Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2023, History

Between 1820 and 1860, dozens of new denominational colleges opened throughout the United States. Nowhere was this growth as dramatic as in the Old Northwest in general and in Ohio specifically. Through the mid-twentieth century, most historians saw these colleges as steps backward in the development of higher education in the United States, with faculty overly focused on theological minutiae. These denominational colleges served as the dismal backdrop against which educational reformers launched research universities, where academic inquiry was unimpeded by religious dogmatism. Since the late 1960s, however, historians have generally stressed the positive aspects of these colleges, praising them for anticipating later developments in higher education. Still, many of these newer histories neglected other aspects of antebellum colleges, such as their many non-classical programs. The college's preparatory departments and ancillary courses provided interested students with at least some level of higher education beyond the common school. These programs helped expand the reach of these institutions far beyond the relative handful of students who graduated from their collegiate programs. Other histories also convey a limited view of campus life. While literary societies were certainly popular, students also played sports and games, staged picnics, went on nature excursions, and socialized with young townswomen. Some also cheated on exams, played pranks, tormented tutors, stole food, drank alcohol, and smoked tobacco. Contrary to both the traditional view that students attended these schools almost solely to become ministers and the revisionist view that many students left campus for modern careers in business and science, young men evidently flocked to antebellum Ohio's denominational colleges in hopes of pursuing careers in one of the four traditional learned professions. Indeed, the vast majority of students who graduated from these schools became clergy (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Daniel A. Cohen (Advisor); Timothy Beal (Committee Member); John Grabowski (Committee Member); David Hammack (Committee Member) Subjects: American History

BS, Kent State University, 2008, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of History

During the uneasy years predating the American Civil War, self-proclaimed prophets and messengers of God traveled the frontier proclaiming their interpretations of truth as revealed through Protestant Christianity. As they attempted to convert the nation, they conceived American utopias which, constructed within a sacred history of Christianity, played an important role in redefining the religion in North America. As part of the process of establishing these utopias, individuals interested in the conversion of society utilized and revised the “New Haven” theology of Yale College, from which would emerge a reconstructed concept of “sanctification” in Oberlin, Ohio. These individuals would use this theology to form the basis for their attempts to reform society, applying religious meaning to social action. In Lorain County, Ohio, we can observe these changes in religious thought and practice as numerous “religious virtuosi” carried out social action which they considered to be bound to a sacred history. In tandem with social action would come ecclesiastical conflict, tearing the New England Plan of Union asunder. This thesis is interested in how reformers' attempts to create heaven on earth would result in conflict highlighted by a series of events which would ultimately change the religious landscape of the county as it contributed to and reflected the changing face of religion in America.

Committee: David Odell-Scott PhD (Advisor); Guy E. Wells PhD (Advisor); Leonne Hudson PhD (Committee Member); Leslie Heaphy PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: American History; History; Religious History

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, 2017, History

During the antebellum era, black activists organized themselves into insurgent networks, with the goal of achieving political and racial equality for all black inhabitants of the United States. The Negro Convention Movement, herein referred to as the Black Convention Movement, functioned on state and national levels, as the chief black insurgent network. As radical black rights groups continue to rise in the contemporary era, it is necessary to mine the historical origins that influence these bodies, and provide contexts for understanding their social critiques. This dissertation centers on the agency of the participants, and reveals a black insurgent network seeking its own narrative of liberation through tactics and rhetorical weapons. This study follows in the footing of Dr. Howard Holman Bell, who produced bodies of work detailing the antebellum Negro conventions published in the 1950s and 1960s. Additionally, this work inserts itself into the historiography of black radicals, protest movements, and racial debates of antebellum America, arguing for a successful interpretation of black insurgent action. Class, race, gender, religion, and politics, all combine within this study as potent framing devices. Together, the elements within this effort, illustrates the Black Convention Movement as the era's premier activist organization that inadvertently pushed the American nation toward civil war, and the destruction of institutionalized slavery.

Committee: Walter Hixson Ph.D. (Advisor); Elizabeth Mancke Ph.D. (Committee Member); Zachery Williams Ph.D. (Committee Member); Kevin Kern Ph.D. (Committee Member); Daniel Coffey Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: African American Studies; African Americans; American History; Black History; Black Studies; Gender; History; Journalism; Minority and Ethnic Groups; Religion