battlefield.

Evangelizing A Nation: Catholic Priests In America, Christopher J. Wild

The Review: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Research

According to the most recent statistics provided by the American bishops, there are an astonishing seventy million Catholics who call the United States home. Five hundred years ago, there was not a single Roman Catholic to be found anywhere in this vast expanse of forests, prairies, and mountains. (Moreover, presumably no one living at that time in what is now the United States had any knowledge of Jesus Christ, for the episcopacy of Erik Gnupsson in twelfth century Greenland hardly resulted in any evangelization of the Christian faith in the western hemisphere.) As the European authorities competed to establish colonies …

Robinson, Andy, Jr. (Sc 3527), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3527. Letter, 3 February 1856, of Andy Robinson, Jr. to his brother and fellow steamboat captain Claudius Robinson, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Writing from Smithland, Kentucky, he advises of a delay in departing with the steamer “Lucie May” due to ice on the Ohio River. He also refers to his concern that “James” (possibly another brother) was involved in a railroad accident, but acknowledges hearing from Claudius that he is safe.

The Strange Death Of American Democracy: Judicial Supremacy And The New Constitutional Politics, 1910-1916, Logan Istre

LSU Master's Theses

American constitutional politics reached a crisis point during the Progressive Era. At the center of the crisis was the question as to what the Constitution meant and who had the final word in interpreting it: The Supreme Court or the People of the United States. That fundamental question came to a head in the presidential election of 1912. The result of that contest was the confirmation of judicial supremacy in constitutional interpretation and a mortal blow the nation’s traditional popular constitutional politics. The ensuring consensus of judicial supremacy has defined the nation’s constitutional politics since, which has resulted in the …

Ashby, Rickie Zayne, B. 1949 (Mss 699), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 699. Rickie Z. Ashby, a native of Ohio County, amassed this material as he worked on various historical and genealogical research projects. The chief focus of the collection is the vigilante group known as the Possum Hunters, which operated in the first quarter of the twentieth century in various western Kentucky counties, chiefly Butler, Muhlenberg, Ohio, and Daviess counties. Secondary emphasis is on other vigilante groups in southcentral Kentucky, including the Night Riders.

A Comparative Analysis Of The Politics Of Gun Control In The United States And Australia, Nicholas Leone

College Honors Program

This thesis centers on the interrelationships and differences in firearm legislation and culture within the United States of America and Australia. As a result of the Port Arthur Massacre on April 28, 1996, Australia was faced with an unprecedented mass shooting that completely shifted Australian politics and culture regarding firearm safety and availability. Thus, the thesis inquiries into the effectiveness of Australia’s buyback program as well as the cultural and political factors that allowed for such legislation to be passed. After suffering 118 mass shootings in the U.S. since 1982, the history of the United States regarding gun control is …

Covid-19 Journal | Mara'sha Goode, Mara'sha Goode

COVID-19 Student Journal Project

No abstract provided.

Covid-19 Journal | Madison Brooks, Madison Brooks

COVID-19 Student Journal Project

No abstract provided.

Covid-19 Journal | Brianna Cagle, Brianna Cagle

COVID-19 Student Journal Project

No abstract provided.

Covid-19 Journal | Erin Vance, Erin Vance

COVID-19 Student Journal Project

No abstract provided.

Covid-19 Journal | Emily Strange, Emily Strange

COVID-19 Student Journal Project

No abstract provided.

Covid-19 Journal | Henley Higgins, Henley Higgins

COVID-19 Student Journal Project

No abstract provided.

“A Compact With The Whales”: New Bedford, The American Civil War, And A Changing Industry, Mark Ryan Mello

History & Classics Dissertations and Masters Theses

On the late afternoon of June 28, 1865, Captain Thomas G. Young, master of the whaleship Favorite, defiantly stood atop the roof of his cabin, brandishing revolvers and bomb guns. His courage, perhaps inspired by liquor, was stout in the face of the nearing Confederate ship. He determined his ship would not be like the other thirty-one New Bedford whaleships that fell to Confederate pirates since 1862. Fearful for their captain’s life, his crew pleaded with him to stand down. Any fight he made would be fruitless and would probably end up killing him. But Young was a desperate …

The Face Of Intervention: Military Humanitarianism During The 1965 Dominican Crisis, Wesley Hazzard

Dissertations

On April 28, 1965 the US military intervened in the Dominican Republic’s civil war. This dissertation argues that the military did not deploy to fight a war but to create a favorable environment for the establishment of a pro-US government. The US military relied on humanitarian aid through civic action programs and civil affairs operations to diminish the Dominican populations’ interest in leftist political organizations and platforms. The civil affairs and civic action programs served to both alleviate the hardships of the Dominican people, turn them away from leftist policies, and build support for a US friendly government. The US …

Amjambo Africa! (May 2020), Kathreen Harrison

Amjambo Africa!

In This Issue...

Legacy of artist & scholar David Driskell...........................p. 2

Navigating COVID-19.................p. 3

US/Canada Border Crossing.......p. 5

Evictions & Rental Assistance.....p. 6

Virtual commemoration .............p. 8

COVID-19 and youth..................p. 9

Unemployment Insurance..........p. 9

Legislation: Stimulus.................p. 11

Preventing a second spike .......p. 19

Food resource listing...........p. 20/21

It's Complicated: President Trump's Relationship With Media, Joseph Iamele

Honors Projects in History and Social Sciences

Through an evolution of presidential communication and the development of newer communications technology, a symbiotic relationship between the president and media outlets has emerged. The president, attempting to communicate his messages to as much of the American public as possible, relies on media to spread his messages. Media outlets, on the other hand, would rather focus on more negative or drama filled aspects of the presidency. This results from a profit motive in the media industry that requires outlets to continuously gain readership, viewership and, subscribers. The best way to gain these is not by reporting the president’s policy accomplishments, …

Isabelle Daniels Holston, Christian Langer

Tennessee State University Olympians

No abstract provided.

Wyomia Tyus, Angel Sloss

Tennessee State University Olympians

No abstract provided.

Kathy Mcmillan, Christian Langer

Tennessee State University Olympians

No abstract provided.