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Full-Text Articles in History

Public Financing Of Elections In The States, Nicholas Meixsell Jun 2019

Public Financing Of Elections In The States, Nicholas Meixsell

Honors Theses

In the US, there is a history of the courts striking down campaign finance reform measures as unconstitutional. As such, there are few avenues remaining for someone who is interested in 'clean government' reforms. One such avenue is publicly financed elections, where the state actually provides funding for campaigns. These systems can be quite varied in the restrictions and contingencies they attach to the money, and for examples one has to look no further than the states There are many states that have some form of public financing for elections, and by looking at the different states' systems we are …


“Realizing Democracy”: A Study Of The Regional And National Social, Political, And Economic Factors Driving Suffrage Development In The Age Of The Common Man, 1820-1850, Matthew Prosper Jun 2019

“Realizing Democracy”: A Study Of The Regional And National Social, Political, And Economic Factors Driving Suffrage Development In The Age Of The Common Man, 1820-1850, Matthew Prosper

Honors Theses

The Age of the Common Man was a period of American political history lasting from 1820 to 1850 characterized by the implementation of universal white manhood suffrage by every state through removing property and tax qualifications from state constitutional suffrage laws, as well as the “common man” entering the center of much political discourse. These conventions were demanded by the political, social, economic, and in some cases physical climates and conditions of each state. To look at these factors, this thesis divides the nation into three regions, two of which are examined: the Northeast, the Northwest, and the South (the …


Mexico: Neoliberalism, Popular Grievances, And The Rise Of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Irving Cortes-Martinez Apr 2019

Mexico: Neoliberalism, Popular Grievances, And The Rise Of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Irving Cortes-Martinez

Honors Theses

Andrés Manuel López Obrador, commonly referred to as AMLO, has become Mexico’s first leftist president in over seven decades. He has promised to get rid of Mexico’s problems through a peaceful but radical transformation, while placing the needs of the people first. For the past three decades, the nation’s political and economic systems have failed to create positive results. Mexico currently faces mass inequality and poverty, corruption and impunity, and insecurity and organized crime. Through his political activism and most importantly, his political narrative, AMLO has become a popular actor and is seen as the president who will implement lasting …


“Botany Bay”: The State Of Society At Union College During The Early Nineteenth Century, Andrew Cassarino Apr 2018

“Botany Bay”: The State Of Society At Union College During The Early Nineteenth Century, Andrew Cassarino

Honors Theses

The history of Union College spans nearly the entire history of the United States. Founded in 1795, the school emerged as one of the nation’s premier educational institutions in the early nineteenth century. The changes occurring on the national stage often entered public life on Union’s campus, and President Eliphalet Nott and students actively participated in the civil discourse of the period. The most prevalent issues on campus included the authority of government, temperance, and the question of enslavement. Historians often like to find commonality among individuals with regards to their views on the most pressing topics of the time, …


The Northern Civil Rights Movement: How The Brothers Fought Housing, Employment, And Education Discrimination And Police Brutality In Albany, Ny, Paige Mcinnis Apr 2018

The Northern Civil Rights Movement: How The Brothers Fought Housing, Employment, And Education Discrimination And Police Brutality In Albany, Ny, Paige Mcinnis

Honors Theses

The North has a conflicted racial history, as it disapproved of slavery and Jim Crow, but kept blacks segregated institutionally and socially. Blacks have been marginalized and excluded from housing, employment, and educational opportunities throughout history, and demanded equality during the Civil Rights Movement. Fighting systematic racism in the North posed greater challenges for blacks, as northerners denied the existence of discrimination, and segregation was not legally enforced. Revolutionary groups strategized ways to overcome oppression, but were targeted by the police, government, and local politicians to prevent them from succeeding. The Brothers, a black male organization in Albany, NY, used …


Cold War And The Olympics: An Athlete's Perspective, Mike Vecchione Jun 2017

Cold War And The Olympics: An Athlete's Perspective, Mike Vecchione

Honors Theses

When President Jimmy Carter decided to boycott the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, it was the largest act of political interference in the history of the Olympics. It began in December of 1979 when Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan. Carter was having a difficult time getting the hostages back so in response to the invasion of Afghanistan, Carter gave the Soviets one month to withdraw their troops or the United States would boycott their Olympics. Since the Soviets did not respect the demands of the President, Carter stuck to his threat and the United States did not participate in the 1980 …


Stronger For Scotland: The Rise Of The Modern Scottish Nationalist Movement, Thomas Wilson Jun 2017

Stronger For Scotland: The Rise Of The Modern Scottish Nationalist Movement, Thomas Wilson

Honors Theses

This research analyzes the growth of the Scottish Nationalist Party, currently Scotland’s main party in Scottish Parliament. The growth of the nationalist movement began in the 1920s and took a long period of formative years before the movement grew into the Scottish Nationalist party seen today. The nationalist movement was most successful in the latter years of the 20th century, but the most important stages of the nationalist movement were its formative years in from the 1920s through the 1940s. This thesis analyzes the nationalist’s developmental process of determining the goal of the nationalist movement and the methods the movement …


When Personal Becomes Profitable: Data Collection And The Complex Link Between Corporate And Government Surveillance And The Risk To Civil Liberties, Justin Gump Jun 2017

When Personal Becomes Profitable: Data Collection And The Complex Link Between Corporate And Government Surveillance And The Risk To Civil Liberties, Justin Gump

Honors Theses

Personal data represents a commodity of increasing interest to both the United States government and large corporations. While their reasons differ, the two powerful entities have worked together to radically expand the domestic surveillance activities in the U.S. As the government surreptitiously expanded its domestic surveillance under the guise of its “war on terror,” it quickly realized that the advanced technology and access to personal data held by many large corporations presented a valuable source of surveillance information. These companies, in turn, similarly saw an opportunity for revenue in both the sale of the data and large governmental contracts to …


The Persistence Of Patriarchy In Latin America: An Analysis Of Negative And Positive Trends, Eliza Burbano Jun 2016

The Persistence Of Patriarchy In Latin America: An Analysis Of Negative And Positive Trends, Eliza Burbano

Honors Theses

The last 25 years have seen the rise of women as political leaders in Latin America. There are now three female presidents, including Michelle Bachelet (Chile), Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (Argentina), and Dilma Rousseff (Brazil). This sociopolitical progress owes its success to the consolidation of democratic institutions, a strong feminist movements such as Argentina’s “Movimiento Nacional de Mujeres” and a strong regional push towards egalitarian legislation. According to ECLAC there are a number of important feminist movements in the region that catalyze egalitarian legislative changes. #NIUNAMENOS is one of such campaigns promoting zero tolerance against gender violence and aims is …


America’S First Ladies: A Catalyst For Change In Female Leadership, Power And Influence Or A Reinforcement Of Gender Norms In American Society?, Deborah Kim Grinhaus Jun 2015

America’S First Ladies: A Catalyst For Change In Female Leadership, Power And Influence Or A Reinforcement Of Gender Norms In American Society?, Deborah Kim Grinhaus

Honors Theses

My work examines the nature of The Office of the First Lady of the United States as a lens through which to view female leadership, power and influence in America. Through analyzing the singular experiences of four controversial First Ladies; Abigail Adams, Jacqueline Kennedy, Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama, this dissertation illustrates the ambiguities and challenges associated with The Office of First Lady as a metaphor for female power. Why analyze the First Ladyship as compared to other political posts held by women? The Office itself is not elected, appointed, institutionalized or legal. Therefore, how do these women use The …


Tracking The Tupamaros: The Role Of Uruguay's Movimiento De Liberacion-Tupamaros In The Electoral Success Of The Frente Amplio, 1958-Present, Lucas Hall Jun 2015

Tracking The Tupamaros: The Role Of Uruguay's Movimiento De Liberacion-Tupamaros In The Electoral Success Of The Frente Amplio, 1958-Present, Lucas Hall

Honors Theses

This project examines the role of the Movimiento de Liberación Nacional-­‐Tupamaros (Movement of National Liberation‐Tupamaros, MLN‐T) guerrilla movement, often referred to simply as the Tupamaros, as it relates to the electoral success of the Frente Amplio (Broad Front, FA), Uruguay’s largest non‐traditional coalition of political parties, from 1958 to the present. The Tupamaros officially emerged in 1963 in response to a period of deepening political and economic stagnation during which Uruguay’s ostensible tradition of two‐party dominance proved incapable of addressing widespread socio‐economic concerns. Throughout the 1960s into the 1970s, the Tupamaros used guerrilla tactics to expose the inefficiencies of the …


In Reckless Pursuit: Barry Goldwater A Team Of Amateurs And The Rise Of Conservatism, Nicholas D'Angelo Jun 2014

In Reckless Pursuit: Barry Goldwater A Team Of Amateurs And The Rise Of Conservatism, Nicholas D'Angelo

Honors Theses

Before 1964, Barry Goldwater had never lost an election. In fact, despite being the underdog in both of his U.S. Senate elections in Arizona, in 1952 and 1958, he defied the odds and won. His keen ability for organization, fundraising and strategy was so widely respected that his Republican colleagues appointed the freshman senator to chair their campaign committee in 1955, with conservatives and liberals alike requesting his aid during contentious elections. Goldwater himself adamantly believed that in politics, “organization is the whole secret.” For all of these reasons, 1964 seems to be an outlier in the senator’s expansive career. …


The Mythic Space Of The New Frontier: The Façade Of The White House Tour And Visual Culture Of The Jfk Library And Museum, Marissa R. Gentile Jun 2011

The Mythic Space Of The New Frontier: The Façade Of The White House Tour And Visual Culture Of The Jfk Library And Museum, Marissa R. Gentile

Honors Theses

The motivation for this project came from my desire to investigate the substance behind President John F. Kennedy’s careful self‐presentation during his presidential campaign and incumbency, and to demonstrate how his memory is still prevalent in today’s society. I applied Robert Slotkin’s language from Gunfighter Nation: The Myth of the Frontier in Twentieth­Century America as a framework to my discussion on the language Kennedy conveyed to the American public, starting with his creation of the New Frontier at the 1960 Democratic National Convention. By establishing an image evocative of the American Frontier and hero‐tales, Kennedy constructed a site for which …


Rediscovering Prigg V. Pennsylvania, Andrew J. Trochanowski Jun 2011

Rediscovering Prigg V. Pennsylvania, Andrew J. Trochanowski

Honors Theses

The concept of federalism serves as the foundation for the American political system. The framers laid a foundation for balancing state and national tensions; and during the antebellum era American political actors wrestled with the proper application of these concepts. This paper traces the evolution of federalist principles beginning at the founding and culminating with the commonly misperceived Supreme Court case Prigg v. Pennsylvania by analyzing transformative historical moments and political regimes. Prigg v. Pennsylvania currently exists within contemporary political and constitutional scholarly literature as a slavery case decided upon moralistic bias and the Court’s commitment to the institution of …


Lyndon Johnson: A Psychological Character Study, Stephanie L. Vacchio Jun 2011

Lyndon Johnson: A Psychological Character Study, Stephanie L. Vacchio

Honors Theses

This thesis centers on Lyndon Johnson and his character traits and how they are translated into his leadership abilities. The ways in which he handled issues as president, his personal relationships with others, and his own personality traits all define who Johnson was as a man. These aspects combined can be viewed as “character”, or the result of the environment someone has been exposed to for a prolonged period of time. In the case of Johnson, it is his childhood that has played the largest role in shaping his character and in turn his personality. My thesis explores the psychological …