MA, Kent State University, 2023, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Modern and Classical Language Studies

This thesis examines Livy's pro-republican statements in Books 1-5 and how he used them as exempla and documenta. In particular, it discusses how Livy's use of exempla and documenta demonstrates how libertas, freedom, cannot exist under a regnum, monarchy, and serves as a commentary about the events that occurred during its composition.

Committee: Brian Harvey PhD (Advisor); Radd Ehrman PhD (Committee Member); Sarah Harvey PhD (Committee Member); Jennifer Larson PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Ancient History; Classical Studies

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2022, History

Throughout the late twentieth century, Northern Ireland was the epicenter of one of the most infamous guerilla-style warfare conflicts in modern history. Spanning thirty-two years from 1966 to 1998, the Troubles ravaged the communities of Northern Ireland, resulting in fifty-thousand injured and four-thousand dead. These casualties were the direct result of years of political and historical conflict that existed between Unionist/Loyalists and Nationalists/Republicans. This conflict between Unionist/Loyalists and Nationalists/Republicans initiated the creation of Peace Walls following the famous Northern Ireland Riots in 1969. These peace walls ranged in scope from a few hundred yards to many miles in length. Typically, peace walls were over twenty-five feet high and fashioned out of brick and metal. Upon these walls, “Peace Murals” were constructed as a creative outlet by those who elected to take up brush, instead of arms. These murals displayed divisive images of masked revolutionary figures, paramilitary emblems, and calls to keep out. It is my contention that peace murals created a larger divide within the communities of Northern Ireland and were overlooked as a means of division during the Northern Irish peace process. This research will analyze the effects of the peace murals every ten years as a constructed timeline, beginning in 1971 and ending in 2005 with the establishment of Re-imagining communities. This period of analysis will reveal the evolution of this iconography and imagery beginning as “tagging” or graffiti in the early 1970s to commissioned murals in the mid 2000s. I will analyze these Peace murals from a cultural or from below approach of history, through newspaper articles, and collected oral interviews by those involved in the Troubles. Historical works from Herbert Butterfield, Peter Hart, and Ronnie Munck will contextualize the Troubles while the interdisciplinary works of Bill Rolston and Richard English as well as many other political (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Neal Jesse PhD (Committee Member); Douglas Forsyth PhD (Advisor) Subjects: Art Criticism; Art Education; Art History; Arts Management; British and Irish Literature; European History; European Studies; History; Modern History; Peace Studies; Religious History

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2014, History

This dissertation is a cultural and intellectual history of patriarchy in Pennsylvania from the American Revolution through the beginning of the Civil War. The erosion of patriarchal control in the years following the American Revolution only occurred when social obedience to perceived superiors became less important than personal obedience to moral conscience. The process by which some Pennsylvanians' mentalities changed, measured by linguistic shifts in Pennsylvania's print culture, occurred slowly and unevenly over the first seventy years of the state's existence. The language of the American Revolution was distinctly anti-patriarchal: colonists denounced the king's longstanding role as father of his people and encouraged Americans to think about duty and obligation in terms of reciprocity. Love of country and love of family were the highest duties and patriarchal authority was given rhetorical short shrift during this era. By the 1790s, however, consensus unraveled amidst torrid partisan fighting. Debates about familial authority mirrored political debates over tyranny and authority with no clear consensus. Although some painted familial relationships as sentimental and reciprocal, many authors continued to promote hierarchical or antagonistic familial paradigms. In both cases discussions about family intimately attached to broader themes of social control in the new nation. The language of brotherhood provided the most salient conceptualization of how political society was rhetorically linked to the family. While this language helped to dismantle some of the lingering obligations of paternal patriarchy, it retrenched conjugal patriarchy as consenting men in civil society continued to exercise complete control over their female dependents in the private realm. Throughout the nineteenth century, the language of duty tracked the political debates of the era and mapped onto partisan conflicts at both the state and national level. Although the es (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: John Brooke (Advisor); Judy Wu (Committee Member); Joan Cashin (Committee Member) Subjects: American History; Gender Studies; History; Womens Studies

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2024, American Culture Studies

In 2021-2022, once routine school board meetings erupted into intense showdowns because of the presence of what many believed to be Critical Race Theory within the school curriculum, Comprehensive Sex Education, disagreement over gender identity, and the nature of parents' rights. There were shouting matches and accusations that schools, board members, and parents were racists, hated America and members of the LGBTQ community, were trafficking in communism, and were harming children. Commenters made fiery pledges to remove board members, and board members received hate mail including death threats. This research project interrogates parents', guardians', and concerned community members' publicly expressed beliefs and anxieties about Critical Race Theory (CRT), gender identity, and Comprehensive Sex Education (CSE), at 10 geographically diverse K-12 public school board meetings in the U.S. available online in 2021-2022. It considers what their comments at the board meetings reveal about their understanding of the world, of America, American identity, and of their own values, hopes, and fears. The methodology used in the project is anthropological. There is close textual analysis to better ascertain the content, context, and meanings of the discourse formations and cultural codes. These are the primary sources analyzed: comments at the school board meetings, written and televised speeches, personal letters, newspapers, op-eds, slogans, protest signs, campaign commercials, websites, and social media. In addition, historical and archival research trace the genealogy of these discourse formations within American culture among the secular and white evangelical Religious Right. The anti-CRT commenters and those who hold to traditional gender ideologies want to maintain a particular culture, an ordering of the world, including ideology and theology that is rooted in hierarchy, exclusion, and particular gender norms heavily influenced by the Southern way of life. (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Timothy Messer-Kruse Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Vibha Bhalla Ph.D. (Committee Member); Andrew Schocket Ph.D. (Committee Member); Jessica E. Kiss Ph.D. (Other) Subjects: African American Studies; American History; American Studies; Bible; Black History; Curricula; Education; Education History; Ethnic Studies; Families and Family Life; Gender; Gender Studies; History; Multicultural Education; Political Science; Spirituality; Teacher Education; Theology

MA, Kent State University, 2023, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Sociology and Criminology

How does political identity affect mask-wearing and other preventive health behaviors during the novel coronavirus pandemic? I attempt to answer this question using a symbolic interactionist approach. Specifically, I use structural equation modeling (SEM) to test a conceptual framework of preventive health behaviors based on Stryker's identity theory and related theory and research on political identity. The sample consists of 969 workers on Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk). My central hypothesis is that respondents who show a readiness to invoke the “Republican” identity across diverse situations will be less likely to perform preventive behaviors, while respondents who show a readiness to invoke the “Democrat” identity will be more likely to perform preventive behaviors. Contrary to my predictions, political identity prominence has a significant positive effect on preventive behaviors for both Republicans and Democrats. Nonetheless, these results may help shape health policies for 21st century challenges related to pandemics and other local, national, and global scale emergencies.

Committee: William Kalkhoff (Advisor); Richard Serpe (Committee Member); Greg Gibson (Committee Member); Josh Pollock (Committee Member) Subjects: Sociology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2023, History

This dissertation focuses on the development of the Lost Cause mythology in North Carolina between the 1880s to the 1920s. The Lost Cause is a racist and inaccurate view of the Civil War years promoted by Neo-Confederate Southerners. This dissertation argues that the Lost Cause developed primarily through the efforts of Neo-Confederate organizations like the United Daughters of the Confederacy. These individuals built a compound-public space that united grassroots movements with official governmental figures to promote the Lost Cause mythology. The formation of this compound-public space and its impact on the Lost Cause provided the necessary cultural support for the development of a Democratic-backed white supremacist campaign in North Carolina in 1898 conducted to reduce the political power of Republicans and African Americans, and to re-establish Democratic hegemony. This dissertation explores the ways in which Neo-Confederates constructed the compound-public space including: the role of politics, gender, religion, education, the media, and Confederate monuments with the express goal of increasing the political power of the Democratic Party.

Committee: Joan Cashin (Advisor); John Brooke (Advisor); Stephanie Shaw (Committee Member); Paula Baker (Committee Member) Subjects: American History; Black History; Education History; Gender; Gender Studies; History; Journalism; Mass Media; Modern History; Religion; Religious History; Teacher Education; Womens Studies

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2022, History of Art

In the 1930s, a miniature jadeite pagoda traveled to several international expositions. Commissioned by the Shanghai jade merchant Zhang Wendi 張文棣 (1886-1961 or 1964), the pagoda seemed to captivate everyone who encountered it. When a group of bankers, politicians, and businessmen in Shanghai prepared a display for the 1937 Paris Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne, this object became a critical component of their contribution. The carving, the Altar of the Green Jade Pagoda (翡翠寶塔, created between 1923-1933, collection of the Lizzadro Museum of Lapidary Art), never traveled to France. However, the vibrant “social life” of the pagoda—to use Arjun Appadurai's term—over the course of 1937 functions as a unique case study to investigate the role of jade culture in the waning years of the Nanjing Decade (1927-1937). By employing the jade pagoda as a case study, I analyze the socioeconomic conditions that shaped its desirability across a vast range of social groups in the late 1930s. In the introduction of this project, I sketch the history of the 1937 Paris Exposition, the history of jade in the material culture of present-day China, and the events in 1930 that preceded the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945). In so doing, I draw together ostensibly disparate narratives through which to understand the pagoda's social life. Chapter 1 analyzes the interest in the pagoda from a Shanghai-based group known as the Association for China's Participation in the Paris International Exposition. Their earnest attempts to secure Chinese representation of the pagoda at the Parisian world's fair ask us to analyze the factors that primed the positive reception of the carving. In Chapter 2, we remain in Shanghai, where numerous print culture materials disseminated images of the pagoda. The localizing function of these images and articles grounded a pre-Paris exhibition of jade objects firmly within a Shanghai-specific cultural ima (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jody Patterson (Committee Member); Julia Andrews (Advisor) Subjects: Art History

BA, Oberlin College, 2021, Comparative American Studies

This thesis draws on interviews with voters and organizers to disrupt preconceived popularized notions of the Deep South, arguing for a reimagining of the region's value through the lens of electoral politics and the Democratic Party's campaign efforts. There is plenty of room for revision in the apathetic approach that national Democrats and progressives treat the South with. This historic and contemporary disdain, paired with common guilt in the promotion of a limited and exclusionary idea of what the South is, contributes to the marginalization of Southern communities of color, queer and trans people, working class folks, and more. However, through attention to voter access, revised organizing tactics, and more, the Democratic Party can be a part of the solution.

Committee: Shelley Sang-Hee Lee (Advisor); Wendy Kozol (Other); Caroline Jackson-Smith (Committee Member); Charles E. Peterson (Committee Member) Subjects: African American Studies; African Americans; American History; American Studies; Black History; Black Studies; Communication; Demographics; Economic History; Environmental Justice; Ethnic Studies; Gender; Glbt Studies; History; Journalism; Minority and Ethnic Groups; Political Science; Regional Studies

Master of Arts (MA), Wright State University, 2021, International and Comparative Politics

This study identifies three tactics authoritarian leaders use to attempt to effectively coerce their citizens without losing power: 1) performance legitimacy, 2) nationalist legitimacy, and 3) institutional legitimacy. To demonstrate these tactics of what I call “coercive effectiveness,” the author employs a most-different-systems analysis on the regimes of Xi Jinping (2012 2015) and Bashar al-Assad (2000-2004). The author finds that coercion is more likely to be effective under the following conditions: 1) when leaders use economic performance and institutionalist strategies rather than nationalist tactics, 2) when an authoritarian leader climbs the ladder to power rather than inheriting leadership and 3) when a regime is structured around the party rather than those centered on an individual leader. These findings allow policy makers to make more informed decisions for interacting with leaders. For example, the more that a regime centralizes its power, the more likely they will lose their grip on coercion by making themselves the sole target for blame.

Committee: Laura Luehrmann Ph.D. (Advisor); Pramod Kantha Ph.D. (Committee Member); Vaughn Shannon Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Comparative; International Relations; Middle Eastern History; Political Science

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2021, History of Art

This dissertation focuses on exhibition venues, a topic normally treated as minor historical information in art historical studies. It examines exhibition spaces and everyday exhibition practices in Republican China (1912-1949) through a case study of the Daxin Gallery, the first art gallery in Shanghai. Located on the fourth floor of the Daxin Department Store (The Sun Company), this gallery was at the center of Shanghai's commercial culture on Nanjing Road, in the city's International Settlement. From its opening in 1936 to its closing in 1950, it was one of Shanghai's most popular art venues, hosting about 340 exhibitions featuring all types of art, from ink painting to oil painting to photography and manhua. The gallery offered a platform for prominent painters like Liu Haisu (1896-1994) and helped numerous fledgling artists promote their art and explore new exhibition practices. With its active role during prewar (1936-37) and wartime years (1937-49), the gallery demonstrates that the commercial culture in Shanghai was not a mere background against which the art world prospered. Instead, the commercial space was an active agent playing a major role in the creation, perception, and circulation of art. By taking a spatial approach, this dissertation broadens our understanding of modern Chinese art history as a part of the symbiotic whole of the urban landscape and urban culture. It starts by mapping exhibition culture in Shanghai and then examines the history of the Daxin Gallery. By focusing on the previously ignored question of exhibition spaces, it draws attention to the connection between exhibitions and the urban landscape and brings out details of how artists found public spaces for exhibition. Likewise, by considering a department store gallery's role in the art world, it explores the liberalizing role that the consumer culture associated with the space played in the production and reception of art.

Committee: Julia Andrews (Advisor) Subjects: Art History; Asian Studies; History

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2021, Environmental Studies (Voinovich)

In Norms in the Wild: How to Diagnose, Measure, and Change Social Norms, Cristina Bicchieri outlines a novel amalgamation of elements to form an updated conceptualization of social norms (2017). The purpose of this study aimed to determine how social norms influence public dialogue about environmental issues by elected officials in counties that (1) extract coal through surface mining, (2) contain no town larger than 35,000 residents, (3) contain no major four-year university, and (4) voted for Trump in 2020. The ultimate goal of research was to assess whether or not, in a highly polarized political culture, norms prohibit elected officials in conservative communities from addressing topics of environmental concern. Data was elicited via interviews with elected officials from counties with coal mining legacies in West Virginia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas, North Dakota, and Wyoming. Through analytic, descriptive, and open coding, qualitative analysis focused on perceptions about climate change, pollution, and economic transitions away from coal. Results indicated that a majority of interviewees, 56%, viewed climate change as a topic to be avoided in public settings. Of the 33% of interviewees who lived in communities where they perceived they could openly discuss climate change, 67% of the subset identified climate change as an existential threat, which accounted for 22% of the total number of interviewees. While pollution was named a subject to be avoided in public by 22% of interviewees, pollution was only reported to be a public concern by 11% of the total sample. The remaining 89% contended that pollution did not exist in, or posed no risk to, their communities. In conclusion, analysis suggested that social norms aligned with community leader preferences. Thus, Bicchieri's blueprint for behavior change, which hinges on identifying maladapted social norms, will not serve practitioners who hope to employ Bicchieri's social norm concept as a st (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Geoffrey Dabelko Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Risa Whitson Ph.D. (Committee Member); Liang Tao Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Environmental Studies

Bachelor of Arts, Wittenberg University, 2020, Communication

Women in the political sector struggle to find their place. Though the number of female representatives has increased in recent years, it has been a slow climb often complicated by the socially prescribed importance of their image to the public eye as represented through media. In the impeachment of President Donald Trump, two female senators, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, were prominently featured on news coverage outlets. As it is not historically common for female politicians to be at the center of major debates, this case allowed for valuable analysis of how the media portrays women in politics. Through this work, three questions are explored: 1) How did cable news media frame Senators Susan Collins' and Lisa Murkowski's roles in the impeachment process of President Donald Trump? 2) How did Senators Collins and Murkowski frame themselves in their self-representations through the impeachment process? 3) How have Collins and Murkowski engaged in self-representation for their overall identities as senators?

Committee: Sheryl Cunningham (Advisor); Kelly Dillon (Committee Member); Edward Hasecke (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Gender Studies; Mass Communications; Mass Media; Political Science; Womens Studies

Master of Arts in History, Cleveland State University, 2020, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences

Prior to Tom L. Johnson's election to mayor of Cleveland in 1901, the city's tax system was rife with inequality. Johnson sought to correct these inequalities by democratizing Cleveland's tax system. To accomplish this aim, he established a new department in City Hall, called the “tax school,” which was designed to educate Clevelanders about the existing tax system's failures as well as Johnson's proposed solutions. The tax school worked to improve the tax assessment process by implementing a scientific approach, improving transparency, and soliciting citizen input. Johnson's efforts, however, met with resistance from an entrenched business elite that employed the state legislature and courts to destroy Johnson's tax school. Through political campaigns of misinformation, usurpation of the primary process, and stuffing key tax institutions with friendly partisans, these business elites conspired to control the tax machinery of Cuyahoga County. This study of Johnson's efforts to democratically reform Cleveland's tax system reveals how the city's business elite colluded to destroy the tax school and to retain the levers of tax power. In providing the canonical account of Cleveland's tax school, I situate the history of the tax school within a multi-party negotiation governed by unequal power relationships between business elites and the rest of society. The wealthiest Clevelanders possessed the greatest access to the tax system, and they used that access to rig the system in their favor.

Committee: J. Mark Souther (Advisor); Thomas J. Humphrey (Committee Member); Stephanie D. Hinnershitz (Committee Member) Subjects: American History; History

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2020, History

This dissertation will explore the short history of Ginling College, a women's college established by American missionaries in Nanjing, China, lasting from 1915 to 1951. Ginling aimed to provide higher education to Chinese women and train women leaders for the advancement of Chinese Christianity. Between 1927 and 1928, the surging appeal of the Chinese to regain control over educational institutions in China pressed Ginling to Sinicize its administration. Under the Chinese leadership, Ginling continued to be managed cooperatively by an international body of women. During World War II, the college earned public acclaim for its service to Chinese refugees during the Nanjing Massacre of 1937 and its relief work for China's government on its wartime campus at Chengdu, West China. After the war, Ginling navigated the furious political complexities of the Nationalist-Communist conflict. In 1951, it was combined with the University of Nanking. All its Western faculty went back to their home countries. However, through local alumnae associations all around the world, Ginling's former Western faculty and overseas alumnae continued to sustain an active women's community. After the economic reform of China in 1978, Ginling's overseas alumnae and faculty reestablished contact with mainland China members. In 1987, through alumnae efforts, Ginling was rebuilt within Nanjing Normal University on its old campus. The Ginling Alumnae Association is still active today. Previous studies often accused the missionary project for overlooking the agency of local people and thus for deepening international misunderstanding. Taking Ginling as an example, this study shows that Western missionaries and Chinese people could have deep and effective communication. Ginling's Western faculty and administrators cared about Chinese needs and respected Chinese agency. Meanwhile, Chinese agency in defending and facilitating the nationalistic cause of sovereignty, independence, and au (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: David Hammack (Advisor) Subjects: American History; Asian Studies; Education History; International Relations; Womens Studies; World History

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2019, History

This dissertation argues that the ideology of "the non-communist left" played a key role in reshaping both American liberalism and the Democratic Party from the late 1940s to the early 1960s. It approaches this argument by exploring the ideas and activities of three liberals in the Democratic Party: Arthur Schlesinger Jr., John Kenneth Galbraith, and Chester Bowles. As intellectuals and policy advocates, this trio linked their party not only with the nation's liberal circle but also with various manifestations of the global noncommunist left, including democratic socialists, anticolonial nationalists, and other progressives of the "third force" in Europe and Asia. In so doing, the three helped change the Democratic Party's outlook on four major issues in postwar politics: the purpose of political reform, the meaning of the welfare state, modernization in noncommunist Asia, and coexistence with communist China. Their role as intellectuals and advisers was particularly significant during the 1950s, a decade their party spent primarily wandering the political wilderness. In search of fresh ideas amid the ideological doldrums, Democratic leaders actively sought these liberals' advice on foreign and domestic issues alike. In response, Schlesinger, Galbraith, and Bowles formulated a series of new visions for their party through in-depth participation in a series of controversies within the American liberal circle as well as active interaction with progressive political figures across the world. By examining how these liberals produced their visions through a transnational conversation, how their visions were reformulated into policies through discussions with other liberals, and how and why their policies were accepted or rejected by Democratic leaders, this dissertation demonstrates that these three liberals kept "the party of reform" moving during "the age of consensus."

Committee: David Stebenne (Advisor); David Steigerwald (Committee Member); Paula Baker (Committee Member) Subjects: American History; American Studies; Asian Studies; European History; History; Modern History; Pacific Rim Studies; Philosophy; Political Science

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2019, History

This paper explores the power of history in the rhetoric of conservative politicians, historians and media figures during the Long American Culture Wars (1992-2010). Throughout these years, the content of historical rhetoric remained generally consistent and emphasized four essential ideas: the 1960s as a moment of national declension, a national history of neoliberalism, the Christian tradition in America, and general opposition to multiculturalism. Throughout these 18 years, conservative rhetoric grew progressively more hostile in three distinct sub-eras, “The Contract With America” era (1992-2000), the “With Us or Against Us” era (2002-2006), and the “Tea Party” era (2007-2010). The rhetoric of conservative figures demonstrated this paper's central argument – that history was an essential tool for conservative elites to defend their policies and values, while simultaneously attacking those of their liberal opponents.

Committee: Nishani Frazier PhD (Advisor); Steven Conn PhD (Committee Member); Thomas Misco PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: History

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2018, History

Early American attitudes toward Marie Antoinette as found in print culture and correspondence illustrates how factions came to understand her as exemplifying the threat politicized women appeared to pose to their republican experiment. Despite differing opinions about the course of the French Revolution and the queen's role within it, Federalists and Republicans believed she exacerbated France's difficulties and disapproved of her conduct. In a time when American women were increasingly engaged in the public sphere, both parties used Marie Antoinette as a counterexample to define American women's proper role within the new republic. Partisans suggested the queen's absolutist agenda undercut French reform and/or hindered the people's liberty and that American women should avoid political activity in order to be spared a similar disastrous fate. This instruction helped both parties devise an ideal republican society that promoted exclusive male political participation and female domesticity while protecting against feminine and monarchical depravities.

Committee: Lindsay Schakenbach Regele PhD (Advisor); P. Renée Baernstein PhD (Committee Member); William Brown PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: History

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2018, Public Health

The June 2012 Supreme Court decision concluded that all provisions of the Affordable Care Act were constitutional except for the mandatory Medicaid expansion for adults. Therefore, each state had the option to expand Medicaid. By 2015, thirty-one states had adopted Medicaid expansion. Medicaid expansion is generally supported by Democrats and resisted by Republicans. Given the power governors have in Medicaid policymaking, it would stand to reason that states with Democratic governors would expand while states with Republican governors would not. However, ten states adopted expansion with a Republican governor. In the context of widespread Republican opposition to the ACA, why did some Republican governors support Medicaid expansion? What factors influence Republican governors' decisions regarding Medicaid expansion? The overall goal of this study is to understand the conditions under which Republican governors decided to support Medicaid expansion, given their party's opposition. Using mixed methods, the specific aims of this study are: 1) Identify the factors associated with a Republican governor's decision to support Medicaid expansion. 2) Determine in-depth how these factors and perhaps others, interacted with Republican governors in two states – one expansion state (Arizona) and one non-expansion state (Florida). The results from this study imply that in the case of Medicaid expansion, ideological, economic, political, and racial factors influence the decision-making of Republican governors, with ideological factors being the most dominant. The implications of this study are extensive for stakeholders including policymakers, public health advocates, interest groups, and researchers in states with Republican governors. It offers statistical and qualitative data that can be used to help them identify potential problems and solutions for coverage expansions in the future in seemingly challenging circumstances. Moreover, findings from this s (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Sandra Tanenbaum (Committee Chair); Tasleem Padamsee (Committee Member); Deena Chisolm (Committee Member); Thomas Nelson (Committee Member) Subjects: Political Science; Public Health; Public Policy

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2018, History (Arts and Sciences)

This thesis examines the role that federal land policy played in the settlement and political development of the Northwest Territory from 1780 to 1802. In the waning years of the American Revolution the United States sought to acquire and use the lands of the trans-Appalachian West as a fund for extinguishing its public debt. The claims of the individual states and of Native Americans would be transferred to the United States, which would then exchange those lands for Continental securities. By placing emphasis on public creditors, Congress deliberately ignored the interests of actual settlers, including many who were squatting on these federal lands. At first the Confederation Congress adopted a policy of uniform land sales overseen by the federal government, but with disappointing results. In 1787 Congress decided to privatize western settlement by selling large amounts of land to private companies at a discount, who would then resell the land to actual settlers for a profit. This was also a disappointment, as these land companies experienced a myriad of problems from Native American violence to legal disputes with settlers, all of which had to be solved by the federal government. Prompted by western settlers, including squatters, the federal government resumed the responsibility of western settlement. This thesis also shows how federal power was used to influence local politics. New laws allowed for squatters to negotiate with federal officials over the lands they wanted. One official, Thomas Worthington, used the influence he had in these negotiations to incorporate the squatters into his own political interest. During the statehood movement of 1801-1802, Worthington was able to link this interest to the national Republican Party. The mobilization of his interest and the introduction of partisanship into the movement allowed Worthington to successfully accomplish statehood for Ohio.

Committee: Brian Schoen (Advisor); Sarah Kinkel (Committee Member); Chester Pach (Committee Member) Subjects: History

Master of Fine Arts, University of Akron, 2018, Creative Writing

On Writing 2: An Essay Collection and Loose Sequel to Stephen King's On Writing, a creative nonfiction thesis, takes horror and suspense legend Stephen King's memoir on the craft and UPS THE ANTE!!! Eighteen years after the debut of King's nonfiction hit comes the sequel fans have been begging for. Gone are the tales of King's childhood, his lessons on writing, and that time he got hit by a van. Now, read of the essays of a different schmuck, none of which have to do with writing, but do deal with traveling in Key West, volunteering at the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, and trying to keep a relationship together at an IKEA. Each essay is handled deftly with a lot of humor and that innate sadness that is key to the human condition. See what the critics are saying about On Writing 2: "This is worse than A Million Little Pieces." — Melvin Goldfarb, New York Times "My son has really disappointed me this time." — Barbara Cibella, Mother of Author Do yourself a favor and download Stephen King's lawyer's favorite thesis of 2018! Get On Writing 2 today! DISCLAIMER: This is a sequel to Stephen King's On Writing in name only. Please do not sue me.

Committee: David Giffels (Advisor) Subjects: American Literature; Composition; Fine Arts; Journalism; Literature; Modern Literature; Political Science