Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2016, History

This dissertation explores the idea that the heightened level of economic activity required to supply the army acted as a powerful force engendering economic change within early America. The central question driving my research places the supply of the early American army in conversation with the nation's financial development. How did efforts to supply the army evolve over time and what role did this activity play in influencing the nation's changing economic policy in the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries? How indeed did military procurement impact American economic development during the early years of the republic? It is my argument that supply by contract emerged as the principal means by which to feed the army during the early republic due to expediency. Quite simply, early government officials reduced significant overhead procurement and distribution costs by turning over these responsibilities to credible bidders in a manner that fit well with the prevailing tenets of republican ideology yet acknowledged the advent of liberal motivations. Leaner government, for example, especially in those offices intimately connected with the military, appealed to those revolutionaries concerned about large standing armies. Reliance upon contractors, moreover, minimized in theory the likelihood that the military would need to forcibly impress supplies from the civilian population from which it so dearly needed support. These negotiated agreements shifted considerable burden away from the government while shielding it somewhat from any criticism accompanying failure. The relative merits of the system never endured sustained scrutiny—more often than not, the end of a campaign or conflict obscured those inadequacies of the system that continued war would likely have exposed. The interaction of government official, supply contractor, and army officer suggested a society struggling to reconcile values in a changing economic world. The triangular nature of the (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Mark Grimsley (Advisor); Peter Mansoor (Committee Member); John Brooke (Committee Member) Subjects: American History; Economic History; Finance; History; Military History

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, 2011, History

The personal narrative of ordinary Continental Army private Joseph Plumb Martin has long provided corroborating evidence for battlefield accounts of the American Revolution and has never been out of print, albeit usually in abridged form, since its discovery in the mid-twentieth century. Yet, the memoir was written in 1830, fifty years after the events Martin narrated. Its romantic literary style, its populist sensibility, its racism, its empiricism, all reflect nineteenth-century values. The memoir has value in epitomizing the solidification of American nationalism and the populist rhetoric that became associated with it. Chapter one attempts to understand Martin's rhetoric in terms of the literary influences on his writing, which include some works of the nineteenth century, but most from earlier times. Particularly evident is a modeling of behavior and outlook on the popular “Jonathan” character emerging from the works of post-Revolutionary American playwright Royall Tyler and others coupled with the romantic low-born outdoorsmen protagonists of nineteenth century rural poet Robert Bloomfield. Chapter two argues that Martin's populism and distrust of authority which positions him in the Jacksonian era, had experiential roots in his years of service during the Revolution, particularly with regard to the relationship between the rank and file and their commanders: a contractual, negotiated environment based on competency and personal liberty. Chapter three demonstrates the racism that influenced Martin's narrative and which stemmed from a growing antagonism between white and African-American laborers in the nineteenth century which rationalized white supremacy through the concept of competence. Chapter four discusses Martin's and by extension the early republic's view of the practice of medicine in context of competence and the rise of anti-intellectual empiricism in the creation of knowledge, with a focus on the medical advances of Martin's lifetime. Cha (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Elizabeth Mancke Dr. (Advisor); Walter Hixson Dr. (Advisor); Kevin Kern Dr. (Committee Member); Kevin Adams Dr. (Committee Member); Patrick Chura Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: American History