Master of Arts, Miami University, 2006, History

“Minting America” investigates the ideological and culture links between American identity and national coinage in the wake of the American Revolution. In the Confederation period and in the Early Republic, Americans contested the creation of a national mint to produce coins. The catastrophic failure of the paper money issued by the Continental Congress during the War for Independence inspired an ideological debate in which Americans considered the broader implications of a national coinage. More than a means to conduct commerce, many citizens of the new nation saw coins as tangible representations of sovereignty and as a mechanism to convey the principles of the Revolution to future generations. They contested the physical symbolism as well as the rhetorical iconology of these early national coins. Debating the stories that coinage told helped Americans in this period shape the contours of a national identity.

Committee: Andrew Cayton (Advisor) Subjects: History, United States

Master of Arts, John Carroll University, 2009, History

This thesis examines the early American Catholic Church and how its first bishop, John Carroll, guided it through the first years of the American republic. The struggles Carroll faced were the legacy of the English heritage of the colonies. English Catholics who shaped colonial Catholic life made the community private and personal in response to the religious atmosphere in the English world. The American Revolution brought toleration for Catholics and they struggled to adapt their hierarchal religion to new republican language. Some congregations went as far as to deny episcopal power, a theory known as trusteeism. Different interpretations struggled to gain prominence and the issue was not resolved until decades after Carroll's death in 1815. Yet the Church he left behind provided a strong base for later immigrants who nonetheless dramatically changed the face of the American Catholic Church.

Committee: David Robson Ph.D. (Advisor); Anne Kugler Ph.D. (Committee Member); Daniel Kilbride Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: American History; Religious 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

Master of Arts in History, Youngstown State University, 2022, Department of Humanities

American exceptionalism formed out of and alongside Protestant Christianity in the early republic. Protestants created a nexus of symbols, rhetoric, and themes within their religious dialogue that facilitated the ideological development of American exceptionalism. Foundational to both Protestant Christian discourse and exceptionalist perception was a belief in group distinction, the special status, or chosenness of people and place, and mission-oriented motivation. This research draws parallels between religious thinkers including John Winthrop, Jonathan Edwards, Timothy Dwight IV, Lyman Beecher, Horace Bushnell, and Charles Grandison Finney, alongside influential politicians, authors, and journalists such as Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, David Humphreys, Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk, Charles Levin Lewis, and George Bancroft. The language used by these Protestant leaders and secular, political actors during the late-eighteenth through the mid-nineteenth centuries reveals the rhetorical, symbolic, and thematic intersection between Protestant Christianity and American exceptionalism.

Committee: Martha Pallante PhD (Advisor); Amy Fluker PhD (Committee Member); Brian Bonhomme PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: American History; Religious 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

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

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2017, History

This dissertation explores the nascent state-formation process that was under way in America from 1774 through the middle of 1776. Central to that process was the establishment of the Continental Army as a conventional military institution. The political processes and military events surrounding and set in motion by the founding of the army combined to actuate a military-state dynamic that shaped further choices, led to the decision to declare independence, and profoundly influenced the political economy of the subsequently developing American state. The primary approach of this work, which is informed by sociological and political science theories of state formation, is historical argument through a narrative structure which is substantiated by both primary source research involving published and archival materials along with a synthesis of historiographic literature primarily from the fields of political and military history.

Committee: John Brooke (Advisor); Joan Cashin (Committee Member); Peter Mansoor (Committee Member); Edward Countryman (Committee Member) Subjects: American History

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2017, History

As the War of 1812 drew to a close, the American nation was economically exhausted and politically upended. The great crisis of the war loomed over the American shorelines from mid-1814 onward, when British reinforcements under a new and more aggressive British commander threatened offensive thrusts into U.S. territory at multiple points. Americans were completely unprepared to meet the British invasion attempts; the United States parried all British thrusts in 1814 almost in spite of itself. Thus, by the end of 1814, the Madison administration (with strong input from James Monroe) began to seek to reform the American military establishment to ensure a more disciplined and uniform militia system, a better-educated and “professional” officer corps, and a stout system of seacoast fortifications. The reformers looked no further than the Napoleonic military system for all their answers. In order to convince the American people and their congressional representatives that greater investment in a Napoleonic-style army was necessary, the reformers relied on a narrative of the War of 1812 that emphasized the frailty of the militia and the heroism of the regulars. Complicating the reformers' narrative was, first, the strong antimilitary ideological traditions that Americans had held so closely since the Revolutionary era, and second, a counternarrative of the war that arose from Andrew Jackson's victory at New Orleans. Despite the abounding case studies to which reformers could appeal in support of their position—most notably the regulars' performance at the Battle of Chippewa and the militia's apparent failure at the Battle of Bladensburg—the single case of Jackson at New Orleans carried greater emotional weight and had the additional benefit of reinforcing Americans' pro-militia, anti-army biases. This dissertation covers the difficulties that a relatively small group of men in the executive branch of the U.S. government faced when they tried, betw (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Mark Grimsley (Advisor); John Brooke (Committee Member); Jennifer Siegel (Committee Chair) Subjects: History

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2016, Journalism (Communication)

In the 1880s, women journalists working for newspapers were confined to writing for the “women's pages.” They wrote about food, fashion, and culture. But change was on the horizon. Nellie Bly made headlines for her “stunt girl” reporting in 1887, and papers around the country were quick to follow. “Stunt girl” journalism opened the doors for many women reporters. Women reporters transitioned from being a novelty to a welcome addition to the newsrooms. Yet, other than Nellie Bly, the legacies and reports of Bly's adversaries has been lost to history. This thesis resurrects three “stunt girls” who were well known in their own time: Nell Nelson, Elizabeth Bisland, and Ada Patterson. Primary sources from the nineteenth century were studied to determine who these women were, what they did, and how they used their notoriety to create a place for themselves at a job that they were initially barred from entering.

Committee: Michael Sweeney (Committee Chair); Aimee Edmondson (Committee Member); Marilyn Greenwald (Committee Member) Subjects: History; Journalism; Womens Studies

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

This dissertation explores the formation of social capital and middle-class culture on the revolutionary frontier. As a lens, I use Methodism, an evangelical movement rooted in the British colonial period that flourished in the American Revolutionary Era and by the Civil War accounted for one in three American church members. Methodism was more than the fastest growing major religious movement in early American history. Combining social theory with manuscript, print, and demographic sources, I argue that Methodism, by circulating itinerants and founding religious societies, was a powerful force for creating social and political capital. My study is the first to appraise Methodism's role in the development of settler colonialism in the Old Southwest and the southerly regions of the Old Northwest. My research uncovers practices of social exchange and epistolary culture among Methodist men and women (who were the majority of members) to explain how Protestant Christianity transitioned from a discursive role—as a justification for indigenous dispossession—to a technique for possession. Methodism engendered social networks, disseminated knowledge, and aided pursuits of land development and commerce among middling settlers. These benefits of religious association were valuable social and economic resources, and they preceded the formal evangelical politics of the late antebellum era. They were the soil from which grassroots evangelical political power grew. My research makes three main contributions. It intercedes in the debate on social capital in American society from a historical perspective. Addressing a dearth of historical analyses of social capital formation, it also provides a major assessment of social networks within the most dynamic popular movement of the first half of the nineteenth century. Whereas popular supporters and critics of the social capital thesis often align according to their philosophical embrace of communitarianism or individualism, I show t (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Alan Gallay (Advisor); John Brooke (Committee Member); Randolph Roth (Committee Member) Subjects: American History; Clergy; History; Religion; Religious History

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2008, History

From the beginning of the American Revolution in 1775, the imprisonment of Americans by foreign nations has influenced public debate in the United States. Key to their impact was the wide readership that followed these debates. Newspaper coverage fed and expanded these debates, drawing a wide audience to what otherwise might have been a private affair. With such wide readership, these events often times seemed to take on a life of their own, sparking national debates which extended to involve issues well beyond the fate of the hostage Americans. During the American Revolution, the status of British-held American prisoners reflected the status of the nation. In both public and private venues, American and British officials engaged in an ongoing debate over the status of the captured Americans. At its core, this exchange was a debate about the legitimacy of the American cause. Following American independence, the plight of American sailors held captive in the Barbary States of North Africa served as a focal point for a wide range of issues in the new American Republic. From the debate over the creation and ratification of a new Constitution to a debate about the role of the American people in government the imprisonment of American sailors served as a lightening rod at key moments in the development of the American public sphere. Finally, in the final years of the War of 1812 and in the wake of the success of the American fleet in finally bringing an end to the Barbary threat in the Mediterranean, the national discussion over the fate of captive Americans served to bolster national confidence and establish an independent American sense of self.

Committee: Saul Cornell (Advisor); John Brooke (Committee Member); Randolph Roth (Committee Member) Subjects: American History; History

BA, Oberlin College, 2012, History

Among the first generation of published authors in the early American republic, Mercy Otis Warren and Hannah Adams have unfortunately been pushed to the margins of historical discourse. As individuals and female historians, their lives are fascinating and dynamic, and their role in the development of a space for the female voice in the era's intellectual discourse is critical. Thus, Adams and Warren can be treated as case studies to comment on the process by which American women's writing entered the public sphere during this era, the gendered backlash that occurred in response to this trend, as well as women's own efforts to maintain their right to participate in a public, intellectual realm. By examining Adams and Warren's lives and experiences as female historians, this study seeks to recapture and celebrate their significance to the study of women in American history.

Committee: Carol Lasser (Advisor) Subjects: American History; American Literature; Gender; Gender Studies; History; Womens Studies