The story of American Methodism from 1777 to 1835 presents a puzzle. During those years the Methodist Episcopal Church grew into the largest denomination in the United States while fashioning the most hierarchical organization in American Protestantism. In other words, the Methodist Episcopal Church leaders steadily denied the laity any role in the ecclesiastical government over the same period that most Americans embraced a political order based on republicanism and democracy. Over time the government grew more complex, the bishops more autocratic, and the number of people excluded from participation greater and greater. Solving this puzzle sheds new light not only on the Methodist Episcopal Church, but on the competitive evangelical marketplace churches found themselves in after the American Revolution, and on the relationship between Americans secular ideals and their religious expectations. This dissertation explores the role of two schismatic movements in shaping the development of the church and explaining its remarkable success. The James OKelly schism took place in 1792, when OKelly stormed out of the General Conference, frustrated by yet another failure to limit the growing hierarchy and the power of the bishops. He took with him one-fifth of the churchs members and formed the Republican Methodist Church—a remarkably egalitarian denomination. The church leaders foundered for years, failing to respond as OKelly attacked them in spirited, popular published works. Eventually they issued a rejoinder and the membership rolls again began to grow. In 1820, the Methodist Episcopal Church came under a sustained attack by reformers demanding lay representation in the church government. This time, the churchs leaders responded differently, learning from the mistakes of the past and from their critics. They acted immediately, expelling those who advocated for reform, and offering mercy to those who repented of their sins and returned to the fold. Finding their petitions ignored, their people expelled, and their names tarnished, the reformers left to form the Methodist Protestant Church in 1830, one that drew away only a trivial number of people from the Methodist Episcopal Church. The key to understanding the contradiction between the Methodist Episcopal Churchs success as the most hierarchical Protestant church, in Americas increasingly democratic political culture, lies in its image as a folksy church that appealed to every day Americans, hiding its fundamentally undemocratic nature. The Methodist itinerants—uneducated, poor men of little social standing—met the people where they were, and literally met them in their homes where they graciously accepted whatever hospitality the laity could offer them. Later, the editors of the nations most widely read evangelical magazines met them in print—running short, readable stories of an entertaining nature. The populist campaign worked—Americans flocked to a church that looked like it represented them, even as its leaders expelled them for daring to call for change and looked down on them as spiritual inferiors. And today, the image of the Methodist Episcopal Church as a democratic institution still triumphs over the reality.

Nell Donnelly created a stylish, practical, affordable pink gingham apron frock in 1916, selling out her first order of 216 dresses the first morning at $1 apiece at Peck’s Dry Goods Company in Kansas City. This study investigates the forces behind the success of her dress, and finds that during the early 20th century, woman’s role became modernized, shifting from that of producer to consumer, and that clothing—in particular, the housedress—was a visible reflection of this shift. Specific attributes contributed to the success of the apron frock in design and social perspective. First, her housedress incorporated current design elements including kimono sleeves, empire waistline, waist yoke, asymmetrical front closure, and ruffle trimmings sensibly. Socially, mass advertising and mass media articles promoted fashion consciousness in women to look as pretty as those in the ad or article. As a result, integrating trendy design elements into an affordable housedress along with the growing demand for a stylish, yet practical housedress guaranteed the success of Nelly Don’s pink gingham apron frock. As such, the availability and value of the apron frock provide a vivid illustration of woman’s shifting role: its popularity as an alternative to old-fashioned Mother Hubbard housedresses demonstrates both women’s new consumer awareness as well as their growing involvement in the public sphere.

This dissertation examines the history of religious participation in the global HIV/AIDS epidemic. The project makes two central arguments. First, it demonstrates how religious actors in the United States have defined debates over morality and sexuality in public discussions of the epidemic. And second, it illustrates the political roles American religion has played in the formation of public health policies since the 1980s. Religious groups in America have a long history of involvement in social reform and providing social services alongside or, all too often, in place of those provided by the state. The AIDS epidemic, however, presented a unique challenge for religious organizations, given the early association of the disease with gay men and drug users. How would churches respond to a disease transmitted through sexual practices that most religious denominations denounced, if not actively condemned? Indeed, this association did slow religious responses, but as this dissertation demonstrates, religious groups did not remain silent for long. By the mid-1980s, a number of religious leaders, congregations, and denominations confronted AIDS by calling for care for those suffering with the disease and by establishing AIDS ministry programs. Most responses also placed the epidemic in a particular social and moral context, as religious groups addressed the sexual behaviors involved in the transmission of HIV. This dissertation examines how these groups constructed AIDS as a moral epidemic precisely through their discussions of sexuality. It demonstrates how religious discourses about AIDS often posited a moral etiology for the disease, placing moral reasoning alongside biological and medical arguments in discussions concerning the genesis of the epidemic and methods for preventing new cases. These languages of sexual morality, moreover, often found expression through recourse to the imagined nation and national citizenship, contributing to the formation of a particular American sexual morality that privileged monogamy and abstinence as crucial components both in the fight against HIV/AIDS and for the security of national health.

In the fall of 1956, the Suez crisis caused a rift between the United States and its European allies France and Britain. As each country tried to come to terms with the meaning of Suez for their foreign policy, widely different visions of the alliance emerged in each country. In the years that followed, these competing visions of leadership within the alliance created tensions across a range of topics from nuclear policy to European integration and African decolonization. This dissertation uses a multi-national and multi-archival approach to reinterpret the history of the transAtlantic alliance from 1957 to 1963. Looking beyond Cold War-induced preoccupations, it adds to the current literature by bringing to the fore issues of economic and strategic interest, national prestige and internal alliance politics. Moreover, Diverging Visions of Leadership argues that the personal relationships between American presidents Dwight Eisenhower and John Kennedy, British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and French President Charles de Gaulle largely influenced their actions and those of their governments. In elucidating the complex interactions of France, Britain and the United States during the period, it quickly becomes clear that many of the most interesting controversies occurring during this time cannot satisfactorily fit into the Cold War framework traditionally used to explain the period between 1945 and 1991. The British and French colonial retreat, their quest to obtain and maintain an independent nuclear deterrent and the efforts to unite Europe economically and politically through the European Economic Community, for example, have little to do with the Cold War, but remain extremely important to understanding the transatlantic relationship. I argue that diverging visions of leadership and struggles for power within the alliance itself, rather than the external threat of the Soviet Union, provide for a more complete explanation of the actions taken by the leaders of each country as they sought to steer alliance policy towards their own goals.

In 1995, American public opinion rallied around the sacrosanct “Good War” and its atomic culmination above Hiroshima and Nagasaki. When the Smithsonians National Air and Space Museum contemplated an inclusion of the Japanese victims of atomic warfare in an exhibit planned for the fiftieth anniversary of the Pacific Wars end, the intense public furor against the purportedly revisionist undermining of the “American Centurys” greatest triumph extirpated the Enola Gay from any consideration of the bombs enduring civilian toll. In short, fifty years after the dual incinerations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it seemed that the same American consensus supporting the righteousness of the atomic bombs still existed, as it had since 1945. This dissertation seeks a re-examination of American and Japanese memories of atomic warfare, grounded in the dissent that appeared as early as August 1945. By returning to the years of Japans Occupation, from 1945-1952, we can trace the counternarratives of atomic tragedy that emerged from Japanese and American Christians, questioning not only national celebrations of the just nature of Hiroshima and Nagasakis destruction, but also national adherence to the long-held identity as an exceptional Christian democracy. Immediate opposition to the use of the atomic bomb to end war in the Pacific, particularly from vocal Christian activists, revealed the lack of any national consensus that shadowed nuclear war from its birth and that complicated the memory of World War II as the “Good War” in Americas past. Confirmed by the victory of war, the United States embarked on a new Christianizing mission in Occupied Japan that extended the boundaries of American democracy, in the Cold Wars fight against communism, across the globe. As General Douglas MacArthur fostered democracy in recently militaristic Japan, he called on Christian missionaries to assist the American transformation of its former enemy. Among the Christians to respond to MacArthurs call were those, such as many of the founders of International Christian University, who based their active commitment to improving Japan on their desire to apologize for Hiroshima and Nagasaki； this dissent disappeared from American collective memory as the Cold War bolstered support for nuclear arsenals.

This dissertation analyzes nearly 200 plans for institutional reform in British America between 1675 and 1791. In doing so, it views the colonial period from an imperial perspective, since plans incorporated North America, the West Indies and Great Britain as an integrative whole. Reform plans addressed practical problems in colonial administration, trade, defense, and the constitutional connection between the colonies and the mother country. In the attempt to devise solutions, men throughout the empire—including colonial governors and assemblymen, Members of Parliament, merchants, customs officers, economists, and colonial agents in London—constructed plans that sought to improve the imperial connection by strengthening institutions. This study thus emphasizes the empire as planners viewed it, as an institution writ large, with integrally-connected parts secured by bonds of commerce, affection, government, common heritage, religion, and royal political culture. Political ideology and institutional structure influenced and reinforced each other in reform plans. The planners ideological assumptions originated from an evolving, transatlantic, political dialogue and generally represented a positive vision of empire. In their institutional suggestions, planners employed imperial models, such as Rome, the Dutch Confederation, and the Anglo-Scottish Union. They also used legal precedent and constitutional theory to buttress plans that they believed could provide a solid, workable foundation and incorporate disparate parts of the empire. Initially, plans focused on consolidation and centralized control； however as colonies grew and matured and the empire evolved, events demanded adaptive solutions. This created a public forum on establishing imperial equity and the constitutional foundations of the empire. It also forced advances in thinking about imperial structure that eventually led to imaginative suggestions for expanded governmental and commercial frameworks. Despite these developments, throughout the entire period of colonial reform planners sought to create order and stability, and to distill the idea of a common good into institutional form in order to create a mutually-beneficial, symbiotic imperial system. The plans thus collectively represent a consistent strain of eighteenth-century political ideology in British America that centered on the concepts of union and empire.

This dissertation argues that in the mid-nineteenth century, anti-Catholicism was a natural inclination of the intellectual outlook of both citizens of the United States and subjects of the British Crown in colonial Upper Canada. This project is a historical work； its source base is archival, and its methodology qualitative. By 1830, Protestant evangelicals had begun to draft a Christian account of American history； in this narrative, the Reformation had begun a process whereby freely saved Christian men founded colonies in the New World and subsequently fought a Revolution for the spiritual and political freedoms of that land. This version of American history illustrated merely one logical conclusion of a similar British narrative. In that account, the United Kingdom, seen as an inherently Protestant place despite the presence of several million Catholics, had already achieved perfection in spiritual and political freedoms. These, Britons passed on to the North American colonies still under the Crown. In Upper Canada, for instance, Loyalism, not independence, became the logical product of post-Reformation events. Despite this divergence in the understanding of the history of the United States and Upper Canada, anti-Catholicism would he common in both places—not due to simply religious bigotry, but because it was widely understood that the triumph of Protestantism was crucial to the success of the nation and the colony, respectively. “Anti-Catholicism and the Development of Protestant Nationhood,” examines the creation and application of the common reality of anti-Catholicism in American and Canadian intellectual and public life, highlighting the struggle over religious identity during this major period of nation-building. Suspicion of Catholic theology, Catholic clergy, Catholic laity and the Pope in Rome pervaded American and Canadian histories of this period； it infused systems of education, and infested public speeches. The occasional convent-burning, and the more than occasional Catholic-Protestant riot were but the by-products of a larger reality in the character of nineteenth-century North America.

The timber industry of the early twentieth century truly shaped the environmental dynamic of the South. By changing the terrain, water flow and drainage, and other environmental factors, the lumber industry forever transformed the South. The relationship between nature and capitalistic endeavors like lumber extraction in the South has been neglected by historians. To say, therefore, most lumber companies followed the policy of cut and get out is to ignore those companies who took the extra time, money, and effort to establish viable communities through other means such as agricultural improvements or conservation. The Three States Lumber Company located at Burdette, Arkansas, was a part of a unique corporation which used an innovative method of offering cotton contracts to potential farmers in order to rid themselves of their cut-over lands. Estimating the timber in the area would be depleted within twenty years, the company at first saw Burdette as a short-term investment. By 1913 the company hired their own agricultural specialists to develop a company plantation and encouraged individuals to settle in the area to farm. Due to agricultural depressions and natural disasters, Three States was unable to rid themselves of their cut-over lands quickly. The management of Three States developed a system of payment for land through cotton contracts which allowed farmers to purchase the companys cut-over lands during difficult economic times.

The electoral upheavals of 1894 and 1896 resulting in Republican Party dominance within West Virginia and around the nation were not just a sudden occurrence. They resulted, in part, because voters in key border states shifted their votes from the Democratic to the Republican Party. West Virginias Republican Party had the greatest success in maintaining its long term influence after 1896 despite the fact that since 1872 it enjoyed little success. To build up to triumph in 1896 took a quarter century of painstaking work that started after electoral disaster in 1870. That election, the first since West Virginia removed restrictions on former Confederates, brought Democrats into a position of dominance. This dissertation tells the story of how West Virginias Republicans rebuilt their party between 1872 and 1896. Nathan Goff, a Union Army major during the Civil War, used the same methods as other party authorities around the country. He used his talent for public speaking and access to federal patronage to mobilize and reward the faithful as much as possible. State Republican newspapers battled their Democratic counterparts in conflicts over not only issues of the day, but also anger over measures taken during the Civil War. Goffs work helped to restore a working party organization in the 1870s, but did not put West Virginia Republicans into a position to return to competitiveness, much less power. Money, manpower, and organization do not ensure success without a relevant message. The Republican Party across the country started to fashion a more appealing vision after the difficult Grant and Hayes Administrations. They advocated sound money and a protective tariff as cornerstones of national prosperity more often during the 1880s. Goff emerged as a national spokesman for protectionism at the same time as the Second Industrial Revolution started strongly transforming West Virginias economy. However, national economic conditions in this decade did not result in massive movement towards the Republican cause. Instead, the country experienced partisan deadlock. West Virginia Republicans made gains during this decade. In 1888, Goff came very close to capturing the office of governor. The Democratic legislature successfully counted out enough votes to seat the Democratic nominee, but the results demonstrated a shift in party power. Goff would not be able to take West Virginia Republicans to their eventual triumph. The year 1888 also saw Goff unseated as party chief by the nationally known Stephen Benton Elkins. Elkins built up a fortune in land speculation, railroads, and other ventures. Along the way, he married the daughter of former Senator Henry Gassaway Davis, a prominent West Virginia Democrat and industrialist. Elkins brought a new kind of leadership style to West Virginia Republican politics. He concentrated on building a stronger and more effective party organization more than relying on personal appeal in speeches and debates. Elkins was exceptionally good at keeping divisive issues and potentially conflicting personalities from interfering with party goals. The economic crisis that gripped the nation during the election year of 1894, a time of plummeting production and employment figures, made the Republican economic vision more appealing to voters. Grover Cleveland and his party did not seem to have the answers to the problems that many faced. West Virginias Republican organization built by Elkins was able to take full advantage of the national party campaigns. They did not simply convince West Virginians to vote for Republican candidates, but to trust the party to direct state affairs for the next generation. This dissertation helps to put West Virginias Republican Party experience into a national perspective while also explaining why the state shifted into the GOP column so strongly after 1896. Leadership, message, and the choices made by voters all play into this dramatic political shift.

Maritime archaeological sites located in the inter-tidal zone are common throughout the world. Such sites are difficult to investigate yet their state of preservation often provides unique archaeological data unavailable on most terrestrial sites. This study outlines a model and a process for understanding shipyards, their contexts, and ways in which to compare particular sites and groups of sites. This study investigates the maritime landscape of historic shipbuilding sites on the Lower Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay where shipbuilding was conducted both by small family operated and large commercial shipbuilding facilities. This investigation combines the direct historical approach using primary and secondary historical sources and integrates these data into a Geographic Information System (GIS)-based predictive model. The study develops a typology based on historical and archaeological data to develop a series of idealized models of shipyard design and organization. These models test the relative importance of socio-cultural and environmental variables in the formation and development of the shipbuilding industry. These models were tested by identifying and classifying shipyards in old Somerset County, Maryland to compare them with the idealized models. This study contextualizes site specific data into more rigorous and less particularistic archaeological models of maritime resources than previously developed.