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The Administration of Spain Under Charles V, Spain's New Charlemagne
Charles I, King of Spain, or Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, was the most powerful ruler in Europe since Charlemagne. With a Germanic background, and speaking French, Charles became King of Spain in 1516. Yet secondary sources and available sixteenth century Spanish sources such as Spanish Royal Council records, local records of Castro Urdiales in Castile, and Charles's correspondence show that he continued the policies of his predecessors in Spain, Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile. He strove to strengthen his power and unify Spain and his empire using Castilian strength, a Castilian model of government, Roman law, religion, his strong personality, and a loyal and talented bureaucracy. Charles desired to be another Charlemagne, but with his base of power in Spain.
Amon Carter: The Founder of Modern Fort Worth, 1930-1955
From 1930 to 1955, Amon Carter, publisher of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, exerted his power to create modern Fort Worth. Carter used his stature as the publisher of the city's major newspaper to build a modern city out of this livestock center. Between 1930 and 1955, Carter lobbied successfully for New Deal funds for Fort Worth, persuaded Consolidated Aircraft to build an airplane plant in the city, and convinced Burlington Railways to stay in the city. He also labored unsuccessfully to have the Trinity River Canal built and to secure a General Motors plant for Fort Worth. These efforts demonstrate that Carter was indeed the founder of modern Fort Worth.
Baptists and Britons: Particular Baptist Ministers in England and British Identity in the 1790s
This study examines the interaction between religious and national affiliations within a Dissenting denomination. Linda Colley and Jonathan Clark argue that religion provided the unifying foundation of national identity. Colley portrays a Protestant British identity defined in opposition to Catholic France. Clark favors an English identity, based upon an Anglican intellectual hegemony, against which only the heterodox could effectively offer criticism. Studying the Baptists helps test those two approaches. Although Methodists and Baptists shared evangelical concerns, the Methodists remained within the Church of England. Though Baptists often held political views similar to the Unitarians, they retained their orthodoxy. Thus, the Baptists present an opportunity to explore the position of orthodox Dissenters within the nation. The Baptists separated their religious and national identities. An individual could be both a Christian and a Briton, but one attachment did not imply the other. If the two conflicted, religion took precedent. An examination of individual ministers, specifically William Winterbotham, Robert Hall, Mark Wilks, Joseph Kinghorn, and David Kinghorn, reveals a range of Baptist views from harsh criticism of to support for the government. It also shows Baptist disagreement on whether faith should encourage political involvement and on the value of the French Revolution. Baptists did not rely on religion as the source of their political opinions. They tended to embrace a concept of natural rights, and their national identity stemmed largely from the English constitutional heritage. Within that context, Baptists desired full citizenship in the nation. They called for the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts and the reform of Parliament. Because of their criticism of church and state, Baptists demonstrate the diversity within British Protestantism. For the most part, religion did not contribute to their national identity. In fact, it helped distinguish them from other Britons. Baptist evangelicalism reinforced that separate identity, …
Booze, Boomtowns, and Burning Crosses: The Turbulent Governorship of Pat M. Neff of Texas, 1921-1925
Pat M. Neff served as governor of Texas from 1921 to 1925, a period marked by political conflict between rural conservatives and urban progressives. Neff, a progressive, found himself in the middle of this conflict. Neff supported prohibition, declared martial law in the oil boomtown of Mexia, and faced the rise of the Ku Klux Klan as a political force in Texas. Though often associated with the Klan, Neff did not approve of the organization and worked against it whenever possible. During the Railroad Shopmen's Strike of 1922, Neff stalled the federal government in its demand he send troops to Denison just long enough to win re-nomination. William Jennings Bryan mentioned Neff as a possible candidate for the presidency in 1924, but he pursued a back-door strategy that alienated his political base among Texas Democrats.
Children, Adolescents, and English Witchcraft
One area of history that historians have ignored is that of children and their relationship to witchcraft and the witch trials. This thesis begins with a survey of historical done on the general theme of childhood, and moves on to review secondary literature about children and the continental witch trials. The thesis also reviews demonological theory relating to children and the roles children played in the minds of continental and English demonologists. Children played various roles: murder victims, victims of dedication to Satan, child-witches, witnesses for the prosecution, victims of bewitchment or possession, and victims of seduction into witchcraft. The final section of the thesis deals with children and English witchcraft. In England children tended to play the same roles as described by the demonologists.
Connecting Ireland and America: Early English Colonial Theory 1560-1620
This work demonstrates the connections that exist in rhetoric and planning between the Irish plantation projects in the Ards, Munster , Ulster and the Jamestown colony in Virginia . The planners of these projects focused on the creation of internal stability rather than the mission to 'civilize' the natives. The continuity between these projects is examined on several points: the rhetoric the English used to describe the native peoples and the lands to be colonized, who initiated each project, funding and financial terms, the manner of establishing title, the manner of granting the lands to settlers, and the status the natives were expected to hold in the plantation. Comparison of these points highlights the early English colonial idea and the variance between rhetoric and planning.
Lone Star under the Rising Sun: Texas's "Lost Battalion," 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery Regiment, During World War II
In March 1942, the 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery Regiment, 36th Division, surrendered to the Japanese Imperial Army on Java in the Dutch East Indies. Shortly after the surrender, the men of the 2nd Battalion were joined as prisoners-of-war by the sailors and Marines who survived the sinking of the heavy cruiser USS Houston. From March 1942 until the end of World War II, these men lived in various Japanese prison camps throughout the Dutch East Indies, Southeast Asia, and in the Japanese home islands. Forced to labor for their captors for the duration of the conflict, they performed extremely difficult tasks, including working in industrial plants and mining coal in Japan, and most notably, constructing the infamous Burma-Thailand Death Railway. During their three-and-one-half years of captivity, these prisoners experienced brutality at the hands of the Japanese. Enduring prolonged malnutrition and extreme overwork, they suffered from numerous tropical and dietary diseases while receiving almost no medical care. Each day, these men lived in fear of being beaten and tortured, and for months at a time they witnessed the agonizing deaths of their friends and countrymen. In spite of the conditions they faced, most survived to return to the United States at war's end. This study examines the experiences of these former prisoners from 1940 to 1945 and attempts to explain how they survived.
A Place to Call Home: A Study of the Self-Segregated Community of Tatums, Oklahoma, 1894-1970
This study examines Tatums, Oklahoma, under the assumption that the historically black towns (HBT) developed as a response to conditions in the South. This community provides a rich example of the apparent anomalies that the environment of self-segregation created. Despite the widespread violence of the Klan, the residents of the HBTs were not the targets of lynching or mob violence. During the years after World War II, Tatums residents enjoyed the greatest prosperity. The final chapter looks at the battle Tatums' residents fought to keep their school from being closed after the state of Oklahoma began to enforce the Brown v. Board of Education decisions in the 1960s. Their solidarity during the desegregation transition remained powerful enough for them to negotiate compromises regarding the fair treatment of their children in a world that was integrating around them.
The Reluctant Partisan: Nathanael Greene's Southern Campaigns, 1780-1783
Nathanael Greene spent the first five years of the American Revolution serving as a line and field officer in the Continental Army and developed a nuanced revolutionary strategy based on preserving the Continental Army and a belief that all forces should be long-service national troops. He carried these views with him to his command in the southern theater but developed a partisan approach due to problems he faced in the region. Greene effectively kept his army supplied to such an extent that it remained in the field to oppose the British with very little outside assistance. He reluctantly utilized a partisan strategy while simultaneously arguing for the creation of a permanent Continental force for the region.
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