Political History Commons^™

Crises In The Nigerian Defence Sector In The Post-Civil War Period, Hussaini Jibrin

Zamani: A Journal of African Historical Studies

History has it that post-war period in any country in the world appeared to be with many challenges of re-planning the defence system. It involves the reconstruction of pre-war institutions that are destroyed during the war for onward growth and development. Contrary to this tradition, this article explores that, in 1970 while Nigerians were celebrating about the end of the Nigerian civil war, fresh crises emerged in the country’s defence sector. Thus, General Yakubu Gowon’s government redirected its focus on addressing the crises. The crises are numerous, however, this article dwells on four only. These are demobilization exercise in the …

"Virginia To Her Sons At Gettysburg:" An Analysis Of The Virginia Monument At Gettysburg, Ava Prickman

CAFE Symposium 2025

On June 8th, 1917, United States flags fell from the Virginia Monument at Gettysburg, revealing to the public eye for the first time the famous equestrian statue of Lee. But while battlefield monuments may appear stately and precise, behind every monument is a messy story where the message of the monument outweighs its historical accuracy. The story of the Virginia Monument, unveiled just months after U.S. involvement in WWI, is no exception as two monument commissions fought to control the narrative of the Civil War on the field of its bloodiest battle.

Bargaining For Statehood: The Intersection Of Capitalism And Politics In The Creation Of West Virginia, Kristen L. Bailey

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This project explores the original architecture of West Virginia. The plans and deliberate construction of the new state not only represented the longstanding desire of western counties for equitable representation in its legislature but also rested on the economic and political ambition of the movement’s leaders. Not all western counties supported independent statehood, and a substantial number of counties favored secession. Without a cohesive citizen consensus to embark upon statehood, traditional narratives that the western counties embarked on statehood solely to protect republican interests bears further investigation. Lacking a unified front, political and business leaders steered the movement through the …

The World After: Central Virginia In The Wake Of The Civil War, Harry Caldwell

Masters Theses, 2020-current

This thesis examines the situation in Central Virginia following the surrender of Appomattox. Its primary focus is on the Federal Provost Guard who were sent back into the region in the month following the Surrender. It begins in March 1865, introducing the world that the Provost will be thrown into that summer, and it will go month to month until January 1866, when the Provost have fully departed from the region and power was fully turned over to civilian authorities. This research is primarily built of the General Orders that were printed in the Lynchburg newspaper, The Daily Virginian, …

The Railsplitter And The Pathfinder: The Relationship Between Abraham Lincoln And John C. Frémont, Kourtney Yantis

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

This study serves as an analysis of the connections between Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States and John Charles Frémont as a Civil War general. Lincoln’s position within history is solid, unlike that of John C. Frémont. The thesis will elevate Frémont to a higher status as a historical figure by arguing that the emancipation edict that he issued for Missouri in August of 1861 would influence Abraham Lincoln’s preliminary emancipation proclamation of September 1862, even though Lincoln repealed Frémont’s decree. In biographies of each man, their interactions are merely a small part of the stories of their …

Res Historica, Volume 2, Lynneth Miller Renberg Phd, Alpha Rho Epsilon Phi Alpha Theta

Res Historica

The 2023 journal of historical research by Anderson University students, Res Historica.

The editorial team for this edition of Res Historica was Dr. Lynneth Miller Renberg. Johnathan Sorce, and Helen Smith. Cover art for this volume by Helen Smith.

False Idol: The Memory Of Andrew Johnson And Reconstruction In Greeneville, Tennessee 1869-2022, Zachary A. Miller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The memory of Andrew Johnson in Greeneville has progressed through three phases. The first phase began during Johnson’s post-presidential career when he sought national office to demonstrate his vindication. After Johnson died the first phase continued through the efforts of his daughters and local Unionists who sought to strengthen the myth of monolithic Unionism and use Johnson to promote reconciliation and to shield the region from federal intervention in the racial hierarchy. The second phase in the construction of Johnson’s memory began in 1908 when Northerners began to unite with white Southerners in white supremacy. East Tennesseans then celebrated the …

From Revolution To Rejection: Tejanos And The Road To The Civil War, Alexandra Leonor

Student Research

The relationship between white Anglo-Southerner settlers and Mexican people in Texas directly impacted the participation of Mexican Americans in the American Civil War. This relationship was one of equal participation in the Texas Revolution; afterward, the racist discrimination of Anglo settlers led to Mexican people withdrawing from military service during the Mexican-American War, though they held important roles in the Texas Republic. During the Civil War, Mexican people largely fought for the Confederacy in an effort to earn respect and equality and avoid the Anglo settlers’ racism and violence. The race-based class system brought from the United States by the …

From The End Of Politics To Legitimate Opposition: Political Perceptions Of The 37th Congress Of The United States In The North 1860-1862, Lauren Dubas

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

This paper intends to explore the political landscape of the Union during the first two years of the Civil War, specifically how the people in the North perceived what remained of the Congress from 1860-1862. I will be using a combination of primary and secondary sources to cover the 37^th Congress of the United States, whose members were elected in 1860 and legislated until the next Congressional election in 1862. My research shows several significant stages in the political landscape during this period and uses these stages of partisan politics as the foundation for understanding how the federal government, …

Rise And Fall? The Rise And Fall Of Isis In Libya, Azeem Ibrahim

Books, Monographs & Collaborative Studies

This monograph places events in Libya since 2011 into their historical and social context and argues a form of radical Islamism, linked to long-standing national defiance of outside control, remains a factor even after the defeat of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). This entrenched radicalism means extremist Islamist groups may still make a renewed bid for power until the current civil war is resolved. At the time of this writing, the military campaign by the Libyan National Army has stalled outside Tripoli. Now is the time for the United States and the wider international community to step …

In The Balance Of Power : Independent Black Politics And Third-Party Movements In The United States, Omar H. Ali

Ohio University Press Open Access Books

Reveals the multiple independent political tactics and strategies that African Americans have used to expand democracy and uphold civil and political rights since the founding of the nation.

This new edition of Ali’s groundbreaking narrative includes an epilogue by independent political analyst and leader Jacqueline Salit. New material addresses the historic presidencies of both Barack Obama and Donald Trump, as well as the rising tide of independent and anti-party sentiments.

"Historically, most black voters in the United States have aligned themselves with one of the two major parties: the Republican Party from the time of the Civil War to the …

Ulster, Georgia, And The Civil War: Stories Of Variation, William Loveless

Honors Theses

Ulster, Georgia, and The Civil War: Stories of Variation explores the lives of 13 men from Northern Ireland who immigrated to the American South and fought for the Confederacy. The author pursues the stories of each man’s life in order to have a more thorough understanding of what life looked like for Irish/Ulster immigrants in the South during the 19^th century. By looking at the lives of the men in Ulster, their first experiences in the United States, their experiences in the Civil War, and their lives following the war, the author identifies more variation than consistent trends.

A Forgotten Shade Of Blue: Support For The Union And The Constitutional Republic In Southeastern Kentucky During The Civil War Era., Howard Muncy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes Southeastern Kentucky’s political and military support for the Union during the Civil War era. In the decades prior to the 1860 election, Kentucky developed deep social and economic ties with all sections of the country. After the secession winter that followed Abraham Lincoln’s presidential election, the statewide population divided and pockets of significant Confederate sympathies emerged. Kentucky’s southeastern counties aligned with the Union at the outbreak of the Civil War because of a strong national identity and the absence of a large slave population. As the war unfolded, Southeastern Kentuckians played an important role in the disruption …

'We Are Abolitionizing The West': The Union Army And The Implementation Of Federal Emancipation Policy, 1861–1865, Scott Ackerman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This project provides a new history of the implementation of federal emancipation policy by the Union armies during the Civil War. It examines five geographic regions occupied by the Union army—the Mississippi River Valley, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana and the Gulf Coast, and Kentucky—focusing on the activities of officials whom I term the “middle managers” of federal emancipation policy. Though often overlooked by historians, officers such as Union army Adjutant General Lorenzo Thomas, Commissioner for the United States Colored Troops George Stearns, and Major William Sidell were specifically designated by the Lincoln administration to superintend the implementation of emancipation policy in …

Civil Neighbors To Violent Foes: Guerrilla Warfare In Western Virginia During The Civil War, Lauren Michelle Milton

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

“Civil Neighbors to Violent Foes” researches the effect of guerrilla warfare in West Virginia during a national war and statehood movement, and the impact that emotions had on the people of the state. When President Lincoln won the election in 1860, secession was inevitable and war a likely possibility. At the time, West Virginia was still a part of Virginia, but old state political divisions, combined with the current national political divisions, fueled the fire for a new state, separate from Virginia and loyal to the Union. It would take West Virginia two years from the time delegates began holding …

Breaking And Remaking The Mason-Dixon Line: Loyalty In Civil War America, 1850-1900, Charles R. Welsko

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Between 1850 and 1900, Americans redefined their interpretation of national identity and loyalty. In the Mid-Atlantic borderland of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia this change is most evident. With the presence of a free state and slave states in close proximity, white and black Americans of the region experienced the tumult of the Civil War Era first hand. While the boundary between freedom and slavery served as an antebellum battleground over slavery, during the war, the whole region bore witness to divisions between the Union and Confederacy as well as to define what loyalty and nation meant. By exploring …

"Impracticable, Inhospitable, And Dismal Country": An Examination Of The Environmental Impact On Civil War Military Operations In West Virginia, John Martin Mcmillan

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

“Impracticable, Inhospitable, and Dismal Country” examines the role of the natural environment in the campaign fought along Tygart’s Valley River in West Virginia during the summer and early fall of 1861. In the weeks following the capitulation of Fort Sumter, it became clear that hostilities would break out in present-day West Virginia. Divided political sentiments between secessionists and Unionists, combined with vital transportation avenues including turnpikes, the Ohio River, and the critical Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, forced the region into the crosshairs of regular military operations. As soldiers from both Union and Confederate armies mobilized in West Virginia, they soon …

Is ‘Military Necessity’ Enough? Lincoln’S Conception Of Executive Power In Suspending Habeas Corpus In 1861, Evan Mclaughlin

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

In May 1861, President Abraham Lincoln's decision to suspend habeas corpus in Baltimore following an attack on Federal troops as they marched through Baltimore on April 19th to answer Lincoln’s call to defend the Capitol. To complicate matters further, Congress was still in recess, so they could not legislate a solution to the growing insurgency. In order to check these actions, Abraham Lincoln authorized General Scott to suspend Habeas Corpus between Baltimore and Philadelphia. When John Merryman was arrested, detained, and denied habeas corpus, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney issued an in-chambers decision, Ex Parte Merryman, to voice his …

What If The South Had Won The Civil War? 4 Sci-Fi Scenarios For Hbo's 'Confederate', Allen C. Guelzo

Civil War Era Studies Faculty Publications

“What if” has always been the favorite game of Civil War historians. Now, thanks to David Benioff and D.B. Weiss — the team that created HBO’s insanely popular Game of Thrones — it looks as though we’ll get a chance to see that “what if” on screen. Their new project, Confederate, proposes an alternate America in which the secession of the Southern Confederacy in 1861 actually succeeds. It is a place where slavery is legal and pervasive, and where a new civil war is brewing between the divided sections. (excerpt)

Decoration Days And Memorial Days, John M. Rudy

Civil War Era Studies Faculty Publications

By the time he came to Adams County in 1909, John Esch had been a Wisconsin representative to the U.S. House of Representatives for two decades. But today was not just any ordinary day in the life of a congressman. Esch came to speak in the Soldiers' National Cemetery; it was Memorial Day. "Except for the difference in the number here," the Gettysburg Times noted after a note on shrinking attendance, "Memorial Day 1909 was little difference from those of former years." (excerpt)

Jones, Thomas Laurens, 1819-1887 (Sc 3080), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid for Manuscripts Small Collection 3080. Papers of Thomas L. Jones of Campbell County, Kentucky, a state representative and member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Letters to him praise two of his speeches concerning the U.S. Centennial and the 1876 amnesty bill restoring citizenship to ex-Confederates. Fellow Democratic Party members write with invitations to various functions, to encourage him in seeking the gubernatorial nomination, and to discuss political matters. Friend Thomas B. Chaplin relates his fortunes in South Carolina during and after the Civil War (Click on "Additional Files" below). Includes a few letters and telegrams to wife …

The Jacksonian Conservatism Of Rufus P. Ranney The Politics And Jurisprudence Of A Northern Democrat From The Age Of Jackson To The Gilded Age, David M. Gold

Ohio University Press Open Access Books

Ohio’s Rufus P. Ranney embodied many of the most intriguing social and political tensions of his time. He was an anticorporate campaigner who became John D. Rockefeller’s favorite lawyer. A student and law partner of abolitionist Benjamin F. Wade, Ranney acquired an antislavery reputation and recruited troops for the Union army; but as a Democratic candidate for governor he denied the power of Congress to restrict slavery in the territories, and during the Civil War and Reconstruction he condemned Republican policies.

Ranney was a key delegate at Ohio’s second constitutional convention and a two-time justice of the Ohio Supreme Court. …

The Evolving Emancipator: An Analysis Of Abraham Lincoln And The Progression And Development Of His Emancipationist Impulse, Sharon N. Rodriguez

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This research looks at the narrative of Abraham Lincoln as the Great Emancipator versus the Evolving Emancipator. The goal of this thesis is to contribute to the narrative of the Evolving Emancipator and show an imperfect man who achieved this action after trials and tribulations.This has been achieved by examining letters and other primary sources to fully understand the scope of Lincoln’s sentiments regarding slavery. My research shows a man who acknowledged slavery because it was sanctioned by the law. He recognized the rights of slave owners, both to retain their slaves and to have fugitive slaves returned, as they …

Gettysburg College Journal Of The Civil War Era 2017

The Gettysburg College Journal of the Civil War Era

No abstract provided.

'Civil Wars: A History In Ideas' By David Armitage (Review), Zachary C. Shirkey

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Neither A Slave Nor A King: The Antislavery Project And The Origins Of The American Sectional Crisis, 1820-1848, Joseph T. Murphy

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

“Neither a Slave nor a King” intervenes in the scholarly debate over the “antislavery origins” of the sectional crisis in antebellum America – how the rise of a northern antislavery movement escalated the sectional tensions that led to southern secession and the Civil War. There are two main strands of literature on the antislavery origins of the sectional crisis. The first, in which social and cultural historians are dominant, focuses on the rise of radical (or “immediate”) abolitionism in the 1830s, exploring its impact on North-South relations and antebellum reform generally. The other strand, written by political and legal historians, …

A Springfield Education, Allen C. Guelzo

Civil War Era Studies Faculty Publications

Politicians have never been shy about writing about themselves, even when it seemed that all they could expect from the public was a polite nod. The Civil War era abounded in such political selfies, among them George W. Julian’s Political Recollections 1840 to 1872, John Sherman’s Recollections of Forty Years in the House, Senate and Cabinet, David Turpie’s Sketches of My Own Times, Albert Riddle’s Recollections of War Times: Reminiscences of Men and Events in Washington, 1860–1865, Alexander McClure’s Recollections of Half a Century, and, of course, Ulysses S. Grant’s Complete Personal Memoirs. [ …

Trailblazer: The Legacy Of Bishop Henry M. Turner During The Civil War, Reconstruction, And Jim Crowism, Jordan Alexander

Masters Theses

Henry McNeal Turner (1834–1915), a black wartime chaplain, an African Methodist Episcopal (AME) pastor, and occasional Republican politician, was a beacon of hope for thousands of freedmen following the American Civil War. The late nineteenth century marked a watershed in civil rights in the United States. The Civil War (1861–1865) ushered in emancipation for black slaves, while Reconstruction (1865–1877) provided tremendous opportunities for freedmen, including black male suffrage, equal protection under the law, and election to public office. Of course, African–Americans faced serious challenges. Many white southerners resisted Reconstruction, and the Ku Klux Klan (and other hate groups) soon emerged …

Commentary: 14th Amendment Laid Foundation Of Civil Liberties, Allen C. Guelzo

Civil War Era Studies Faculty Publications

They had just glued the world back together, and within a year it was threatening to come apart again.

That might sound like a description of the Arab Spring, or even the fall of the Soviet Union. In fact, it's what happened 150 years ago in the United States. [excerpt]

“The Union Forever”: Frederick, Maryland In The Elections Of 1860 And 1864, Megan E. Mcnish

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

Frederick, Maryland has been remembered as a bastion of Unionist sentiment during the Civil War. However, in the Election of 1860, on the eve of the nation’s internal conflict, a large portion of the city’s 8,000 residents voted for a secessionist candidate. The Election of 1860 is famous for straying from the typical bi-partisan election; four candidates ran for office and each appealed to different political sentiments. [excerpt]